Government Could Ban BBC From Showing Top Shows at Peak Times (theguardian.com) 84
An anonymous reader writes: The BBC is on a collision course with the government over reported efforts to bar it from showing popular shows at peak viewing times. The culture secretary, John Whittingdale, is widely expected to ban the broadcaster from going head-to-head with commercial rivals as part of the BBC charter review. He is due to publish a white paper within weeks that will set out a tougher regime as part of a new royal charter to safeguard the service for another 11 years. ITV has complained about licence fee money being used to wage a ratings battle with it and other channels funded by advertising. A source at the BBC said the public would be deeply concerned if it were forced to move programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who and Sherlock from prime time weekend slots.In some unrelated news, Clarkson, Hammond, and May are still figuring out the name for their new show.
Typical conservative machinations (Score:5, Insightful)
Kill the Beeb's ratings and then they'll claim it can't compete and should be shut down or sold off to one of their cronies for pennies.
Re:Typical conservative machinations (Score:5, Insightful)
Part of the ongoing plan to kill the BBC.
Phase 1: Don't allow them to increase the licence fee in line with inflation.
Phase 2: Make them pay for the World Service, which is of no benefit to licencees.
Phase 3: Take away the revenue from households that have someone over 70 years of age.
Phase 4: Stop them from showing popular shows at times when people are likey to want to watch them.
Phase 5: Shut it down because no-one is watching it any more.
Phase 6: Everyone pays Rupert Mudoch's ransom for the only good TV left.
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What's the problem with just watching the good shows? I mean, if you decide to consume everything, then there's no form of expression that worthwhile. Do you realize the utter garbage that is published every year, the hundreds of thousands of hours of unlistenable music, or wasted pieces of canvas. The only difference between those and television, is that you have access to the vast majority of TV being made in your market. The fact that there are good show, and that they can be so good, means that televisi
Re:Typical conservative machinations (Score:5, Insightful)
In fact, if iPlayer + Live TV was available for a monthly fee anywhere in the world, I'll bet BBC would be so flush with cash they could abolish the domestic fee.
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How about this: That's a nicer form of short sighted opportunism than destroying creative culture, putting a yoke on creatives and then complaining people have moved on and you deserve to make a profit because you gutted an industry. But it's still short sighted.
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You have people paying subscriptions for BBC-America. Doctor Who is fine, but I don't care for Top Gear and wtf is BBC-America doing showing Star Trek Next Generation to Americans?
It is a valid complaint against gubbernment though -- using taxes to create competition to private interests...that pay taxes.
Re:Typical conservative machinations (Score:4, Insightful)
Not a citizen of the UK. Not living in the UK. Hell, not even a native English speaker.
But I'd pay for BBC iPlayer. Easily twice the amount I'd pay for Amazon Prime. The BBC offers opportunities for non mainstream voices to be heard. Comedy, decent science, OK documentaries, reasonably independent news. And I don't care much for other content as I could get that from other sources.
Yet, I feel I don't fully pay the BBC. One indirect part I pay through the TV license in the country I live in, as they -inevitably- serve BBC content. Another part remains unaccounted for.
BBC! If you're listening, there are people outside the UK willing to pay for great content which you produce. Allow us to pay for access to your content!
And while you're at it: Reduce the influence of parasitic outfits wich implement/support artificial partitioning systems with the sole purpose of bleeding money from you. In the modern world you don't need these any longer.
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How's this: Get the BBC to start broadcasting over the internet in the U.S., and *I'll* pay your licence fee for you.
In fact, if iPlayer + Live TV was available for a monthly fee anywhere in the world, I'll bet BBC would be so flush with cash they could abolish the domestic fee.
The problem is that the Beeb licenses a lot of its TV shows and other content to commercial stations overseas. Also licenses to produce shows locally like Top Gear (US, RIP Top Gear UK) and Dancing With The Stars (based on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing).
Licensing agreements prevent them from running a competing network, not to mention licensing regulations and fees for each country they operate in.
Also the BBC operates a lot of local channels in other countries like BBC America or BBC Asia. Granted, BBC
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Phase 7: more people simply abandon TV because with BBC gone, it's even less competitive against the Internet.
Commercial TV isn't competing against the BBC or other national broadcasters, it's competing against Facebook and a billion funny cat videos. And it's going to lose because it's inferior in both technology and content, as well as led by people so used to captive audiences that they think they're entitled to them.
