h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Or the fact that www stands for world wide web, are liable to get a punch up the bracket from me if they don't very soon get their act together. Once again it's the opening day of a brand new Ashes series. Once again I tune in eagerly to hear the TMS ball-by-ball, and once again I get the dreaded "Due to rights restrictions..."

I wonder if it'll ever happen in my lifetime that people who control rights will come around to understanding that the internet is a global thing. The clue's in the name guys

We get that on radio, TV and even on youtube clips!

I use an International Amazon account for my Kindle and am frequesntly told I cant have a certain advertised book due to ...

I don't know how many football, cricket & rugby matches we sit in the car listening too in the hopes of picking up a BFBS signal who air BBC 5 Live Sports! We can't get it in the house but can in the car.

I've lost my BFBS 2 signal no more Today or PM for me in the car)

I agree wholeheartedly. I was looking forward to using Netflix, but it's not available in Spain. (not sure of Gosho's rights' restrictions on smileys in his journal, so resists the temptation to be on the safe side.)

Here's another radio-related thing.

When I was driving around London through the night delivering magazines I was able to pick up American Forces Network broadcasts from Germany on my radio. During the spring, summer and autumn that meant I could listen to a baseball game, and the timing was perfect for me because of the time difference - the games would usually start about an hour into my run and end before I finished it. I wasn't able to hear the entire game though because the signal faded in and out, and if I went into a heavily built-up area I lost the signal altogether, especially in central London. But on the whole, I only ever lost about 20% of the game.

It was especially exciting during the World Series, not just because it was the World Series but, for me, because I got to hear Vin Scully's voice. For those of you who don't know who Vin Scully is, he's the Harry Carpenter/Kenneth Wolstenholme/Murray Walker/Dan Maskell/Brian Johnston/Peter O'Sullivan of baseball. He's the in-house radio commentator for the Dodgers, and he was commentating on their games before they moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1957.

If the AFN broadcast a regular season Dodgers game I got to hear him, but during the World Series he became the CBS commentator and described all the games, in turn with another commentator.

But since I came to America I haven't heard him once. The broadcast corporations and Major League Baseball have the rights locked down so tight that if you don't have a CBS radio station in your area you can't hear the games, although CBS might not have the rights any more. I wouldn't be surprised if it's ESPN now, and I believe we do have an ESPN radio station in Austin.

I also tried listening to the Los Angeles radio station that broadcasts the games in LA - no joy. They don't do online streaming of the games. Rights again. Perhaps if I had a smartphone with a radio app I might have been able to get it - I remember someone listening to a baseball game at work on their phone through one of those.

But it's all too late anyway - I've been told that Vin's retired

Ironic, isn't it. I could listen to the country's greatest baseball commentator in Europe, but not in America.

Oh, and there are no rights restrictions on smileys, Lanza, just personal idiosyncrasy

I think there's some legislation bouncing around D.C. that will open up US airwaves to "propaganda" like VoA, Radio Free Europe and possibly AFN as well.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's not like there's not propaganda flooding our airways already, this would just add the state sponsored sort.

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/12/us_backs_off_propaganda_ban_spreads_government_made_news_to_americans

You mean like Dr Demento, which I used to listen to every Friday night on AFN?

Sadly, I never listened to Dr. Demento even though it aired on a local station as well.

I guess there must have been some AFN-only programmes, but from what I remember it was mostly regular syndicated content from US radio stations such as sports, music, Dr Demento, All Things Considered.

If you sent off to the good Doctor for a copy of one his cassettes (cassettes - there's one for the teenagers) he'd include a personalised signed photo with it. I've still got mine

I used to love listening to AFN when I was in the southern part of Germany. I remember visiting friends and listening to some hip and trendy DJ on Radio Downtowh Kaiserrrslauten.

When you said a few posts back "...the Kenneth Wolstenholme of baseball..." my eyes *read* the word Wolstenholme, but somehow my mind took it up as "the Kenneth Williams of baseball". The very thought is still making me chuckle.

"Some of the crowd are trollin' onto the pitch. They think it's all over, ducky. It is now - it's four! Ooh, isn't he bold! Just varda the lallies on 'im. How bona. Get your towel ready Jool, 'e'll be needing a good rub down of 'is thews'"