Google Assistant on Sonos speakers unable to play BBC Radio 4 from TuneIn & instead plays BBC Radio 4 Extra, devs aware

Sonos speakers are equipped with virtual assistant support for Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant. However, things don’t always work as expected when it comes to virtual assistants and smart speakers.

To recall, the Alexa controls were not working with Sonos speakers which caused a lot of inconvenience to users.

Now, another issue has been troubling Sonos users, albeit with Google Assistant this time around.

As per multiple reports, Google Assistant is not playing BBC Radio 4 from TuneIn on Sonos speakers but instead plays BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Basically, when the “OK Google, play BBC Radio 4” Google Assistant command is given, Sonos speakers start playing BBC Radio 4 Extra instead.

I used to be able to start radio 4 with the voice command “OK Google, play BBC Radio 4” now this just leads to Sonos playing Radio 4 Extra. Has any one else seen this to know how to fix it?
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The issue first came to light in June 2021 and was also acknowledged by a Sonos Staff Member after reproducing it.

To make sure, I just tested it myself and can reproduce this issue. I’ve flagged it again with our engineers, but we don’t have anything else to share at this time. The workaround at the moment is to start playback through the Sonos app.

We appreciate your patience on this, and I’ll update here again if we have anything to share.
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This issue has been inconveniencing Sonos users for over two months now and no resolution has arrived so far.

Users have even contacted TuneIn and BBC in order to get this issue resolved and TuneIn has also allegedly shared their reports with their development team.

On the other hand, affected users have not received any response from BBC on the matter which is further adding to their dilemma.

While the issue appears to be with Sonos speakers and may not be at Google’s end, nothing is confirmed until Sonos and TuneIn shed more light on the matter.

Hopefully, Sonos and TuneIn look into this problem and provide a proper fix to affected users so that they can use Google Assistant for playing BBC Radio 4.

That said, we will report back with more details as and when new information becomes available so stay tuned.

NOTE: There are more such stories in our Smart Speakers and Virtual Assistant sections so be sure to go through them.

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