BBC rant!

bugbyte_2

The BBC spends £4.1 billion every year. To justify its existence, the BBC claim that for every £1 spent, there is £2 of benefit - Thats £8.2 billion of benefit for our economy.

In 2012, BEFORE what was left of BBC Birmingham was moved out, the BBC spent by region:

London - £363 per man, woman and child living there.
Wales - £50
N Ireland - £40
Scotland - £37
South - £25 (BEFORE Bristol was expanded)
North - £13 (BEFORE Media City was built)
Midlands - £6!

Clicky

How is that a fair distribution of £4.1 billion? There are over 16 million people live in the Midlands - and there is not one recording studio! How can the British Broadcasting Corporation say they represent the nation when there is no representation for the midlands?

Rant over.

FlameCloud

They produce some fantastic television and dont have ad breaks. I couldnt give a damn where it is produced.

missesther

The license fee is a poll tax I'd rather not pay. I think I may not soon enough.

hubb

They used to produce fantastic, cultured tv. They have since dumbed down. Only decent Chanel is bbc4. They also advertise rather a lot resulting in you being sick of the programes before they start.

mattyprice4004

It's okay, it's only the Midlands.

wary

Many years ago, I complained to the BBC after their total disinterest, when I alerted them that a news article was factually incorrect. To cut a long & sorry story short, I was forced to conclude:
- they really don't care whether what they report as news happens to be true, just providing they do enough to cover their asses
- they really don't care of the impact this misreporting could have, including people getting caught in a rather despicable scam
- as for their attitude towards complaints and indeed those who dare to complain ... well the less said the better!!!

Not sure if it has changed in recent years but certainly in those days, they were self regulating and a law unto themselves, and my experience demonstrates that they'll very much abuse this privilege.

I hardly watch TV these days; there's enough available to watch online and I'm a member of LoveFilm's DVD Rental service. If I lived alone, I wouldn't have a TV and I'd save myself £150 pa in BBC licence fees.

fluffnutter

wary wrote: »

Many years ago, I complained to the BBC after their total disinterest, when I alerted them that a news article was factually incorrect.

I think you mean 'lack of interest' or, inelegantly, uninterest. Disinterest means impartiality.

Azari

missesther wrote: »

The licence fee is a poll tax I'd rather not pay. I think I may not soon enough.

Really?

So you need to prove you have paid a licence fee before you are allowed to vote?

I think not.

dacouch

I'm guessing the London figures don't take into account the recent closure of Television Centre and many jobs going to Manchester

Nilrem

bugbyte wrote: »

The BBC spends £4.1 billion every year. To justify its existence, the BBC claim that for every £1 spent, there is £2 of benefit - Thats £8.2 billion of benefit for our economy.

In 2012, BEFORE what was left of BBC Birmingham was moved out, the BBC spent by region:

London - £363 per man, woman and child living there.
Wales - £50
N Ireland - £40
Scotland - £37
South - £25 (BEFORE Bristol was expanded)
North - £13 (BEFORE Media City was built)
Midlands - £6!

Clicky

How is that a fair distribution of £4.1 billion? There are over 16 million people live in the Midlands - and there is not one recording studio! How can the British Broadcasting Corporation say they represent the nation when there is no representation for the midlands?

Rant over.

To put it simply, and this is very simple.

TV and radio tends to get made in studios.
Studios because they need a lot of support infrastructure (everything from make-up, to props, to set, to lighting, electricians, plumbing, camera operators etc) tend to be built in complexes, where multiple studios can benefit from the infrastructure, and supporting firms being nearby.

It's not feasible to put complexes in every region.

It's also not exactly as if when the BBC make a show in it's Welsh studio that show is only seen in Wales (Doctor Who and Casualty are from memory made in Wales now), or when it makes a show in Salford it's only of interest to those in the Manchester area.
It's basically a case of it's not practical to spread the cost of producing TV/radio content out in proportion to the population of an area, as your costs would sky rocket due to the increase in travel, and the increase in duplication of facilities and staffing.

It's pretty much the same with film production, you'll find that there are only a handful of areas in most countries where film studios are based, because it costs so much to provide the supporting infrastructure, that they tend to cluster into certain geographic areas..

What the BBC does do, which many other broadcasters don't, is actually maintain news and radio offices that are in heavy use in most regions for their regional news output (compare this to the likes of "Heart" where their "local" news is often recorded by the same person, in the same studio for half the country, and their "local" studios might only have someone in them for a few hours in the morning).

It's also worth noting that the BBC "spend" in a region completely ignores the fact that the BBC might be spending X on a production in a region, but much of that might end up going to another region due to the location of staff or companies providing services.
This is especially true as the BBC has to buy in a lot of content, so it might be spending £5,000,000 for a show produced by Acme Productions in Salfford, but 20% of that might immediately be paid by Acme Productions, to Acme Digital Effects in Cambridge.

hubb

We resort to DVD's most of the time and occasionally watch TV. Classic TV progs when the BBC had great production, acting (actors who were not always reliant on being eye candy). We tried watching The Village and in the first 5 mins turned it off because it was just awful. Not a patch on stuff like Poldark, Cranford, Larkrise, Onedon Line, All Creatures Great And Small etc.