TG4 are now DRM encrypting their videos, so download tools like youtube-dl won't work anymore. Not now, not in the future.

DRM encryption is special because there's a law against bypassing DRM or making tools to bypass DRM. (EU Copyright Directive 2001, art 6) So this isn't just a case of having to wait for the download tools to catch up. The authors of the tools aren't working on this.

The only thing to do is ask whoever's in charge at TG4 to stop doing this. Anyone know who to ask?

Until then, there's no more downloading TG4 programmes so you can watch them offline in your preferred software without "Buffering...".

I was downloading Ros na Rún and various documentaries so that I'd have a body of programs to study when my Irish was good enough.

I also downloaded the subtitles so I could search for words and then see them used in context. (I did this when I was asking here about enunciating the possessive -sa/-se)

But that's no longer possible. And there was me thinking that the grammar would be the hardest part of learning Irish.

_________________
Pages I made:
(These are unfortunately offline for the near future, but they'll be back!)

• Teaching Young Kids Irish (It's just my notes, a work in progress.)
• CD transcript and translations for the book Learning Irish

My guess is they're doing this for licensing reasons.

Redwolf

That's something I've been thinking about, but who are they licensing it to? It's on free TV in Ireland and they don't sell boxsets. What overseas market pays big money for RnR?

And what amount of money could they be receiving that would justify constantly deleting the only source of TV for learners of Irish, and now creating a zero-tolerance policy to ensure that once they delete their copies, no other copies exist anywhere in the world. I just don't get it.

I really do want to contact them, but my previous email got no reply and gathering support for a "Free the TG4" campaign might be hard if the only people in the world talking about TG4's programmes are me and a half dozen people on Twitter.

Another possibility is that the DRM came in an update of the software they use (Brightcove), and they don't even realise that anything has changed. Or maybe a member of the technical staff just thinks playing with encryption is cool so why not. If this is the case then it might be easy to get the change reversed, but I still have to find someone in TG4 who'll listen.

_________________
Pages I made:
(These are unfortunately offline for the near future, but they'll be back!)

• Teaching Young Kids Irish (It's just my notes, a work in progress.)
• CD transcript and translations for the book Learning Irish