BBC Cuts

[cultcross]

does anyone know who pays for the news gathering at the BBC? The actual journalism? I'm wondering which budget it falls into. News24 seems to be spending an awful lot if that is only the cost of filming a continually repeated segment of a presenter behind a desk talking to camera.

My cut to the BBC would be to dissolve BBC Local Radio completely. I actually had no idea how much it was costing, but turns out its the 3rd largest expense. Yes, you get a lot of stations for that money, but does anyone really listen to it? I don't know anyone, old people included, who choose BBC local radio over private local radio. If you want BBC Radio, you've got all the national channels, why do we really need loads of crappy local stations at enormous expense? It seems ridiculous to cut the budget for the most watched TV channels in the country when you're spending over a hundred million on BBC Wiltshire and the like.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I wouldn't bemoan spending on it and I don't watch it at all (very rare item on iPlayer) or pay TV License. I question the need to have BBC Alba throughout Scotland though.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Yeah, the local radio budget look to be completely out of proportion to what I imagine is a small listener base. The actual figures might tell a different story, but I would suspect there's scope for cuts right there.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I think I read the cost of BBC News gathering is spread across various things, BBC News Channel, BBC World Service, BBC Monitoring, BBCs general news service which includes radio and TV News but not entirely certain.

As for the Radio, apparently cost savings are going to be made there by sending few teams to cover events, so if Radio 1 has a team covering an event they're going to be less likely to send another 5 teams from other Local stations and just share the coverage. I too was rather surprised to see how much they were spending on local radio, and well the radio stations in general. I mean Radio 1, 2, 3 and 5 have comparable budgets to BBC Four and Radio 4 is the same as BBC Four and News combined.

Just read this covering BBC protecting drama...

From C21Media

Output in this editorial priority area will therefore be protected relative to other areas and reinvestment funding has been identified to support its delivery in the future."

Flagship channel BBC1 will receive new investment for drama and comedy, while BBC2 will see its annual investment in drama rise from £15m in 2009 to £23m in 2012/13, which the BBC said will be maintained and could also be increased further.

"BBC2 will be the home of authored, original UK drama and the showcase for BBC Films but there will be a reduction in comedy entertainment on the channel," the report said.

For BBC3, however, the outlook is less bright. About a third of its drama funding will be given to BBC1 as the diginet moves its focus to develop talent and formats.

BBC4 will continue to offer foreign-language drama, such as Danish pubcaster DR's The Killing, though its investment in original drama will reduce as BBC2's funding in the genre increases. BBC4 will also continue to air drama from the BBC archives.

 

[cultcross]

I wouldn't bemoan spending on it and I don't watch it at all (very rare item on iPlayer) or pay TV License. I question the need to have BBC Alba throughout Scotland though.

The regional channels are a sacred cow, you'll never win that argument.
S4C costs the taxpayer £95m a year, to broadcast to 600,000 Welsh speakers, of whom about 2% can't also speak English fluently.
In March 2010 leaked figures showed that for Feb-> March 2010, nearly a quarter o S4C programmes rated as having zero viewers.

 

[Sean Aaron]

It's annoying for BBC2 radio listeners who use Freeview as BBC Alba overlaps the spectrum in the afternoon-evening. Considering the overwhelming majority of mainland Scots have little or no interest in the language, I don't understand why this should be the case. Just broadcast it in the Highlands and Islands or give it a separate channel.

 

[captcalhoun]

my recipe for saving the Beeb money:

cut the wages for all the highest earners. if they don't like it and fuck off to ITV/4/Sky/whatever, let them.

cut down on sending so goddamn many correspondents to news stories. if you've got a local bloke, like EG Steve Brody from Points West covering a story (EG Jo Yates murder) use him on the BBC News channel and BBC 1 news, not Jon Kay. that or use Kay on the local. and that's ONE example of many. They had a ridiculous number of people in Chile covering the miners. Two crews and a maximum of 3 correspondents could've done it in shifts over a 24 hour period.

axe S4C and fuck the Welsh moaners. If no one is watching, it's a waste of money. likewise for Alba. cut the hell back on it. if no one watches, scale it back.

as for what i've watched:

Merlin
Who
SJA
Torchwood
Strictly
News
Wonders of the Univeres/Solar System/Stargazing Live

and all of that's worth the license fee. (well, maybe not T:MD... at least that was co-produced with Starz, though...)

