The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
jamesomalley.substack.com
The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
1–10 of 183 posts
Re: The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
#2It's worth saying the BBC has been 'doomed' for as long as I can remember. Simply pointing out that it doesn't make sense doesn't seem to have much effect on its continued presence.
Re: The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
#3It's worth saying the BBC has been 'doomed' for as long as I can remember. Simply pointing out that it doesn't make sense doesn't seem to have much effect on its continued presence.
I don’t recall anyone predicting the demise of the BBC when I was growing up, and if they had they’d have had no evidence as there were no serious competitors at all back then. Now there are huge competitors everywhere and they’re actually higher-brow than the BBC in many cases which defeats their traditional defence against other media! The BBC looks very small and vulnerable.
Re: The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
#4MSM is sh*t and it's dying, what else is new?
And how exactly is this a bad thing? >inb4 it allows misinformation [...]
That has always been the case, and the generations that grew up under the 'protective umbrella' and the golden age of news corporations are the most despised ones(not to mention it promotes the "lack of filter").It's not a new thing, and that's why people are excited when a new medium arises: because usually the old dogs are not there at first.[to regurgitate their rhetorics, if i might add]
Re: The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
#5Comparing how much money Disney, Netflix and the BBC put into productions is useless.
Netflix in particular has already burned a lot of money and the result was average at best. How many failures are there for a hit like "The Crown", how long can Netflix in particular continue to spend so much money?
For quality, you need the right makers, and the BBC has often had the right ones.
Re: The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
#6Comparing how much money Disney, Netflix and the BBC put into productions is useless. Netflix in particular has already burned a lot of money and the result was average at best. How many failures are there for a hit like "The Crown", how long can Netflix in particular continue to spend so much money? For quality, you need the right makers, and the BBC has often had the right ones.
But I think this is where it's starting to nose-dive. It used to be there were competitors but they were crass comparative junk, like ITV. Now the competitors are suddenly massively out BBC-ing the BBC. Huge landmark period dramas - used to be only the BBC could competently pull that off. Now Netflix does it better. Serious radio discussion - used to be only found on the BBC. Now I can get it often better from Spectator or New Statesman podcasts.
They're being out-done on money and talent in, and results out, for their own game.
Really serious problem.
Re: The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
#7It's worth saying the BBC has been 'doomed' for as long as I can remember. Simply pointing out that it doesn't make sense doesn't seem to have much effect on its continued presence.
Yes, and global warming has been a problem for as long as I can remember. Just because the problem doesn't have a deliberate start date doesn't mean it isn't a problem. Collapse, whether it be political, cultural, or climatological, is one of those things that happens on such a long timescale that you don't notice it until it's too late.
It's entirely possible that the BBC is maintained for another century, purely as an expensive monument to the country's history that nobody watches, before finally being rolled up in 2092. There's precedent for this in things like the royal family[0] or Brexit. Or tomorrow the Tories wind up repealing the license tax and significantly downsizing the BBC as a result, turning it into an English PBS/NPR. Knowing that the BBC is doomed doesn't tell you how long it has to live, just that things will continue to get worse until something breaks completely.
[0] Conflict-of-interest disclosure: I am an American
Re: The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
#8The BBC is (overall) great. The licence fee though has always been a regressive tax.
Like with libraries, NHS, school, police etc. some crazy person will just have to suggest the unthinkable that taxpayers money creates YouTube (or whatever) content, and the lack of need for it to be a thinly disguised advert will make it much more enjoyable to watch.
Re: The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
#9Comparing how much money Disney, Netflix and the BBC put into productions is useless. Netflix in particular has already burned a lot of money and the result was average at best. How many failures are there for a hit like "The Crown", how long can Netflix in particular continue to spend so much money? For quality, you need the right makers, and the BBC has often had the right ones.
> BBC has often had the right ones.
"had" being the operative word here.
Re: The bargain at the heart of the BBC is fraying
#10The numbers listed in the article don't actually support the author's argument at all.
> Netflix spent $11.8bn in 2020, Disney is expecting to spend $8-9bn on Disney+ content by 2024, and Amazon is estimated to be spending $7bn this year alone. By contrast, according to the BBC’s most recent annual report, it spent about £980m ($1.3bn) on “programme-related assets and other inventories” in the 2020/21 financial year.
Netflix/Disney/Amazon and the rest are catering to a much larger and more varied user base, and BBC should absolutely be able to compete with ~1/5 the budget for its 67 million residents. A British public broadcaster does not need to make Korean dramas or Bollywood movies or launch $25m/episode blockbuster franchises.