Re:Typical conservative machinations (Score:5, Interesting)
Yep, that's their modus operandi alright. They want everything in the hands of their party donors and to rule the UK (or what remains of it) as their personal fiefdom.
What gets me is how supine the BBC is. Surely they know the person beating them about the head and body daily is going to kill them as soon as they think they can get away with it? Yet they bow and scrape, acquiesce, and attack the Labour party following Lynton Crosby's agenda to the letter.
George Osborne, the chancellor, apparently wants to take a slice of the Beeb's license fee to prop up the newspaper industry. That'd be the champion of the free market, then, attacking the Beeb which operates on a public service remit by cutting into its revenues and using a bit of corporate socialism to prop up a newspaper industry whose loyalty is to its rich, tax-dodging proprietors and which has little or no interest to fair or balanced reportage (but generally loves the Tories).
Don't even get me started on the NHS. The Conservative party wants all of the post-war (II) settlement gone to be replaced with rampant inequality.
The Conservatine party: taking the Great out of Great Britain and selling it off for pennies on the dollar.
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> Yet they bow and scrape, acquiesce, and attack the Labour party following Lynton Crosby's agenda to the letter.
"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."
Anyway, public institutions have been gradually filled with business types over the last 20 years, and it's only those lower down who are even interested in complaining. But they're also interested in keeping a job. Humans without unity are pathetic, servile cowards, tbh, but that's what 35 years of Thatcherism have given us.
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Remember the guy on the BBC that debunked the comment that Saddam could attack the UK within minutes? Hounded to suicide. The BBC is that way as a literal survival tactic.
It's been that way for years apparently. Jimmy Saville spend six Christmases with the Thatcher family which may explain why all those complaints against him and efforts within the BBC to get rid of him came to nothing once they hit the top levels of management. Not being from the UK I'm hearing ab
Re: Typical conservative machinations (Score:2)
It boggles my mind those in the heirachy who feigned ignorance. Johny rotten from the sex pistols straight up said as much on television in the 1970s and for his efforts at whistleblowing all he got was a ban from the BBC. From my understanding *everyone* at the BBC knew , yet the higher up lickspittles didn't do nothing
Re: Typical conservative machinations (Score:3)
Good lord if the best ITV can do is X Factor when they're faced with real competition then how shit would they be if the Beeb were neutered? Thank F*** for the Beeb for raising standards. £12.12/month for the license fee is an absolute bargain!
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Wait, I'm Confused... (Score:1)
The way I read the article, it seemed to imply that people still watch non-sports TV shows *LIVE* over in the UK. That can't be right... can it?
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The way I read the article, it seemed to imply that people still watch non-sports TV shows *LIVE* over in the UK. That can't be right... can it?
That's what I was thinking, moving your best shows off primetime slots only means DVR recording conflicts! Learn to make your commercials look good at 5X speed and your golden!
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The new Tivo allows auto skipping of commercials on recorded programs. You hit the green D button and it just flashes to the end of the break, no fast forward at all.
It is a beautiful thing.
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This is all very strange. Let me see if I understand this: The "people" give money to the BBC - the BCC creates really amazing shows to please the people. Seems like they use that money very responsibly. As an American I watch some shows & BBC radio. Although - to be honest - most BBC shows are now viewed via Netflix. But I used to buy (buy!!) current Top Gear on iTunes. This is top quality stuff.
So this is why I'm confused by the purported contents of this White paper. Bury good shows at off
Re: Typical conservative machinations (Score:1)
Prime time? (Score:2)
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1) Name me a cheap PVR which replicates all video cassette functionality.
2) Apps / web sites are all less versatile than recording from broadcast.
3) The point in prime time is to offer something that everyone can watch at once as a social experience, e.g. to get to gether / to chat about the following day. The reason most programming is shit these days is that you don't put as much creative effort into something that's only going to be watched by half a million people instead of half the country.
tl;dr 100 c
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3) The point in prime time is to offer something that everyone can watch at once as a social experience, e.g. to get to gether / to chat about the following day. .
I think the point in prime time is that that's when the most eyeballs are available. Anything else is just happenstance that marketers have been able to leverage.
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"tl;dr 100 crap choices are worse than a handful of good ones."