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^Well the sharing correspondents seems to be part of the plan now anyway. Lots of executives have taken pay cuts and/or freezes. And they're losing a layer or two of managers, and talent pay has been cut, so major parts of your way have been done.

BBC Alba barely costs anything in the scheme of things, and is a joint venture, so costs are shared anyway and the BBC can't cut S4C they don't own or operate it they just fund it and can't do otherwise due to the licence fee settlement.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

You talk like that's all that's on there. Just this year there's been many excellent dramas and documentaries. The BBC are making good shows even if you're not watching them.

Thats all I'M intrested in, nowhere did i say or imply thats all that was on, i simply dont like anything else thats on the BBC at the moment just like i have no intrest in almost 99% of stuff on other channels.......apart from the stuff i mentioned on the BBC and CSI and NCIS on five thats about it........i personally have no intrest whatsoever in reailty shows, dancing shows, more cop in cars shows, soaps, cooking shows, sell you shit, buy your shit, costume dramas, game shows, celebrity(add generic action here) shows.

Most of my TV viewing these days is either TV boxsets, occasional Iplayer, 4OD or shows from the US like the Big bang theory which i *Cough*watch online*cough). So as far as the BBC cuts go they wont really affect me personally becuse there is not much they offer me in the first place.....just like the rest of the TV channels at present.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

You talk like that's all that's on there. Just this year there's been many excellent dramas and documentaries. The BBC are making good shows even if you're not watching them.

Thats all I'M intrested in, nowhere did i say or imply thats all that was on, i simply dont like anything else thats on the BBC at the moment just like i have no intrest in almost 99% of stuff on other channels.......apart from the stuff i mentioned on the BBC and CSI and NCIS on five thats about it........i have no intrest whatsoever in reailty shows, dancing shows, more cop in cars shows, soaps, cooking shows, sell you shit, buy your shit, costume dramas, game shows, celebrity(add generic action here) shows.

Most of my TV viewing these days is either TV boxsets, occasional Iplayer, 4OD or shows from the US like the Big bang theory which i *Cough*watch online*cough). So as far as the BBC cuts go they wont really affect me personally becuse there is not much they offer me in the first place.....just like the rest of the TV channels at present.

You said

If only i were intrested in soaps, watching the same news 24 hours a day, or selling my old junk, watching other people selling their old junk, refurbishing my home, selling my home, buying my home

As if that was all that was left to watch. And I was just pointing out there's been a whole load to watch. Shame you don't enjoy it though.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

^^^Poor wording on my part i admit, i was just pointing out some stuff off the top of my head that i personally have no intrest in, im sure others do find them enjoyable and more power to them.

Im just a finickety bugger and expect every programme on the TV to be of Hustle, Sherlock and Who quailty.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^^^Poor wording on my part i admit, i was just pointing out some stuff off the top of my head that i personally have no intrest in, im sure others do find them enjoyable and more power to them.

Im just a finickety bugger and expect every programme on the TV to be of Hustle, Sherlock and Who quailty.

Did you try The Shadow Line, The Hour, Exile, or Page Eight? All very good.

 

[23skidoo]

The problem with the BBC is that they've stretched themselves too thin, as illustrated vividly by that list. There used to be only a single BBC network until 1964 and then they brought in BBC Two. OK, that was fine. I'm ignoring radio because it's inherently cheaper to produce, especially these days when you have people making radio shows in their bedrooms. But I mean, I didn't even know until yesterday that there was a BBC FOUR. I mean, if they're not going to sell commercials how far can a licence fee actually stretch?

Maybe it's time to shrink down a bit and get rid of the superfluous. I'm not being small-c conservative here, but with the economic warnings we're hearing now coming out of the UK just these past 24 hours, they're going to have to do something. Do they need all those radio stations? Do they need a fourth network?

I'm not so concerned about the programming. There will always be a way, even co-productions. That's the only way we got a new Torchwood season. And I'm sure BBC America (a separate company to the BBC) would co-produce or even take over production of Doctor Who in a minute if they had to, just as I'm sure some cable network would be happy to take the reins on Merlin or Sherlock or what-have-you if push came to shove. And I assume most of the shows you see show up on Masterpiece Theatre in the States are co-productions. The more concern is whether there'd be a venue in the UK for these shows.

