Public Link for Webcasting System?

[mitchrichie]

We've had a couple recent deaths in our stake and the Sake President has requested that we webcast the funerals so that family and friends can view the funeral without gathering at the building during this Covid 19 situation. One limitation of the Church's webcast system is that you seem to need a church login account to view the stream. This becomes a problem for some that would like to view the funeral but are not members of the church and have no login. I understand that in most cases (stake conferences) you would never need a public viewing URL. Are we not to use the system in this way?

Before the pandemic, we had another funeral situation where several members of a family died in an airplane crash. The survivors wanted to view the webcast from the hospital but this was complicated by the requirement to sign in.

[Mikerowaved]

As far as I know, the church has no provision for viewing without logging in with a church account. Now, with that said, non-members can easily obtain a church account without needing a membership number.

The other option is to live stream using another service.

[russellhltn]

non-members can easily obtain a church account without needing a membership number.

But can they view anything? If the system forces you to login in, I'd think it would limit who can view based on what stake their membership records are in.

[Mikerowaved]

But can they view anything? If the system forces you to login in, I'd think it would limit who can view based on what stake their membership records are in.

Not that I can see. The ONLY links available point to webcast.churchofjesuschrist.org, which if you're not logged in, redirects you to the SSO page. I can't see any way around it.

Once logged in, you can enter an event code. I'm not sure if you can enter an event code from another stake and be able to view it. I just PM'ed you an event code from my stake. See if you can bring up the pre-roll.

[Mikerowaved]

Since russellhltn was able to see my dummy event and watch the pre-roll, it appears you can view events from other stakes once you are given their event code. Seems logical, since non-member church accounts aren't attached to any unit and can use an event code to view a stake's webcast.

[lajackson]

I watch events from other stakes all the time using the event code. I have never tested it to see if someone who is not a member but has a church account can access any events, but that should be easy to find out. I suspect they would be able to do it, but I would check it out before the event, especially for something such as a funeral.

[mitchrichie]

Thanks for the replies and info. Having to create a church account if you are a non-member would be a hurdle a lot of people wouldn't make the effort to cross in my opinion. I see from the forum that an update is coming that will have public link capability. Should be a great improvement for this use case.