Can you confirm if changing the media_id to bbc_world_service also works for you?
Well the BBC did say they were going to switch off these feeds in 2023 (sorry, don’t have a link handy), in favour of ‘smart speaker’ apps. So we need to look for a different approach.
The BBC announced they were discontinuing Shoutcast feeds this October. However HLS and DASH feeds will continue.
Given that Shoutcast streams had a regular audio announcement that they were to be discontinued, and I never heard one when listing with the feeds set up with the above code, I do not think we are talking about the same feeds.
There is an issue on GitHub for this, and a different announcement by BBC about what is happening with their streams.
The issue has a workaround using the URLs for HLS streams, which is working for now.
Here is a sequence for 6 Music that works with Chromecasts today:
service: media_player.play_media
target:
entity_id: media_player.kitchen_chromecast_audio
data:
media_content_id: >-
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_6music.m3u8
media_content_type: audio
extra:
metadata:
metadataType: 0
title: BBC 6 Music
images:
- url: >-
https://sounds.files.bbci.co.uk/3.4.2/networks/bbc_6music/colour_default.svg
alias: Play 6 Music on Kitchen Chromecast Audio
Here are URLs for other BBC stations - all tested as working today!
Radio 1:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_one.m3u8
Radio 1Xtra:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_1xtra.m3u8
Radio 2:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_two.m3u8
Radio 3:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_three.m3u8
Radio 4:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_fourfm.m3u8
Radio 4 Extra:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_four_extra.m3u8
Radio 5 Live:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_five_live.m3u8
6 Music:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_6music.m3u8
BBC World Service:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_low/ak/bbc_world_service.m3u8
I can’t get a high bit rate stream for World Service. I wonder if this is related to World Service working with the bbcsounds app. I know the World Service is funded differently from the rest of the BBC and is less restricted.
Note that the above URLs may not work if used outside the UK.
Many thanks.
The issue here is that BBC Sounds have updated their app_id. When I try my previously working script I get:
Whereas when I ask my Home Mini to “play BBC radio 1” I get:
I have a PR into the pychromecast library to update it - Change BBC Sounds app_id by blawford · Pull Request #753 · home-assistant-libs/pychromecast · GitHub
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Just an FYI for anyone who’s coming here after BBC Radio streams seem to have died. It seems their URLs have recently been/are recently being changed.
For example, Radio 1 is now:
https://a.files.bbci.co.uk/ms6/live/3441A116-B12E-4D2F-ACA8-C1984642FA4B/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/pc_hd_abr_v2/cfs/bbc_radio_one.mpd
And Radio 2 is now:
https://a.files.bbci.co.uk/ms6/live/3441A116-B12E-4D2F-ACA8-C1984642FA4B/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/pc_hd_abr_v2/cfs/bbc_radio_one.mpd
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BBC URLS broke for me this morning too
I can confirm that this Radio four URL works for me:-
https://a.files.bbci.co.uk/ms6/live/3441A116-B12E-4D2F-ACA8-C1984642FA4B/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/pc_hd_abr_v2/cfs/bbc_radio_fourfm.mpd
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It’s the equivalent of preventing people making their own crystal radio sets 100 years ago 
I think a BBC Sounds integration similar to Spotify is needed. I suspect otherwise it could be whack-a-mole finding new URLs that work, and they might be somehow tied to individual BBC Sounds accounts.
I found a BBC Sounds plugin for Logitech Media Center that might give some pointers to how to achieve login and token handling, as well as some functionality - although it is written in Perl.
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Totally agree, a sounds integration where we provide our “bbc” account would be best. Those urls, the section “3441A116-B12E-4D2F-ACA8-C1984642FA4B” look strongly like an account identifier so once enough people use it, sure it will break again (currently working).
I wonder if the process of finding those initial urls, might help show what that section is and if we can link a url to ourselves.
I just found a Home Assistant add-on for the Logitech Media Server which supports BBC Sounds. I’m going to install it so I can have a play and see if it is robust. Not sure if it would allow automated playing specific radio stations (i.e. radio alarm clock functionality), which I am not sure is possible with add-ons, but this may be something.
Looks like you pasted the same URL twice.
This is the correct URL for BBC Radio 2
https://a.files.bbci.co.uk/ms6/live/3441A116-B12E-4D2F-ACA8-C1984642FA4B/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/pc_hd_abr_v2/cfs/bbc_radio_two.mpd