And they all cater to the lowest common denominator and are very establishment, status quo, brain washing consumerist crap, including the BBC.
So I really don't care what they do to the BBC or any other channel because I don't watch any of it any more, I can't be bothered to waste my time searching through big piles of shit just to find the occasional good bit.
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Re: Prime time? (Score:3)
I don't think you can make any judgements about 'nightlife'. I've lived on both continents and find nightlife is however you want to make it. Having moved back to the UK I find the scene much better than the US because nobody (at least in London) drives.
I've always resented the TV companies in the UK for putting the best things on the box when I'm out. Love the iPlayer though.
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Several Millions.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3299241/Another-slump-ratings-X-Factor-loses-4-million-viewers-Strictly-Come-Dancing-hits-new-series-low-live-show.html
Parents just don't understand... (Score:4, Interesting)
the commercial guys don't seem to understand Netflix. No amount of bribing the Goberment is going to save them.
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Rather than selling it off (which the Tories will attempt), just operate it under exactly the same model as Channel 4. Publicly owned but commercially operated, and with the same remit it currently has. That seems to work pretty well for Channel 4 and can have equal guarantees as to its independence and character.
The main point is, if they just sell it off we will have permanently lost something of unique value just for some quick money. I don't see that as a good deal.
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I hope you're right, but I don't agree. Given the chance they will float it for quick bucks and a nod of the head from Murdock and chums.
BS (Score:1, Insightful)
If ordinary people are loosing money, then sadly there is nothing to do about it.
If rich people are loosing money, or not getting as much as they want, then the rules must be changed. Even, as in this case, it is detrimental to everybody else.
Solution: Adblock and piracy.
ITV still exists? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm trying to remember the last programme by ITV that I regularly watched. Last time I looked it was a bunch of generic cheap reality crap. I guess there's Downton Abbey but that's done now. Seriously, ITV made its bed and is now complaining that people don't want to watch crappy shows that get broken up every few mins by adverts. What a shock. The problem for ITV isn't the time the programmes are on, but rather VOD services such as iPlayer meaning people don't sit in front to the TV any more at a specific time and they definitely don't want to watch adverts. ITV Player is a joke by the way. Netflix and iPlayer. Job done.
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The Bill used to be the only ITV show I watched without fail. Once they butcherd that then killed it ... nothing.
ITV is the purveyor of banal, LCD, mass-market mediocrity, and nothing else. They don't even balance it with a bit high-brow stuff these days.
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They have a pretty good selection of crime dramas such as Lewis and Grantchester. Midsomer Murders has been playing for 15 or 16 years on there.
They probably get most of their money from Coronation Street though. I don't watch that but I do like the crime dramas.
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Plebs is one of my all time favourite shows, and the download I get always has a iTV watermark.
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"Callan" was awesome.
British TV (Score:3)
I just need to know what time Benny Hill comes on.
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It's kind of amusing (Score:4, Interesting)
What a surprise... (Score:1)
John Whittingale is an old friend of Rupert Murdoch.
http://www.independent.co.uk/n... [independent.co.uk]
Speaking as an American (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Speaking as an American (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the kind of BS you have to worry about when you have government doing things it shouldn't be doing, like running a national TV network
Yes, I envy the USA and the wonderful, unbiassed, philanthropic networks run by massive multinational corporations - and the great thing is, freedom of choice: you can choose to watch the network run by the massive multinational corporation who's entrenched interests best represents your interests. Plus, of course, the US networks are famous for never censoring or regulating content.
Oh, yes, there's public broadcasting in the US. I remember watching a show on one such channel once when visiting the US: it was the original British version of House of Cards (not the Netflix US remake) in which the anti-hero F.U. takes on (and outwits) the King who Didn't Resemble Charles At All... the US channel actually prefaced it with a little lecture about the evils of monarchy* just in case any USA viewers started rooting for the King (because although F.U. was an evil, corrupt murdering bastard, he had been democratically elected after democratically murdering/smearing/blackmailing his opponents). Not sure which sponsor had insisted on that little rider. (NB: the UK monarch doesn't actually get to run the country - I'm still not a fan, but we need the tourism and the alternative would probably be to outsource the whole bunch to Disney who'd be far more likely to interfere with running the country)
Anyway, at least PBS doesn't run those adverts telling you how wonderful it is that you get to watch adverts because they protect your right to choose products made by the companies that can afford the most adverts (seriously - Philip K Dick would be proud. This was some years ago, are they still running?)
