BBC Radio on HomePod mini

Here is the BBCs official response to me

Hello Robin,

Thank you for contacting BBC Sounds Support.

I’m sorry that you can’t get BBC radio on your Apple HomePod and understand your frustration. The BBC’s Distribution & Business Development team are looking at how we distribute BBC content in the way that is best value for licence fee payers. Doing that is a growing challenge as ‘Big Tech’ increasingly dominate the devices and platforms where users watch and listen. 

The situation with HomePod is that - unlike Amazon Alexa and Google – Apple have not made it possible to integrate BBC Sounds into their voice devices, so we have not given them access to BBC’s live radio streams. We have a UK Distribution Policy which sets out the conditions under which we can distribute our content and services to external platforms. It includes several conditions on platforms such as providing clear attribution and appropriate prominence for the BBC and allowing us to maintain editorial control. When a platform can’t (or won’t) meet those conditions, we can’t come to a distribution agreement. 

I realise this isn’t the perfect solution, but you can listen to all our live and on-demand audio content on HomePod by using AirPlay from the BBC Sounds app on your iPad or iPhone. 

Here’s a page about getting BBC Sounds on smart speakers: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/supported-devices/smart-speaker

Our goal is to ensure audiences can easily access and discover all BBC content and services and we are committed to working with Apple to find a solution. At the moment, access to non-Apple services on HomePod is very limited and we hope to see that change soon so we can make progress. You may wish to raise your frustrations direct with Apple too.

I hope this information was helpful and thanks again for getting in touch.

Kind Regards,

I had the same issue here in the UK that is why I had to return 2 Apple HomePod mini’s It’s crazy to think that we are unable to play the radio stations of our choice. BBC radio works on my Sonos and Amazon Alexa but did not work on my Apple HomePod mini.

When I was researching to see if Apple and the BBC had resolved the issue I had come across this Siri shortcut fix on YouTube. Let me know if it works and also if you are able to stop the radio station once you have finished with your voice. 

https://youtu.be/Pz5WMqV5CuQ

This is the main reason I've just bought two Sonos smart speakers - they do BBC radio natively, support Alexa and Google assistant - and allow Spotify as default music player. They sound almost as my two Homepods - about to go on eBay. As someone heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem I'm really annoyed with Apple for effectively forcing me down this route.

The BBC make their own BBC Sounds and iPlayer apps through which they control and monitor access to their content. Like you I am frustrated not to be able to get BBC radio directly on HomePod, but unless the BBC want to support it you'll have to resort to AirPlay from another device.

tt2

So it’s down to Apple. I’m about to eBay my two Homepods in favour of Sonos, purely because of this. I’m fed up of waiting.

That too.

tt2