BBC iPlayer no longer available on Samsung smart TV?

[BettyJean]

Wondering if anyone else was having this issue? We bought a new Samsung smart TV in 2015 and as of today, we can no longer watch iPlayer on it. The BBC have changed the iPlayer app so that it’s no longer available on Samsung TVs.

We don’t have an aerial at our property, so we only have a TV license so we can watch iPlayer. Does anyone know if the BBC are trying to fix this? If not I’ll cancel my TV license.

I had exactly the same problem, starting same time as you. I tried to update the TV software, but it said there were no updates available. So I went to Samsung's website and searched for updates there. (You have to put your TV model number in to find the right one.) And in fact there WAS an update. (My TV was using firmware 2126, and 2127 was available.) I downloaded the update to my computer and followed the instructions. You copy it on to a USB stick, plug it into your TV, then attempt to update software again. It will locate the file on the USB and update itself. After that, Iplayer works again. Give it a go.

The page you need to go to is www.samsung.com/uk/support/. Put your TV model number in the search box. You can find this on your TV by going to Menu/Support/Contact Samsung. It will show your Model Code.
Having entered that, go to the 'Download Manual' section. Below the manuals, you will find a section with software downloads. Download the latest one.

It's not very intuitive. Why put the model number under 'Contact Samsung'? And why put the software downloads in a section titled 'Download manual'. Bonkers.

Yes, I lost iPlayer last night too. Have been Googling - found this below - put next phrase in ‘search’
What to do if your Samsung has lost access to BBC iPlayer
Read through the ‘WHICH’ reply.
Haven’t done this yet but it seems a very comprehensive set of instructions.

Smart TVs are only "smart" for as long as the manufacturer and or the people who develop the applications for them deem it so. New tech all the time, it all works slightly differently with new hardware and for each new model/ brand a new variant of the app is needed. This is unsustainable and so most tech only is supports for a small number of years. Mobile phones are a good example of this. Hundreds of Models and brands and after a few years they stop getting updates. Manufacturers have openly admitted they slow the speed of the phones down to make it look like u need a new one. All part of the planned/designed obselescance aka capitalism I'm afraid. I buy the best dumbest TV I can afford i.e. awesome screen and many HDMI sockets to facilitate chrome cast/apple TV/firestick etc.

We had a similar problem earlier this year with our LG TV and iplayer
It seems to be a thing that once your TV of any brand/make gets to certain age is at the mercy of any catch up TV provider.

I eventually found a list on the iPlayer website if all different brands and models of TVs that iPlayer would no longer be available to.
Lucky for us ours wasn't on the list but we ended up being without iPlayer for 3 months from one of thier cut off dates. IPlayer said it was a known glitch but after the initial reply just rolled out the same email response for the full 3 months and didn't reply yo my request for a partial refund on my TV licence for reduced services.
I think we resolved our issue using a Firestick in the end.
We had similar issue with ITV player too whwn they changed to ITV Hub.
No streaming service seems to give a shit and they apparently regularly "dump" "old" TV models from thier services..old being as little as 4 years old!!

You need to do a software update, I did mine yesterday and iplayer worked fine after I’d done that.

It’s menu - support - software update. Then it should let you know if there’s an update available.

Just to be clear on my advice. Software update worked for me on Samsung TV with same problem as OP. Problem started on same day. TV would not update itself over the air. I had to do it manually (see instructions in my previous post). This resolved the issue.

Mine does work either. I have gone back to factory settings but it doesn't work. There is no explanation given.

Factory settings won't work. You need to update the TV's software - please see above.

Thought it was just us! Our model is a few years old but doesn't appear to be on any of the 'can't update' lists. We were struggling with it last night and now after resetting the smart hub it won't let us download the iPlayer at all.

My software is on auto update and it saying I have the latest software. Since restoring factory settings I'm unable to get into iplayer even to update software. It's a pain but no point in getting stressed over.

Samsung telephone support and internet live chat has been diabolical. Not been able to get iplayer to work despite software update, or resetting smart hub. Any help appreciated. Tv model is UE40H6400

we have had the same problem, however, on the internet the issue allegedly started on december 6th, and our BBC iPlayer was working until sunday 8th.....we have done the software update so has anyone else any tips?

No tips. Ours isn’t on the list either. IPlayer stopped working yesterday. I’ve done everything I can find to do and now I can access it right up to pressing play, it tries, but ultimately I get a message about encountering a problem.

Firesticks are really good.

It's enough to make you boycott Samsung.

NannyCP, ours is also on auto-update, and it also said we had the latest version. It was only when I checked with Samsung's support website that I found there is actually a newer version. Why the TV didn't install it automatically is anyone's guess. That's why I had to install manually. And it worked.

The same eventually happens on all TVs, tablets, phones...

A new version of an app is introduced, fancier than the last one, and eventually they stop supporting older versions.

It's an ongoing thing.

I've also heard many positive things about the Chromecast.

Well this latest update has bricked our Samsung TV - it’s been stuck on an update loop that never ends since Saturday

www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/10/bbc_iplayer_samsung_outage/

My parents have a Samsung TV. DF knew this was coming a few months ago and bought a Roku stick, £25 from Argos/amazon.

He has loaded everything incl iplayer on the roku stick.

Different manufacturers have different issues - my TVs (2018) are Panasonic which don’t have a now tv app because LG had the rights to now tv at one point.

A roku stick gets round that too.

That's happened to me too

I have a Samsung smart tv in the spare room which keeps switching itself off after a minute..... every time I get far enough into the menu it turns off..... no idea how to fix it! Any ideas?

I have had the same trouble with this. I have D/L new software and reset the hub and still no luck. Very disappointed that there is not even an advice page to go to at samsung on this. The only way you can find out is by emailing as obviously at work all day, so communication will be slow. Thy've got this wrong and I guess we should all go back to SONY TV's from now on. I have had 2 previously. The first went for 17 years before we had to throw it away as it was 4:3 and sick of letterbox screen. Then next one is still going, keep it in bedroom, use it regularly and I think that is about 12 years old. had they done this update on black Friday, I could have got a cheap firestick. Basically Samsung have broke my Telly. I wonder where we all stand on this? We had to update and as a consequence, no TV

Does anyone have a problem only with the bbc iPlayer and the picture being blurry
No other app does it and it's only sometimes usually at night
The internet seems fine
I actually have two smart TVs and the newer one which I got in the summer is the one that had the issue
I couldn't find anything on google