Ubuntu 19.10 some drm content not streaming

I am running Ubuntu 19.10 as the only OS on my laptop. Up until recently, that is a few days ago, I regularly watched ITVHub in the Chrome browser on my laptop.

Yesterday I tried to watch a programme only to get the warning that I needed to enable "Protected Content" in Chrome or "Digital Right Management (DRM) Content" in Firefox. I tried to stream the programme in Firefox but got the same warning. I checked and the options were enabled in the Chrome and Firefox browsers. I can stream the BBC iPlayer and All4, two other UK streaming sites without any problem.

I then tried streaming ITVHub using Chrome in my Android tablet and it worked perfectly.

I regularly update my Ubuntu OS and there was an update prior to this problem occuring. Because Chrome can stream ITVHub on my Android tablet but not on my Ubuntu laptop I suspect the problem may be an OS problem.

I have all of the ubuntu-restricted-extras etc installed and the ITVHub was working on my 19.10 OS until very recently.

Any ideas of what may be causing this?

Solution 1:

Not exactly an answer, but I can't post a comment...

I emailed ITV about this problem and received this reply:

Thank you for your email.

I'm afraid that Linux hasn't ever been fully supported on our website.

We are however looking into an issue where DRM content is causing a error message to appear on our website.

If you are getting a message to update your browser, this will probably be resolved for you once they have fixed the issue with DRM content.

If I can be of further assistance, please do get back in touch. 

So I guess we wait and see, but doesn't sound hopeful. It's not clear to me who "they" are (as in "...once they have fixed..."); ITV or browser authors? Nor if this is definitely related to the problem - I have not been prompted to update my browser.

Solution 2:

ITVHub have replied to my emails confirming that the issue is a "Widevine issue". They said that they hoped to resolve the issue by last Tuesday but, as I wrote and told them, it has still not been resolved.

I'm afraid this is not a lot of help to Martin Thoma but at least he could write to MaxDome.de and specify that ITV-Hub recognize that it is a Widevine issue.