Is the BBC a bit fucked?

[Phil_A]

Basically it seems like the corporation could be going to have to fund free licence fees for the over 75s, to the tune of some 700 million. Ouch.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46274054

So I guess we should enjoy BBC Four, 6Music, Radio 3 etc while we've got them, because god knows how many "niche" services are going to survive the next two years.

[BlodwynPig]

Keep flogging the Dr. Who tat.

[Queneau]

If they take Radio 3 then I will continue to avoid paying a licence fee!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Their side services that will obviously be the first to go are all that makes them worthwhile as a public broadcaster, and their news output being a state mouthpiece full of friends of the tories makes that impossible to defend.

They obviously won't have the fortitude to ask the older people to cough up.

[NoSleep]

They don't have to "fund" anything; that's just the annual amount that they are out of pocket by not charging the license fee to 4-5 million people over the age of 75 (just the same has gone on for all the years before now).

[biggytitbo]

There's no way the BBC can survive in its current form for much longer when so few young people actually watch it.

Maybe they should just bite the bullet and strip themselves down to one free TV channel thats shows some of their amazing, impartial, fact based news and event programming (eg 'national occasions') and a netflix style streaming subscriptions service?

That has to be its future as a content provider - as it is the BBC are spending millions on big budget programming, chiefly drama, (which is where a huge chunk of the licence fee actually goes) that we are forced to pay for at the threat of prison, yet is very 'me-too' - nothing they produce in this area is unique or distinctive enough that it warrants the continuation of a tax to pay for it, when so much quality stuff is available on numerous streaming services in the formats people actually want to watch them. The average viewer age in the 60s is a shocking stat for them and isnt ever going to improve under its current model which leaves them looking increasingly like a strange reactionary anachronism.

Radio is a slightly different matter as there is a need for non commercial local radio, but perhaps that could be funded separately.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Every national broadcaster has an average viewing age in its 60's apart from Ch4 which is 58. E4 is 48 these days.

[BlodwynPig]

E4 is 48 these days.

Deso

[biggytitbo]

Every national broadcaster has an average viewing age in its 60's apart from Ch4 which is 58. E4 is 48 these days.

None of those are funded by a tax though, enforced with the threat of prison.


But they also have a similar issue I think, going forward with the format in which they still broadcast their content. Wasn't there some talk of all the linear tv channels in the UK clubbing together to create a netflix style service? Presumably that would still exist parallel to their current channels though, and be ad funded.


Looking at the vast budgets their international rivals have, maybe a combined BBC, ITV and C4 subscription service is the long term future though.

[NoSleep]

Every national broadcaster has an average viewing age in its 60's apart from Ch4 which is 58. E4 is 48 these days.

Whole new generations not hooked into the daily propaganda, so they have to charge the remaining Tory voters who still listen in. They'll swallow it of course, just before they keel over and die.

[Sebastian Cobb]

That'd be a nightmare both through enforcing rights and delivering ads.

The main reason iplayer is much better than any of its rivals is because nobody can make dynamic ad insertion work well (it's actually very simple in theory with hls, but it's also very fragile), largely because it only takes one dodgy ad to break everything.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Whole new generations not hooked into the daily propaganda

They get it from vice, salon and pricks on twitter.

[biggytitbo]

Iplayer has taken a massive step backwards recently though, after they removed the sub categories so all documentaries are now dumped out onto one big page, whereas before you could filter them out by history, crime, science, music etc.

I hardly watch anything on there anymore, and don't watch normal TV at all, but do occasionally nab a couple of their documentaries (even if the best ones like Storyville usually arent even made by them).

[NoSleep]

They get it from vice, salon and pricks on twitter.

Those are other problems, is all.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Iplayer has taken a massive step backwards recently though, after they removed the sub categories so all documentaries are now dumped out onto one big page, whereas before you could filter them out by history, crime, science, music etc.

I hardly watch anything on there anymore, and don't watch normal TV at all, but do occasionally nab a couple of their documentaries (even if the best ones like Storyville usually arent even made by them).

I usually just use get_iplayer lol.

Their ui issues aside they're much better infrastructure wise. They're the only broadcaster that has ever done any interesting R&D. The tricks they pulled to steam the World Cup in 4k were amazing. Meanwhile ITV still don't do HD
(you can do this with third party encoders/services pretty easily these days so I assume it's cost).

[mothman]

The idea of the BBC - an independent, publicly-funded broadcaster producing quality entertainment, informative/educational content, and nonpartisan news - is increasingly becoming a thing of the past, and I think we're all clinging onto it (and the Corporation's model depends on us clinging onto it). Like the NHS, it's being gradually eroded from within by those who despise all it represents.

They need to have a good think about the kind (and quantity) of quality drama they're producing, and to admit that throwing everything at the public ,and hoping enough must-watch/watercooler programming sticks, isn't viable in the long run. Right now they're not doing too bad, what with Poldark pulling in the punters, and big successes like The Night Manager and Bodyguard. But can they really compete with all the big streaming content providers? And should they even try?