NB: The government doesn't run the BBC, but every 10 years or so they get the chance to re-write the charter under which it operates. That's what's happening at the moment - and the current government would quite like to shut it down to keep their friends in big media companies happy. You can tell the government doesn't run the BBC because if they did they'd have already shut it down.
* Citation needed, I know, but it was a while ago and the bruise where my jaw hit the floor has long gone. It was certainly a "did that just happen?" moment.
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Yes, I envy the USA and the wonderful, unbiassed, philanthropic networks run by massive multinational corporations
Yes, because the BBC has never shown bias or having an agenda driven by politics.
and the great thing is, freedom of choice: you can choose to watch the network run by the massive multinational corporation who's entrenched interests best represents your interests
Yes, there are a great number of choices, and you know, sometimes entertainment is just entertainment and not a corporate conspiracy to do their bidding. Of course, you can always go online or do whatever. But thank god you have the BBC to save you from the horrible fate of American television viewers!
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when you have government doing things it shouldn't be doing, like running a national TV network
Americans may find this difficult to comprehend but there is a huge difference between "state funded" and "state run". This is why the USPO has fallen to bits, republicans tied the hands of USPTO managers by dictating prices of everything they sold, ie: they made and enforced all the financial decisions at the local post office, it was a deliberate (and successful) effort of the part of FED-ex and others lobbying to kill the "unfair" competition. It won't be so easy to pull down the BBC, it's has way more r
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Yeah, putting the US Patent and Trademark Office in charge of delivering the mail was probably a bad idea.
Re:Speaking as an American (Score:4, Insightful)
This is the kind of BS you have to worry about when you have government doing things it shouldn't be doing, like running a national TV network
You're right about "government doing things it shouldn't be doing". The BBC is established under a Royal Charter which is supposed to make it a public institution independent of the government of the day. However, governments of the day have never really been able to keep their hands off - from widespread security vetting of BBC staff [telegraph.co.uk], heavy-handed threats relating to programs on defence and security issues [wikipedia.org] through to the latest plundering of the TV licence revenue to fund welfare and broadband iniatives at the cost of programming (including one TV channel lost).
The government is supposed to leave running the BBC's national TV networks (and radio networks) to the BBC, but the BBC has always been supine in the face of government pressure (partly because the government can, in the end, turn off the money and partly because its oversight board is stuffed with government appointees many of whom are looking forward to their next sinecure) with the inevitable consequence that each demand is more onerous than the last.
no pity for bbc/goebbels (Score:1)
i for one feel no pity whatever for bbc or its employees. its is state owned propaganda.
it maybe, or may be not (let british decide that), impartial about news inside uk.
but it is is extremely partial mouthpiece of current, secular, so called 'liberal', western elite, and their ideology of death and looting; ever ready to excuse any crime, coup, invasion, torture, drone child killings, spying, etc etc committed by that establishment.
i don't intend to pity goebbels of modern day.
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No, the proper question should have been "What the fuck are you on? And are you sharing it?"
Guardian == BBC (Score:1)
If the BBC is biased (it is), the Guardian more so. They're joined at the hip. They share stafff and stories. For example, in the week when the UK Labour Party have been rocked to the core by racism, the BBC choose to headline the football. The Guardian's headline is about synthetic cannabis.
Don't quote the Guardian about the BBC, and vice-versa.
collision course... (Score:2)
The BBC is on a collision course with the government like my nose is on a collision course with my face
fair... (Score:2)
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ITV is a commercial channel and relies upon content to gain commercial interest. If ITV is forced to 'up it's game' due to competition, this is good for the consumer and good for ITV who can charge more for prime time slots.
If the BBC was forced to show it's best shows at other times, the consumer would still watch those shows and the programming on ITV - which would be non-prime time - would be of no interest to the consumers and sponsors would not be interested in placing commercials.
In the absence o
BBC is proof... (Score:3)
The BBC is one example of the Public Sector beating the Private sector hands down, the NHS is another. This is why the Tories are trying to cripple it.
You must also remember who Whittingdale is, this is the guy who had his shenanigans and hypocrisy covered up by Sky/News International because he is one of their own and going after the BBC for them.