July 07, 2004

The BBC's Internet site competes with commercial sites too much, says a Government report. The BBC has already agreed to close down a number of its offerings.

I'm not sure I fully understand, though. Obviously anything funded by tax-payers is sensitive, but since the BBC broadcasts soap operas and sporting events, sites which promote interest in them seem a legitimate piece of marketing, don't they?

posted by Plegmund 20 years ago
  • Why? Why?? Shouldn't it be the reverse? Shouldn't the commercial sites be told to buck up?
  • Well, either that, or the commercial sites could provide better content to compete.
  • To put this in perspective just 5 out of the several hundred BBC sites have been closed and they were duplicates of commercial offerings ... The feeling within the BBC is that the Graf report could have been much tougher. And to contradict Plegmund's first sentance, Graf didn't find that bbc.co.uk competes too much: From your linked story: However, he (Ashley Highfield - head of BBC online) added: "Importantly, he (Mr Graf) also says it cannot be proven that our online services have had a negative impact on the market and that it's unlikely that bbc.co.uk has eliminated effective competition across any large areas of online content." This has been hanging over the BBC for months - I spent 3 months working at the BBC mobile division earlier this year and we were hamstrung by considering if anything we wanted to do would impact on commercial services. There's also the arguments that the BBC should invest in mobile/broadband heavily etc to support the govt's Digital Britain strategy ... also top connect with audiences who are not reached by our TV/Radio offerings ... BBC News overview here
  • Tinfoil hat corner with Pez: So you're the Government. The BBC has started getting uppity, and you've got a War on Terror to fight. You released the Hutton report, roundly chastising them, but they just refuse to catch your hints. So you drop a larger one. "Oi. You lot. We're watching you, you wankers. Dance little poppet. We'll do worse if you don't back off Blair and the Chimp." Then dickdotcom comes along and bursts my happy little bubble. Sigh. Stupid reality.
  • sorry Pez ... would it help if I said that from where I'm sitting now I can see Tony Blair hurling rotten tomatoes at Television Centre?
  • The BBC's Internet site competes with commercial sites too much And this isn't true if you replace Internet site with main tv channel? Why not some action there?
  • Fair point, dickdotcom - the report does say clearly that there's no proof. On the other hand, it also says However, there are indications that BBC Online may have an adverse impact on competition. In particular, BBC Online might lessen competition by deterring investment by commercial operators that would have led to new forms of competition. Not quite what I said, but allowing for the usual generous helping of bureaucratic weasel words, the drift is pretty clear.
  • Oh, there is, biffa, there is. But that area of debate is concerned with the beeb's upcoming Charter Review, which could go very badly for the BBC and the notion of public service broadcasting in Britain. The commerical channels always bleat about competition from the BBC - they say that the BBC should either stick to a purely public service remit (by which they mean, don't compete for viewers, slant all programming towards the informative and educational) or should be cut free of the license fee, and take its chances in the commercial sector. This is, of course, tosh. What's often forgotten when the term Public Service Broadcasting is used (both by those who would seek to limit the BBC, and by those who bemoan the percieved "dumbing down" of PSB) is that entertainment has always been a part of that concept. "To inform, educate and entertain" was the Reithian ideal; for some reason, people often ignore, or look down upon, that third strand. The BBC gets kicked both ways - either slammed for low viewing figures, or attacked when it's seen as competing for viewers by broadcasting popular entertainment. It's extremely unlikely that the BBC will actually lose the license fee in this particular charter review, but the worry is that it will lay the ground for a future removal. With the BBC expanding into digital channels (funded largely by the license fee, but not available to all those who've paid the license fee), expanding around the world with arms like BBC Worldwide, BBC America, et al, making large amounts of money from the sale of their shows overseas (although this is still a very small part of their revenue stream), and their internet presence, it's being claimed that they have gone so far beyond the idea of providing a service to the British public that the license fee is a complete anachronism. In this light, the Graf report is actually a very good thing - it has clearly established that the vast majority of BBC internet sites are a valid service, and should remain so. It's why it's also particularly important that things like the Creative Archive are included in the new charter, as a clear example of how a Public Service BBC can still be relevant, indeed essential, in a global and converging broadcasting marketplace.
  • Thanks, UK telly types!
