Greenwich Time Signal not allow the pips to be broadcast except as a time signal. Radio plays and comedies which have fictional news programmes use various methods to avoid playing the full six pips, ranging from simply fading in the pips to a version played on "On the Hour" in which the sound was made into a small tune between the pips. "The News Quiz" also featured a special Christmas pantomime edition where the pips went missing, and the problem was avoided there by only playing individual pips and not the whole set. The 2012 project "Radio Reunited", however, did use the pips
BBC Radio 4 Extra is broadcast over the internet on the BBC website, on services such as Radioplayer and TuneIn and for users of IPTV's. It is also available on digital radio (on which it is broadcast monophonically) and television services including digital terrestrial provider Freeview, cable television providers including Virgin Media and on satellite television providers Freesat and Sky who receive their signal from the Astra 2E satellite. The pan-European nature of this satellite means that the signal can be received across northern Europe. The controller of the station is Gwyneth Williams who is answerable to the Radio board in the BBC. BBC