News... is where the BBC is really needed (and the thing that causes the Murdochs and Dacres and Barclay Brothers of this world the most ire). And they're fluffing it. Too many closet (or openly) Tory editorial and journalistic personnel. Their insistence on "impartially" presenting both sides of the argument is making mugs of them, and giving platforms to climate change deniers and far-right extremists. I'm no Corbyn fan but even I accept that their bias against him is palpable.

I still think their arts coverage and documentary strands are pretty good, but worry they'll be strangled in pursuit of increasingly populist low-com-denom content to get ratings and justify the licence fee.

[Sebastian Cobb]

They ought to compete with the content providers because that's going one of two ways - fragmented to fuck where if you want to watch things you'll end up with shitloads of subscriptions (already happening, piracy is ramping up again after Netflix reduced it by being 'better than free') or once the bubble bursts and they've killed off competition it'll all be owned by goliaths like Amazon and Netflix.

I'm sure some people will love the fragmentation approach through. The type of joyless miser who spends hours making their own price comparison spreadsheets for energy tariffs.

[Queneau]

joyless miser

That's a bit harsh, I call them boring cunts.

[Howj Begg]

If they take Radio 3 then I will continue to avoid paying a licence fee!

this

edit: didn't notice "continue to avoid". ha ha ha ha

[olliebean]

They don't have to "fund" anything; that's just the annual amount that they are out of pocket by not charging the license fee to 4-5 million people over the age of 75 (just the same has gone on for all the years before now).

They are currently financed by a government-funded scheme, which is due to end in 2020.

So as I read this, currently, the government-funded scheme ensures they are not out of pocket. After 2020, they will be.

[NoSleep]

So basically they're being primed for privatisation or destruction. Good riddance. I see David Attenborough's next series is going to be on Netflix, clearly seeing the writing on the wall.

[biggytitbo]

So as I read this, currently, the government-funded scheme ensures they are not out of pocket. After 2020, they will be.

Hard to see it as anything other than a calculated attack on the BBC though, considering a lot of their core viewship aren't paying for it.

The BBC transforming into a Netflix style subscription service would allow them to better exploit their vast catalogue too, which still seems to go under used. That might be a big selling point for them.

It'll be interesting to see what happens, because I'm.notnentirelt sure Netflix itself, or Amazon's content, is actually sustainable either.

[Uncle TechTip]

That'd be a nightmare both through enforcing rights and delivering ads.

The main reason iplayer is much better than any of its rivals is because nobody can make dynamic ad insertion work well (it's actually very simple in theory with hls, but it's also very fragile), largely because it only takes one dodgy ad to break everything.

Channel 4 seem to manage it? The reason iPlayer is successful is because it's good and fast and reliable and on loads of devices.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Channel 4 seem to manage it? The reason iPlayer is successful is because it's good and fast and reliable and on loads of devices.

It's nowhere near as good for a host of reasons. It used to buffer like fuck but play ads fine as they came from different origins. It perfectly shows what's considered important in ad-supported stuff though. I bet you get time to refractor in the beeb as well, this is quite rare when the most important thing are ad-impressions and driving users towards them.

[Thomas]

How much do PR agencies, film studios, and record labels pay the BBC to have their walking adverts celebrities appear on The Graham Norton Show?

I do think it's the West's premier chatshow. I just wonder.

[checkoutgirl]

There's no way the BBC can survive in its current form for much longer when so few young people actually watch it.

I would be devastated if the BBC went away but I have to admit I haven't watched it for about 10 years. Other than maybe a bit of Limmy or the odd BBC 4 documentary. And I'm not even young, I'm 40.

[JesusAndYourBush]

They don't have to "fund" anything; that's just the annual amount that they are out of pocket by not charging the license fee to 4-5 million people over the age of 75 (just the same has gone on for all the years before now).

That's what I thought, and it seems that for years the BBC have been happy to let people believe that they're letting over 75's have a free licence as a goodwill courtesy... but that news page linked in the OP says "They are currently financed by a government-funded scheme" - so the licence wasn't free - the Government have been paying the BBC a backhander... but they're due to stop doing so in 2020.  That's a whole lot of money the BBC were getting, and now they won't be.

They should just show commercials.  Yesterday while waiting for something to start I got frustrated by the amount of trailers and promos they showed, and the programme I wanted to watch that was supposed to start at the top of the hour ended up starting at about 2 and a half minutes past.  If they're going to shit about like that they may as well go the whole hog and go commercial.

[lgpmachine]

It's nowhere near as good for a host of reasons. It used to buffer like fuck but play ads fine as they came from different origins. It perfectly shows what's considered important in ad-supported stuff though. I bet you get time to refractor in the beeb as well, this is quite rare when the most important thing are ad-impressions and driving users towards them.

All 4 is a bit better than it used to be, it would regularly crash when switching between adverts and the programme you were watching but I haven't noticed this happen lately.  The image quality is consistently terrible though compared to iPlayer.