The BBC will remove most its programming from TuneIn UK. TuneIn announced the change, which takes effect on August 30. The company said the BBC’s move was driven “primarily by the BBC’s efforts to standardize how listeners in the UK access BBC stations, which unfortunately, is something we are unable to accommodate at this time.” TuneIn noted that the BBC’s podcasts will not be impacted by the change and will continue to be available to UK listeners on its platform.
This isn’t the first time the UK broadcaster has pulled content from a third-party provider. The BBC exited Google podcast app and made its shows unavailable through Google Assistant because the tech giant directed listeners to its own services rather than to the broadcaster’s. The UK media operation has its own app, BBC Sounds, that UK listeners can use to access content, and the move away from third-party platforms may have the goal of encouraging a larger audience to migrate to the app.