ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ExtractorError

Episode %s is not available: %s

Error message

Episode %s is not available: %s

What it means

Catch-all sibling in BBCCoUkIE._extract_from_legacy_playlist: the noItems element carries a reason attribute the extractor does not recognize (anything other than preAvailability/postAvailability/noMedia), so it raises 'Episode %s is not available: %s' with the raw reason string. Expected=True; the raw reason is passed through verbatim for diagnosis.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/extractor/bbc.py:509

            'http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlist/%s' % playlist_id, playlist_id)

    def _download_legacy_playlist_url(self, url, playlist_id=None):
        return self._download_xml(
            url, playlist_id, 'Downloading legacy playlist XML')

    def _extract_from_legacy_playlist(self, playlist, playlist_id):
        no_items = playlist.find('./{%s}noItems' % self._EMP_PLAYLIST_NS)
        if no_items is not None:
            reason = no_items.get('reason')
            if reason == 'preAvailability':
                msg = 'Episode %s is not yet available' % playlist_id
            elif reason == 'postAvailability':
                msg = 'Episode %s is no longer available' % playlist_id
            elif reason == 'noMedia':
                msg = 'Episode %s is not currently available' % playlist_id
            else:
                msg = 'Episode %s is not available: %s' % (playlist_id, reason)
            raise ExtractorError(msg, expected=True)

        for item in self._extract_items(playlist):
            kind = item.get('kind')
            if kind not in ('programme', 'radioProgramme'):
                continue
            title = playlist.find('./{%s}title' % self._EMP_PLAYLIST_NS).text
            description_el = playlist.find('./{%s}summary' % self._EMP_PLAYLIST_NS)
            description = description_el.text if description_el is not None else None

            def get_programme_id(item):
                def get_from_attributes(item):
                    for p in ('identifier', 'group'):
                        value = item.get(p)
                        if value and re.match(r'^[pb][\da-z]{7}$', value):
                            return value
                get_from_attributes(item)
                mediator = item.find('./{%s}mediator' % self._EMP_PLAYLIST_NS)
                if mediator is not None:

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

  1. Read the interpolated reason string — it is the BBC's own code and usually self-explanatory (rights, takedown, etc.).
  2. Compare against the three known codes; if the new one is semantically equivalent to one of them (e.g. another geo code), add it to the if/elif chain in bbc.py:509 and submit upstream.
  3. Reproduce by fetching the legacy playlist XML for that id directly and inspecting noItems.
  4. Retry later — some transient backend states also surface as unknown reasons.

Example fix

// before
elif reason == 'noMedia':
    msg = 'Episode %s is not currently available' % playlist_id
else:
    msg = 'Episode %s is not available: %s' % (playlist_id, reason)

// after: map newly observed geo-style codes onto the geo message while keeping the raw code visible
else:
    if 'geo' in (reason or '').lower():
        msg = 'Episode %s is only available in the UK (reason: %s)' % (playlist_id, reason)
    else:
        msg = 'Episode %s is not available: %s' % (playlist_id, reason)
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try:
    ydl.extract_info(episode_url)
except ExtractorError as e:
    m = re.search(r'is not available: (\S+)', str(e))
    if m:
        classify_bbc_reason(m.group(1))  # log raw BBC reason; maybe a new geo/rights code
    else:
        raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: BBC adds a new noItems reason value (e.g. a new rights or takedown code) that the if/elif chain does not cover; the legacy EMP backend returns an unusual or malformed reason for a specific programme.

Common situations: Site-side API evolution introducing new reason codes after this extractor version was written; geo/rights-specific reason codes only served to some regions; debugging sessions where you need the raw reason string to classify a new failure mode.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0c15fb65dea4692e. Report an issue: GitHub.