  • As part of the BBC remit is to "act as a trusted guide", I'm really peeved they're taking my What's On guide away. One of the few pages I use all the time! Grrr.
  • And "i" before "e", except after "c". /rude
  • The main problem appears to be that the media world is changing so fast that regulation of the BBC struggles to keep up. When the last charter was renewed the Internet was still the preserve of geeks and the BBC had no internet sites, so it was pretty hard to regulate the BBC's presence on it. It was the same, only more so, for content publishing to mobile devices ... And as digital technology advances which changes the way people consume media, and make much more media available in many more formats, the licence fee, which was a good idea in the 1920's when all you had was wireless begins to look much more like an anachronism ... and there are more and more arguments against it But ... has anyone come up with a better idea? No! And is there any better value for money?
  • I ♥ the BBC.
  • I ♠ the BBC.
  • There's a recruitment officer at the BBC I'd like to club (this post would be cleverer if I knew where to get the club symbol from) ...
  • Here - ♣. You type "♣" I owe this knowledge to Goetter. Preview messes it up unless you retype afterwards.
  • Thanks Plegmund and Goetter "&clubs" (test)
  • or &clubs
  • ♣
  • Yay!
  • While you're at it, dickdotcom, there's a few commissioning editors and one channel controller I wouldn't mind you ♣ing to death, if you can spare the time...
  • Happy to oblige. I'll add them to the list ...
  • And then we'll need lots of ♠s to bury them all.
  • After we've put stakes through their &hearts.
  • &hearts.
  • ♥
  • (my first time getting that right)
  • Thought I'd drop in the listings for what is on BBC1 tonight. This is supposedly what we hold up as the best in the world whenever we're sneering at Johnny Foreignor for the low quality of his shows. Stacks of cheap crap, sending film crews out to follow people being verbally abused or abusive. News which you might as well watch with more depth on BBC2 30 minutes later. A quiz show so old it was hackneyed before I even knew what the word meant and some guff about Britain's toughest family, which probably could have been an interesting look at sink estates but instead looks to be about middle class people in sub-Fear Factor 'life experiences'. Total Shite. Thank you for listening. 6:00 am Breakfast 9:15 am Animal Park 10:00 am Family Exchange 11:00 am Put Your Money Where Your House Is 11:30 am Bargain Hunt 12:15 pm Car Booty 1:00 pm BBC News 1:28 pm BBC London News 1:40 pm Neighbours 2:05 pm Cash in the Attic 2:35 pm Diagnosis Murder 3:20 pm BBC News 3:25 pm Balamory 3:45 pm Dennis the Menace 4:10 pm Tom and Jerry Kids 4:30 pm The Fairly Odd Parents 4:45 pm Cavegirl 5:00 pm Blue Peter 5:25 pm Newsround 5:35 pm Neighbours 6:00 pm BBC News 6:30 pm BBC London News 7:00 pm A Question of Sport Relief First of three shows leading up to Saturday's Sport Relief night. Sue Barker chairs as Ally McCoist is joined by Suzi Perry and Martin Johnson, and Matt Dawson by Colin Jackson and Steve Redgrave. 7:30 pm Wildlife on ONE Peregrine, Nature's Top Gun: The peregrine falcon is the fastest predator on earth, an aerial sprinter that can hit its quarry with devastating accuracy and the impact force of a bullet! 7:55 pm National Lottery Midweek Draws Dale Winton presents the Midweek Draws. 8:00 pm Pushed to the Limit... ... Britain's Toughest Family. Tall Ship/Abseil: New series. Ex-SAS tough guy Chris Ryan uncovers the hidden strengths of ordinary British families. The quest begins with a storm-tossed boat voyage. 9:00 pm Rail Cops PCs Jeff Nelson and Maggie Lyle have a busy night at Birmingham New Street, with stolen luggage and drunken, abusive youths, and PC Bob Gee ends up on the receiving end of a punch. Strong language. 9:30 pm The Stress Test Football Manager: New series. The team follow Ian Holloway, manager of QPR, over three months as he struggles to save his job, lead his team and hold his family together. Very strong language. 10:00 pm BBC News at Ten O'Clock National and international news, with reports from BBC correspondents worldwide. 10:28 pm BBC London News The latest stories from the BBC London newsroom. Followed by the national headlines and Weather. 10:35 pm Imagine... The Smoking Diaries: Marking the publication of Simon Gray's latest book The Smoking Diaries, Alan Yentob draws a rare insight into one of Britain's foremost playwrights.
  • Up until a year or two ago the only good weather radar you could get was from the BBC. The UK MetOffice offered nothing of interest. I was going to cite that as an example, but I see things have changed.
  • I'm sure the charter review won't be at all influenced by how many of Rupert Murdoch's papers will agitate for or against Tony Blair at the next election, and vice versa.
  • biffa: so prime-time wildlife documentaries, a regular high-profile arts show and internationally respected news gathering on the corporation's most mainstream channel aren't a good thing? Strange argument that the News at 10 is somehow a black mark against the BBC because the corporation also makes a better news show for a different audience... The phrase "Total Shite" implies, you know, totality.
  • The Beeb -- one of the things Britain does best, and long may she continue.