(breathless punctuation the BBC’s own)

Regrettably we do not have the infrastructure to allow UK residents (only) to access these services whilst abroad, in the same way as much of our TV / Radio content cannot be accessed overseas.
We apologise for any disappointment, but hope we have your understanding.

– but the internet isn’t the same as your TV/Radio content! That’s why I don’t have the same kind of expectations. I expect that, as a UK resident and licence payer, I ought to be able to see what I’m paying for. It’s easier for me to go looking for torrents of what I want than it is to be noble and give the BBC my understanding.

If I sit here thinking, “I’m paying money every month for other people to look at stuff online, in much the same way I’d like to, and that makes me feel good, which is reward enough”, how many other people do you think are doing that? One more? No. None more. None more people are thinking that. In fact, none more minus me, because I’m not even thinking that. I lied.

It’s only appropriate to use that as a model if you think the internet is the same as TV. And this is the point I normally end up refusing to post on this topic, because countless other people have made this argument, but, I don’t know, it smarts more, I guess, to be the other side of the world from where you live and have it brought home to you by the most global form of communication that has ever existed.

What’s really annoyed me here is that I didn’t know that the content in question was limited access until I tried to access it. I wasn’t looking for it – I just clicked idly on something the BBC was trying to promote. But rather than get some information about it, I got an error page because of where I live. Why couldn’t I at least have seen what the show was about? Chiz chiz could do better. Harrumph. Merry Christmas.