Is this the end of the BBC?

[kalowski]

The BBC licence fee will be abolished in 2027 and the broadcaster's funding will be frozen for the next two years, the government has said, in an announcement that will force the broadcaster to close services and make further redundancies.

I know it's easy to moan about the way the BBC always gives a free pass to the government but I also think things like

The source added that "the days of state-run TV are over" and praised the growth of US-run companies such as Netflix and YouTube

conveniently forgets that most of the stuff on most subscription channels is rubbish. I pay a subscription to a platform that produces bollocks like the Harlen Coben shows so I can rewatch Star Trek at my own convenience.
It's a political decision to enable greater control.

[dissolute ocelot]

You'd think a government that cares about BRITISH IDENTITY AND CULTURE would want to preserve the organisation that gives us more identity than any other, from sport and royal coverage to news and drama.

On the other hand, a significant fraction of Netflix is owned by British investment firms, so there's definitely financial advantage in ending the BBC. Although ITV has traditionally not been too keen on BBC taking adverts because it would lose lots of revenue. So maybe it is more about ideology.

[imitationleather]

You'd think a government that cares about BRITISH IDENTITY AND CULTURE would want to preserve the organisation that gives us more identity than any other

Nope, they definitely want to abolish the NHS.

[Fambo Number Mive]

I hope they don't axe Panorama. Given that programme is how the abuses at Winterbourne View and Whorlton Hall were exposed, getting rid of Panorama might enable more abuse of vulnerable adults in care homes to go undetected.

Although it is shameful we have to rely on TV documentaries to expose this abuse in the first place.

BBC Parliament is also an important service.

If the BBC wants to save money, stop updating idents all the time. I find it baffling how they keep updating them, who cares if the programme is introduced by a shot of hippies in a circle or a large number 2 with cloth ripping?

Agree that most of what is on Netflix is rubbish. I'm thinking of cancelling my subscription. I've cancelled Now Tv and Britbox.

[George White]

Ido wonder if they will eventually replace it with a general tax when someone points out that freeview and radio are unable to be put behind a paywall.
I do wonder if this will even happen.
I do think that Tory backbenchers may turn against this, seeing as they're all Archers fans.

[Fambo Number Mive]

I imagine any unfreezing of funding will be conditional on keeping the bits of the BBC Tory politicans and voters like.

[Uncle TechTip]

You'd think a government that cares about BRITISH IDENTITY AND CULTURE would want to preserve the organisation that gives us more identity than any other, from sport and royal coverage to news and drama.

For that, I'll blame everyone who's undermined the BBC in the past decade. The constant attacks on all fronts gives the government an easy win. Now we are condemned to a future of commercial- filled TV appealing only to the majority tastes, or an exodus of talent leaving the BBC as an earnest public service provider like ABC in Australia, that produces nothing people want to watch.

I dread to think what the future for radio would be - though there's a lot less money in this advertising sector so maybe we'll be saved from permanent adverts. Instead, services will be cut to the bone. Radio 3 closes, for a start.

[Milo]

Ido wonder if they will eventually replace it with a general tax when someone points out that freeview and radio are unable to be put behind a paywall.
I do wonder if this will even happen.
I do think that Tory backbenchers may turn against this, seeing as they're all Archers fans.

Freeview technically can be paywalled, like in the old OnDigital days.

[beanheadmcginty]

I always wonder whether people who complain about the BBC have ever watched telly in other countries. I have. It's shite.

[Milo]

I imagine it's like ITV cubed.

[mjwilson]

Freeview technically can be paywalled, like in the old OnDigital days.

But nobody has the equipment anymore to deal with it.

[Milo]

Not sure, lots of tellies still have expansion slots for smart cards, etc, but I've no idea if they're ubiquitous.

[Sebastian Cobb]

But nobody has the equipment anymore to deal with it.

And why would anyone bother when linear TV is slowly dying. I doubt we'll see another generation of terrestrial or broadcast given how well iptv works (and it can be upgraded more gracefully).

I suppose we're on the second generation of DVB, with the HD/mp4 multiplexes, but how many of those you get depends on where you live. They certainly didn't make an effort to deliver a uniform service in the provinces.

[Midas]

Honestly, who gives a fuck about BBC Radio. It's terrible.

Having to listen to BBC Radio 2 at work genuinely had a deleterious effect on my mental health. Is it any wonder people go mental and drive vans into people when we live in a world with Johnnie-fucking-Walker's tiresome droolings and 'A Night with Coldplay' presented by Jo Whiley? Tuning into BBC Radio 6 Music feels like a coinflip - will it be some tedious furniture deejay blah-blahing about how I can find out more on the BBC Sounds app, or will it be a playlist track getting it's 100th airing of the week? I won't even get started on BBC Radio 4's bizarre 1950s throwback schedule.

