Yeah, it seems BBC Worldwide is available for free in every country on Earth, except Britain. I'm not sure in whose head this makes any kind of sense.

Sounds like some sort of Vogon logic.

Maybe BBC stuff is required to be free and ad-free for UK residents because UK residents pay for it in taxes. This is targeted at non-Uk people in order to make money with ads. So, it can't be shown in the UK. just a theory.

I googled this and, wouldn't you know, a thread on HN came up! http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4110445

A workaround, from the author no less!

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&tl...

https://plus.google.com/u/0/114046998698228319586/posts/GpH9...

Proving, yet again, that any form of "DRM" or "Copyright" hurts more creators than it helps.

To make it even better, I see that message from work where I simultaneously can't watch iPlayer because then the BBC think I'm coming from outside the UK. Goodness knows how they manage that...

I feel like, having paid them £145, they could make it available to me anyway - it's hardly going to affect their bottom line to do so.

Are arbitrary and ridiculous restrictions on language unique to humans?