I do think the days of the BBC being commercial free are numbered. They're going to have no choice unless they start running PBS-style pledge drives to get extra money (or increase the fee which I'm sure would be a death knell in this economy).

All that said, keep an eye on Doctor Who - if the Beeb farms it out, scales it down or even cancels it (for reasons other than an obvious collapse in its ratings, which is unlikely at the present moment), that's pretty much going to be a sign where the Beeb is headed. There are other shows too, of course, but I'm choosing DW because it's been recognized officially as the Beeb's biggest cash cow so it's their "bellwether stock". The cancellation of its sister series Confidential was a bit of a shake but it's the flagship I'm watching.

Alex

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^You have no idea what you're talking about. The BBC still collect £3.5bn from the licence fee, plus more from Worldwide, second only to Sky in revenue in the UK. They've had 8 channels for about 13 years now, it's not a new thing, HD is the latest to launch and that's not going anywhere just changing in to simulcast. This licence fee settlement lasts until 2017, the reasons these cuts are necessary is because they've had the budget frozen, not because they're losing any money.
BBC One's budget is still over £1bn. It's not a major catastrophe that's going to bring the BBC crashing down.

 

[Jax]

I do think people need to be reminded more that the BBC is very good for our economy hence why I want a slimming of the fat BUT NOT the far right's idea of just running it over with a flaming bulldozer.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I do think people need to be reminded more that the BBC is very good for our economy hence why I want a slimming of the fat BUT NOT the far right's idea of just running it over with a flaming bulldozer.

Agreed, but unless they amend the law to force me, I'm done paying the license fee.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Well unless you're watching live TV, broadcast or otherwise, you don't have to pay.

 

[Savage Jaw]

The BBC have been behind the curve on HD, and still are to a degree even with the launch of BBC One HD. Sky are massively ahead of the game with lots of HD services, and even ITV have HD versions of all their main channels. Replacing BBC HD with BBC Two HD is a move which will mean they are going backwards, as it will probably mean many BBC Three and BBC Four programmes will not be shown in HD unless they get re-airings on BBC One or BBC Two (though they may be available in HD on iPlayer even though they are not broadcast in HD on television).

The problem is Freeview, as there is not enough bandwidth for lots of HD services due to how Freeview broadcasts are transmitted at present, and the BBC have a policy of not launching a service unless it is universally available, which means it needs to be on Freeview or else it doesn't happen.

BBC Two HD was inevitable as nearly all new programming is now in HD, but they really need a third HD channel to cover HD stuff on CBBC, CBeebies, BBC Three and BBC Four. They could launch that channel on digital satellite and cable, but Freeview is going to be a problem for HD for the foreseeable future.

 

[Sean Aaron]

The problem is Freeview, as there is not enough bandwidth for lots of HD services due to how Freeview broadcasts are transmitted at present, and the BBC have a policy of not launching a service unless it is universally available, which means it needs to be on Freeview or else it doesn't happen.

BBC Two HD was inevitable as nearly all new programming is now in HD, but they really need a third HD channel to cover HD stuff on CBBC, CBeebies, BBC Three and BBC Four. They could launch that channel on digital satellite and cable, but Freeview is going to be a problem for HD for the foreseeable future.

Well, if they can turn off analogue to make room for more Freeview it would seem they should be able to replace all SD broadcast with HD broadcast next. I expect the number of people with TVs that aren't HD-ready is going to shrink substantially in the coming years.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^They're not only limited by bandwidth on Freeview, but also on satellite. They have to use Astra 2D which has limited space and that's why so many channels (ITV2-4, Channel 5, E4 etc) are launching encrypted on Sky. They also have to have the Trust agreeing to it. BBC HD was limited to 9 hours a day because that was the limit the Trust put on it.

As for more HD when analogue is switched off, well that's not happening. The government are selling the spectrum freed up by switch over to telecoms companies and the like. There's going to be 1 more HD channel in the new future, but unless they convert all the current multiplexes to DVB-T2 there'll be no more space for HD, and they're unlikely to do that as most people only have DVB-T boxes or TVs.