It angers me that hey have all these resources, all this money and yet their programmes seem so old-fashioned, vacuous and complacent.

[Jasha]

Honestly, who gives a fuck about BBC Radio. It's terrible.

Having to listen to BBC Radio 2 at work genuinely had a deleterious effect on my mental health.

Look we all have a bad day at popmaster but it's better than the cunt who turns up Heart instead

[BlodwynPig]

I imagine any unfreezing of funding will be conditional on keeping the bits of the BBC Tory politicans and voters like.

like Panorama
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006p8c

[Wonderful Butternut]

Just didn't lick enough Tory hole to survive.

[Mister Six]

Any chance someone else could get into power before then and stop this going ahead?

[purlieu]

Big fan of Radio 3, discovered a lot of new stuff through it. Would be sad to see it go.

I do wonder what'll happen with this. Will they look for private funding, go down the adverts route, cut down on their output or just close down altogether? I haven't watched live TV in years, but this has really made me angry.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm still sulking that R3 cut Late Junction down to one episode a week. Pricks.

[Milo]

Honestly, who gives a fuck about BBC Radio. It's terrible.

I don't think you'll be able to convincingly name a better source of radio.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I know what they mean about daytime radio 2, I had a summer job on a weighbridge with just a radio for company and the repetitive nature of the playlist and daytime features did give off a bit of a groundhog day theme. The only exception was when some peado's had done something bad and I was treated to a few hours of people contacting Vine to opine on how they should be hung, drawn and quartered.

Of course commercial radio is even worse. I worked in a place that piped Capital into the bathrooms and it was fairly common to hear one of several songs every time I went for a piss, if I was lucky it was Lizzo's Juice.

In terms of commercial radio, it's all pretty shit but I guess outside of niche stuff like Classical FM, Absolute is probably the best of a bad bunch. It's been a while since I listened to them, but at one point weren't they doing some clever multicast thing where they had one dj doing the voice links and when they played a record it was different on their different stations? So for example Absolute 80's would play and 80's hit, Absolute 60's a 60's one etc. That must take some clever wrangling to find tracks of similar length so there's no dead air.

[kalowski]

Honestly, who gives a fuck about BBC Radio. It's terrible.

Bollocks. Radios 3 and 6 are great, and Radio 4 is sometimes great as well. Fucking hell, my kids listen to Heart and Capitol, they are the lowest of the low (the stations, not my kids).

[Sebastian Cobb]

Even commercial radio appears to be gutted and homogenised in my lifetime. In the 90's and early 2000's the likes of BRMB/Heart/Beacon etc still had their own identities even if most of them were owned by the same parent companies. Late at night they did phone-ins etc (which is where the then 'Jezza late and live' Kyle cut his teeth). It seems like control has been centralised and some of the rules have been relaxed so a lot of these stations may as well be national 'GWR FM', 'Bauer FM' through the back door.

[mothman]

Just didn't lick enough Tory hole to survive.

That's the thing though, they've really really tried. Even though anyone could tell them that it wouldn't matter how much they cosied up to the Tories, they'd still be for the chop. I've seen the story of the scorpion and the frog being bandied about on Twitter today.

[Kankurette]

Or the farmer and the viper.

[Midas]

Ok, obviously if they play ads they're not worth bothering with and I will concede that BBC Radio 3 is one of the less egregious stations. Most of the BBC's stations have put out great stuff in the past too (I'm unconvinced about BBC Radio 2, mind). But honestly, I believe in the present online radio easily out-classes the BBC's offerings. It feels so much more diverse, less scripted, more freeform. More about the music itself. Listening to shows on NTS (for example) and then going back to the BBC makes the latter feel so purfunctory and formulaic. Here's a track from Idles. Dancing round the kitchen. Arlo Parks. Scripted plug for the BBC Sounds app. Here's what you're saying on the socials. Here's a track from Bowie, then a regular news bulletin. Like clockwork! It just feels so ancient, and - as i said in my previous post - complacent, to me at least.

[Midas]

Look we all have a bad day at popmaster but it's better than the cunt who turns up Heart instead

Laughed. :)

[Fisher Goes Berserk]

I'm still sulking that R3 cut Late Junction down to one episode a week. Pricks.

Same here, that's the only BBC show I make a point of listening to. That cut was just a horrible sign of things to come, I guess.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Same here, that's the only BBC show I make a point of listening to. That cut was just a horrible sign of things to come, I guess.

Mixing It was another genius R3 cull.

I kind of think that using the FM space for 6 Music would net shitloads more listeners than radio 3 gets, I guess a lot of the arguments dumb down to 'tradition' and the fact that a lot of their listeners are old and don't have DAB/internet.