Beeb's next announcement about the licence fee...

[Bob Jersey]

...will be its last, said the UK culture secretary today... the fee itself is guaranteed through the end of 2027 by Royal charter... unconfirmed reports have the £159 annual charge slated to be frozen for two years, but the sec'y said "the days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors" were over..

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60014514 (link)

B

[Mark Jeffries]

Let's start putting PBS pledge drives on YouTube and make sure the Brits see them.

Besides, right now Boris and his party is exactly at the height of popularity.  Seems to me that there will be an election before 2017.

Mark Jeffries
spotl...@gmail.com

Virus-free. www.avast.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/0068a02f-97fa-4c85-87da-107cee883e3cn%40googlegroups.com.

[M-D November]

Here’s a thought, for starters…don’t outsource production of one of your biggest worldwide revenue generators…

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-bad-wolf-sony-newsupdate/

[Brad Beam]

From: tvor...@googlegroups.com [mailto:tvor...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of M-D November

>Here’s a thought, for starters…don’t outsource production of one of your biggest worldwide revenue generators…

>https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-bad-wolf-sony-newsupdate/

"Meanwhile, if you need fodder for an argument *against* the BBC, why not try Only Connect? You’ll find it on @BBCTwo at 8pm. #Ghastly" - Host/Portillo enthusiast @VictoriaCoren Mitchell

https://twitter.com/VictoriaCoren/status/1483071512613728256

 

_  _

|_>|_>  Brad Beam- Belle WV

|_>|_>  http://www.facebook.com/74bmw

[Mark Jeffries]

It's been a recent thing at the Beeb of outsourcing some of their long-runners to outside companies.  "A Question of Sport," their long-running sports panel game that has become more comedic in recent years (after "They Think It's All Over," the original comedy sports panel game, went off in 2006, not to mention competing with James Corden's "League of Their Own" on Sky), was taken away from the sports division and is now outsourced, with inevitable format changes to be more like the wisecracking panel shows and longtime host (and tennis champion and BBC sportscaster) Sue Barker replaced by a comedian.  And they dropped the "A" from the title.

And yes, there was a "not" missing from my previous post about Boris Johnson and the Tories.

Mark Jeffries
spotl...@gmail.com

Virus-free. www.avast.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/6d8cfba5-77a9-4eac-962a-e9ae446dd888n%40googlegroups.com.

[Adam Bowie]

It's probably worth me jumping in here to explain a bit about what the BBC has been doing in recent years with regard to in house production, but also add that in the scheme of things, it's a red herring to think that it has much bearing on the BBC's costs.

Historically the BBC made most of its programmes itself. Making co-productions with outside studios were rare, perhaps starting in the 70s/80s with some big ticket dramas which had international appeal. The BBC of course licenced a lot of US TV, but unlike the US, the broadcasters were also the studios - with the same happening at ITV (at the time a network of regional stations).

This made UK TV a bit of a closed shop. If you weren't a broadcaster, no matter how brilliant your show, no-one was going to buy it. So Channel 4 came along, with an imperative that it couldn't make its own shows. In its wake, loads of independent production companies grew up in the UK, and many became "super-indies" that make shows globally. It kick started a massive production boom. The BBC still only offered limited access to others, so in time there was a requirement that the BBC allow others to bid to make some of its shows. In fact, this tends to drive the prices down since you're in a competitive situation. It's also worth noting that BBC retains the IP on these shows. So while an indie is now co-producing Doctor Who, the IP remains the BBC's.

In due course the BBC has really split into a commissioning/broadcasting organisation separate from a production organisation. These days it's more cost effective to rent facilities when required rather than own them outright, and for better or worse, the same is true for staff. I don't think UK TV is that different from US TV or indeed the film industry in that once a production has a green light, they staff up and get going making it. Contracts expire when the show shuts down.

And BBC Studios now makes shows for other companies as well - it's another studio for hire, pitching to networks globally.

The thing that is different about the BBC is that because - currently - everyone pays for it, then it has to deliver something to all audiences. That means formats that are a bit stale need to re-invigorated from time to time. Question of Sport probably falls into that category. It's a format that's been around since the late 60s, and it changes all the time. That also means that there are shows - Mrs Brown's Boy springs to mind (I bet that has never traveled!) that seem dire to me, but appeal to some audiences that watch little other BBC TV. The BBC literally has to provide something for everyone, and that's almost certainly not the case with many other networks.

Are there still cost savings to be found at the BBC? Possibly. But the general feeling now is that you have to cut services to make big savings. While overall inflation has been low for a few years, in TV it's quite high. There's a demand for talent, and streamers are spending billions of dollars on loss-making services right now which means costs are spiraling upwards. Audience expectations are higher too. Peaky Blinders and Doctor Who need to look as good as anything else on TV. Creakily obvious studio sets don't cut it.

Also - there are cultural challenges with just ceding the landscape to Netflix/Disney/Amazon. Yes - they all make shows in the UK, with Netflix spending heavily on studio facilities. But the kinds of shows they make are always with an eye to global markets. I've made the case before that many British Netflix shows really only show a certain type of Britishness - the one that travels. The Crown (Royals), Sex Education (Basically an imagined land somewhere mid-Atlantic, but with British accents) or all fantasy shows (because American accents aren't allowed in fantasy shows for *reasons*).

This is all coming up right now because the government is in a 'tight spot' right now, and this is a sop to right wingers. 

It might be easy for many to think of the BBC as a cousin of PBS/NPR in the US. But really, think of it as being a combination of NBC and CBS in scale and importance culturally. It has the biggest shows, and it has the biggest audience share. It still owns radio stations that also represent the biggest share of radio listening in the country. It makes kids shows that aren't driven by how many toys they can spin-off, and are commercial free in the UK. And it has a news operation that is one of the most trusted globally and broadcasts in over 40 languages.

It's also the BBC's 100th anniversary this year. So, Happy Birthday?

Adam (speaking in a personal capacity in case anyone outside this group stumbles on my screed)

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJ_uKi9hnocuuTaD%3D2yPSMNcBaK_f7PzgSyjuwTrze%3DxBQEOnQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Mark Jeffries]

Well, "Mrs. Brown's Boys" is streamed on BritBox, the BBC-ITV joint venture (which I understand is also in the UK), along with a lineup of what for the most part is the undisputed best of British sitcoms.  I assume it's mostly appealing to the expats who gave up on BBC America a long time ago ("Star Trek:  The Next Generation?"--well, Patrick Stewart's in it.  "X FIles?"--well, Gillian Anderson now lives in the UK).

Mark Jeffries
spotl...@gmail.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGA9RvLbNmifeuxdXeMGNbJVNrnq%2Br%3DD2eLFtrg6fxKNFA%40mail.gmail.com.