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Saturday 9 November 2019

The BBC - still sitting on its hands



The Express treats us to yet another piece on the increasing irrelevance of the BBC. Familiar stuff yet strangely fascinating - rather like watching the EU pootle along hoping for the best.

BBC in crisis: Broadcaster's future at risk over failure to adapt - ‘I won’t pay’
THE BBC may face a further funding blow next year if pensioners refuse to start paying to watch the national broadcaster, placing the future of the broadcaster at risk...

Mark Thompson, a former BBC director-general who is now chief executive at the New York Times, revealed in a speech last month that the average viewer of BBC One alone is now 61.

Tony Hall, the BBC’s director-general since 2013, is not too concerned about the changes.

He said in September: “I believe this is a huge opportunity for people like us.

“In this market, services that are distinctive and different will stand out.”


That last sentence sounds like the kiss of death to me. The BBC already provides a service that is distinctive and different because people can be dragged off to court and even jailed if they don't pay for its compulsory user licence. The trouble is, people notice.

Sit on your hands, apply political pressure whenever possible and hope for the best. It's the bureaucratic way.

3 comments:

Scrobs. said...

As an avid reader on this place, https://biasedbbc.org/, I'm quite happy to understand the real issues, and forget the appalling bias of the BBC.

The BBC have no real reason to try and make themselves interesting, they just wallow along on their £4bn as if it's a God-given right.

Hope I'm around when they have to go private.

wiggiatlarge said...

The BBC is no different from the incumbents in the HOC, others peoples money funds their project and like the incumbents they believe they are untouchable, which of course to a large degree they are, hence as Michael says the appalling and proven bias of the BBC and the almost total ignoring of the mandate given them in the HOC on Brexit.

A K Haart said...

Scrobs - I used to read the biasedbbc site but when we stopped watching the BBC it didn't have the same level of interest. These days it comes across as a bureaucracy which lost its way decades ago but is still good for a few blog posts.

Wiggia - yes they do seem to believe they are untouchable and maybe they are. I often wonder if the BBC hoped to be the official English language broadcaster of the EU.