BBC begins move towards online-only TV – these channels and shows are at risk
More channels could be axed following the closure of BBC Three and BBC Scotland as the corporation begins its move to an online-only future.
The BBC is poised to shut the two poorly-performing TV channels next week and move their content online, sources claim, as the broadcaster seeks to make £500m in savings and avert a financial crisis. The future of the Radio 4 Extra archive channel is also under scrutiny.
The closures would also kick-start a wider strategy, which could ultimately mean the end of scheduled channels like BBC One, with viewers instead finding programmes on-demand on iPlayer, under genre headings like Drama, Entertainment, News and Sport.
The slow, soap-opera crumbling of BBC finances seems intended to squeeze every drop of sympathy for, or at least acceptance of a last minute rescue by the UK Government. Which is inevitable of course.
I'm reminded of the arts being described as a gigantic bluff in one of Somerset Maugham's short stories. The lingering, constantly reported financial demise of the BBC is a gigantic bluff too.
She had a natural and healthy contempt for the arts. She genuinely looked upon the whole thing as a gigantic bluff, and deep down in her heart was an amused sympathy for all the people who were able to put it over on the public.
W. Somerset Maugham - The Voice of the Turtle (1935)
W. Somerset Maugham - The Voice of the Turtle (1935)
7 comments:
The sooner it goes the better. I haven't watched broadcast tv for years now.All my viewing is done via the interweb. I have a smart tv and the number of channels available is bewildering I find that a lot of videos put up on youtube .by amateurs have equal or even better production values than a lot of BBC shows. It is outdated in concept and out of step with most of its audience in its ideology. If not propped up by the compulsory licence fee it would have collapsed long ago. There should be signs in all the Broadcasting House windows "Closing down Sale, everything must go"
John - I agree, a lot of YT videos produced by amateurs are superior to over--padded professional bilge. Many seem to have become semi-professional, although some are too fond of copying the padding or put in a 'watch until the end' message which is where I click off.
The BBC should be closing down but it seem destined to be the State Digital Guidance and Information Service.
I am seeing lots of newspaper articles (and letters to the editors) pushing the outrageous idea of funding the BBC from a universal tax on broadband connections.
All these articles seem to start from the premise that the BBC is obviously a good thing and we must have it, the only question being how to pay for it.
I assume these articles are all plants, so I guess this is the favoured solution which will eventually be adopted.
I have no words to express my utter contempt for this plan.
We've found recently that the i-player is unreliable. Maybe they should mend it.
Peter - I agree, the articles appear to be aimed at softening us up for a shameless tax on something near enough universal like broadband. It also looks as if the BBC is required to trim its costs down to whatever is deemed to be politically possible. Useless Lisa Nandy may be the stooge to front it.
dearieme - we never use it, but I've recently come across other comments saying it isn't very good.
Defund the BBC. Let them produce on-line programs that people must pay to watch. Let's see how well they do.
Of course it may well suit The Powers That Be to have a tame broadcaster, I couldn't possibly comment.
DJ - "Let them produce on-line programs that people must pay to watch."
Yes, the solution is easy but as you suggest, it suits the PTB to have a tame broadcaster.
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