[georgespencer]

> They can't show adverts on this page and allow people from the UK to see it because this would cause confusion and make people wonder where their licence fee is going.

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.

The BBC absolutely could serve this content, with a persistent explanation of why this page serves adverts with its content.

Essentially the BBC is not confident in its own ability to design something which communicates a simple message ("This content is produced by a BBC subsidiary which is not funded by the licence fee, and we therefore have to pay for it by placing adverts on this page"). Having seen the incompetent UX work the Beeb have done on their homepage in recent years (BBC Sport redesign, anyone?), I can understand why they don't have that much confidence in their own abilities.

It's a shame that the BBC's arbitrary fear of confusion, which is fundamentally rooted in their own inability to manage expectations, is preventing millions of people from accessing interesting content.

[aes256]

> Essentially the BBC is not confident in its own ability to design something which communicates a simple message ("This content is produced by a BBC subsidiary which is not funded by the licence fee, and we therefore have to pay for it by placing adverts on this page").

On the contrary, I would argue it is more a case of the BBC lacking confidence in the ability of the general public to understand such a message.

The problem is exacerbated here (unlike in the case of Top Gear magazine, the BBC Good Food website, etc.) because the /future page is not an obviously distinct entity.

[georgespencer]

> I would argue it is more a case of the BBC lacking confidence in the ability of the general public to understand such a message.

Whichever it is, they're going about it entirely the wrong way. Is there a solution which most people could understand? I bet there is. Farm it out to five or six top UX people and I don't doubt that they would come up with a dozen beautiful and workable solutions.

The BBC shouldn't be censoring its/its subsidiary's output because of the stupidity of the general public.