Vocal Voices

According to Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries the licence will be frozen at £159 till April 2024. At that time negotiations will begin on the new charter which is to start in 2027. She would like it done away with, apparently.

Something has to be done. Since the start of the digital age it has become a behemoth with duplication of editorial and management functions all ove the place. It currently has 61 radio stations, 13 UK TV stations, 14 overseas broadcasting units and a website with 22 main pages, 45 sections and an unknown number of sub sections / pages. It is trying to cover all bases and every niche going. It needs tidying up and slimming down.

Dorries looks like she is in favour of a pay per view model; I am not sure. The BBC does not have the global reach of Netflix, Prime or Disney, it has to make programmes to suit the British audience day in, day out and only they will pay - a totally different model.

It will be interesting to see how the talks go.

Workingman wrote:It currently has 61 radio stations, 13 UK TV stations, 14 overseas broadcasting units and a website with 22 main pages, 45 sections and an unknown number of sub sections / pages. It is trying to cover all bases and every niche going. It needs tidying up and slimming down.

61 radio stations? Wow.
Yes, a bit of slimming down would seem to be in order.

BBC has a full range of regional radio content, comprising 40 local/regional stations. I would expect that this is a massive slimming down from the original network before TV, but that is hard to find.

The BBC has needed a huge overhaul for decades now, sad that it takes a government in crisis to contemplate it. Then again the sales of goods act was created by a Labour government t in deep crisis in the 70's so it is not unprecedented.

Even sadder that it is timed to be an election pledge that is designed to encourage voters to vote Tory in the next election. Instead of just getting it done now.

We shall see.

Suff wrote:BBC has a full range of regional radio content, comprising 40 local/regional stations. I would expect that this is a massive slimming down from the original network before TV, but that is hard to find.

What? From its inception through to 1967 BBC radio had the Light service, Home service, the Third programme and World service. For TV it also had BBC 1 and 2.

In 1967, and largely in response to pirate radio stations, which were made illegal, the above radio channels evolved into radio 1, 2, 3 and 4. That is also when local radio began with a handful of stations. It was manageable.

Look at the broadcasting / media monster it has now become. I would hate to see the (ad free) BBC disappear, but it has to become more efficient.

That'd be why I can't find it then. Perceptions, the BBC had a total monopoly on UK shores till the 70's. Just assumed that monopoly would make it bigger.

As for fixing it? My take is that it is like a crumbling baronial Manor sprawling over dozens of acres.

The only possible fix is to tear it mostly down and rebuild what needs to be kept.

Trying to "fix" it will be monstrously costly and fail every time.

A bit lile the NHS really. It has invested more in making it impossible to remove than it has in services.

Cutting off the funds and forcing it to cut out the dead wood seems to be a solid move.

The sad part. Is that I fully believe the diversity and woke lot have a firm stranglehold on the institution and they will cut all the rest first. Ushering in the demise all the faster as they find out it only appeals to 25% of their audience. Max.

I bet Clarkson is purple with laughter.

I see that the well-paid luvvies have waded in and are outraged that the BBC licence is to be capped for two years. I am outraged that the over 75s are forced to contribute towards their high salaries and if they fail to do so they are threatened with prosecution or bailiffs knocking on the door.

OK, so don't make it "free" but still make them chip in, say £30 per year. They still get all the services for much less than a Sunday paper.

If it goes pay per view the BBC is not going to get much for some of its stuff looking at viewer rating for the likes of The One Show, Graham Norton, some of its "comedies" etc, a lot of things barely get past a 5.0. PPV would only be for TV so how would it fund all the radio, news, current affairs and website?

The BBC produces a whole load of twaddle that nobody needs but them. I'd say most of it was dreadful but that would be a compliment.

Mind you I have no time for Soaps, so called comedies, BBC's attempt to push London levels of diversity on the whole population, or any of their other games.

The BBC does produce some wonderful things, but it is now the exception not the rule. They have sullied their reputation and degraded their services for politically correct and WOKE reasons.

Burn it down. Pull a phoenix from the ashes.

If the luvvies don't like it they can go work for someone who actually has to pay the bills with ratings. See how long that lasts.