Just for a lark: How many people on this forum are actually able to watch the Big Cat Diary’s 4 webcams live from the Masai Mara?

I’m not a happy lark!!

Me neither

Me neither. Apparently you can only watch them if you are in the UK. I'm so disappointed.

I'm in the UK and I can... been watching the Marsh Pride for 4 hours now. 4 times they've tried to hunt zebra and failed.

Also seen the hyena den and a serval cat!

I get the "not available in your area" message. I'm in the U.S.

Why is that, do you think?

the same as cw - in austria

div

Access to these webcams are blocked outside the UK. The forum on the BBC website has also blocked any replies to a thread which was aimed at letting people outside the UK view the webcams. Apparently, you can somehow route the webpage through a UK proxy server if you are tech savvy. It can be done (although considered illegal in the UK).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbsn/F11234276?thread=5938569

How happy is a lark anyway???

To be fair (or perhaps to throw the cat amongst the pigeons!) I can understand why you can't view the webcams outside of the UK.

The BBC is effectively funded by a tax on television ownership, the TV License Fee.

Since it's only paid by us lot and since the cost of bandwidth for those outside the UK downloading the webcam footage would be considerable, I can understand why they have taken steps to limit.

I would have no problem with them offering a secondary pay-to-view site for non TV License Fee payers but doubt most would be willing to pay?

Kavey,
I hope you’re having a great time watching live from the Mara.

I'm curious how this tax works.
1. Do you pay a yearly TV License Fee-tax on every TV set in your home directly to the BBC?
2. How much is this tax?
3. How is it billed and paid to the BBC?
4. Or is this a tax levied when you purchase a new TV?

Just FYI: Here in the USA, we have public programming stations and they are supported by the people who watch, voluntarily. It seems to work fine. The money is sent directly to the TV station, no tax is collected and no middlemen or government involvement - who undoubtedly would have their fingers in the pie along the way. Thus there are no commercials (as such), only thank-yous and credits to corporations who support the station or certain programming. This of course accomplishes the same thing.

The U.S. government does fund our Public Broadcasting Service through appropriations and grants. I'm guessing that that may be about 25% of their budget. It may change year to year, and has been a controversial issue with some government officials over the years, who perceive a political bias in the news shows.

The rest comes from large grants from corporations and foundations, and the general public through membership and donations. I think the donations from individuals, though not insignificant, are the smallest percentage of their total revenue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Televis...United_Kingdom

As this is a subject close to my heart (the BBC that is, not the webcams) I'll have a go at replying to safarimama.

If you have a TV it is your responsibilty to acquire a form (probably soft copy these days, used to be the Post Office), fill it in and pay. So if you had just arrived from Mars and gone out and bought a TV set you could take it home and watch it, just like that. But it is illegal to do so without a licence. And the detector vans might find you.

I agree with this method 100%. Because the Beeb has NO ADVERTISING, and no sponsorship. As soon as you accept either you are compromised.

It also means that you can watch a full length drama without having your train of thought interrupted. Ditto sport. I don't know which UK channel now shows Test Matches and Wimbles, but I do know that I find it infuriating here to have commercial breaks after every over, every game. Drives me mad!!

The Beeb has a brilliant website - free to all - with language learning and all kinds of stuff. Maybe they just decided to draw a line at ,the webcams.

Expect they'll get around to offering pay to view for overseas people eventually.

As an aside, Kavey, if you are British why are spelling "license" the American way. The noun in English is "licence". "License" is the verb.

And, yes, I feel strongly about that too (smile).

Go the beeb. May it NEVER EVER, EVER, EVER be commercialised.

Heh, afterall, I am currently working for an American company and it's doing apalling things to my spelling. You should hear me dither over the pronunciation of schedule too - I'll switch between the Brit and American pronunciation several times during a day!

Hi afterall,
Thanks for clearing this up. I assume then that most people, (who're not from Mars) pay this licence fee voluntarily if they like the BBC, just like Americans do if they like Public Television. However, we also have a lot of "free-loaders" watching.

So my next question then naturally will be this: If you just arrived from Mars, went out a bought a TV, hooked it up and turned it on, can you watch the Big Cat webcams in the Mara?

Next obvious question is: How often does the detector van come around and find the free-loaders? What are the chances of getting caught and what are the consequences?

Most people pay the fee, not everyone wants to, so depends by what you mean by "voluntarily".

I love the BBC and I watch a lot of their programming so for me, it's a pleasure to pay it.

But I do know people who absolutely do not watch anything on the BBC, nor listen to BBC radio. They have TVs pretty much to watch DVDs or satellite TV, excluding BBC channels. They still have to pay the fee or risk being caught and fined.

Essentially, if you have a TV, you have to pay, whether or nor you intend to use any BBC services.

It's probably a good thing I can't log on to another webcam~lol!

For all you Big Cat Diary fans, I just got an email from Saba Douglas-Hamilton who is in Kenya currently working on a 3 part series with the BBC called "The Secret Life of Elephants". She says it should air maybe in Nov or early next year. &lt

Where will it air?

How do you get on Saba's email list?

Yeah, I agree; being hooked on 4 webcams 24/7 is a bit much. As they say in Sweden - "They are sour said the fox about the berries!" (he couldn't reach them!)

Kavey - that explains it!!

And thanks, safarimama for the Swedish proverb. Nice!

My husband was crushed to find out we couldn't access the BBC site from here (Canada) especially after we just got back from Governor's and met Simon King and Jonathan Scott. For my husband, meeting them was the equivalent of me running into Brad and Angelina!

I can't view the webcams but there are videos to watch on the site, and I am watching the programme every evening on the BBC here in Holland. We pay towards the BBC too via our cable company who pay the BBC for transmission rights.
I think I preferred the Big Cat Diary format to the Big Cat live format though. Too much talking and sitting around and not enough cats and story for me. I do like Jackson though - he is wonderful, a great addition to the team.