Streaming Cycling in UK - Discovery+ prices!

[ColinJ]

Hmm, if looks like SBS might have got better at detecting VPN use... I have gone from getting video playback errors about 5% of the time to 100% of the time over the past few days!

PS Nope!! It is something weird with the Chrome browser on my tablet. Chrome worked on my phone, but I didn't want to watch on the smaller screen so I tried an alternative browser on the tablet, which worked perfectly. I had deleted cookies on Chrome + tablet, logged out and back in again, and so on, but nothing made a difference. I might try deleting ALL Chrome data to see if that fixes it, but for now the other browser has sorted the problem out.

 

[Alex321]

Hmm, if looks like SBS might have got better at detecting VPN use... I have gone from getting video playback errors about 5% of the time to 100% of the time over the past few days!

PS Nope!! It is something weird with the Chrome browser on my tablet. Chrome worked on my phone, but I didn't want to watch on the smaller screen so I tried an alternative browser on the tablet, which worked perfectly. I had deleted cookies on Chrome + tablet, logged out and back in again, and so on, but nothing made a difference. I might try deleting ALL Chrome data to see if that fixes it, but for now the other browser has sorted the problem out.

There are quite a few things I have been finding just don't work right with Chrome for me - Facebook being one example. Which is annoying because it is generally my preferred browser.

 

[TakeTheHighRoad]

I've noticed the VPN has disconnected more often when SBS than it used to, but the fact they've paid out for the world feed for races they didn't used to have suggests to me that they know there's a market for people watching cycling who may not necessarily live in Australia

 

[rualexander]

I've noticed the VPN has disconnected more often when SBS than it used to, but the fact they've paid out for the world feed for races they didn't used to have suggests to me that they know there's a market for people watching cycling who may not necessarily live in Australia

How does having overseas viewers (and a relatively small number of them) accessing SBS via a VPN have any benefit for SBS?
It's not like their advertising revenue will grow given that the ads are all Australian.

 

[TakeTheHighRoad]

How does having overseas viewers (and a relatively small number of them) accessing SBS via a VPN have any benefit for SBS?
It's not like their advertising revenue will grow given that the ads are all Australian.

They can show advertisers their viewing figures, whilst simultaneously omitting the fact that x% are VPN users. SBS don't care if the adverts they show are being viewed by the "right" audience

 

[mjr]

They can show advertisers their viewing figures, whilst simultaneously omitting the fact that x% are VPN users. SBS don't care if the adverts they show are being viewed by the "right" audience

If it becomes widely suspected that a significant chunk are VPN users, then Australian-targetted advertisers will pressure for reduced rates on that basis. It's unclear what effect this might have on other advertisers or coverage. If SBS were to start attracting noticeable advertising spend away from WBD, then expect WBD to demand ASO, RCS, Flanders Classics and others get SBS to either buy world rights or demonstrate how they're cracking down on people using VPNs to break their terms.