‘Radically Reshaped’ BBC to Include Fewer Jobs and More Reruns
 

LONDON — The British Broadcasting Corporation announced Thursday that it would eliminate 2,000 jobs, cut its sports budget, show more reruns, and broadcast fewer talk and game shows. Mark Thompson, the broadcaster’s director general, told his staff that the changes — which amount to cuts of about $1.03 billion a year, or a 20 percent reduction in spending over five years — would lead to a “smaller, radically reshaped BBC.” He said that no television or radio stations would be closed down and that some money would be reinvested in new programming and services. The BBC is financed mostly through a government-approved license fee, paid every year by every household in Britain that owns a television set. The fee brings in about $5.5 billion a year. In the early part of the century, spending increased annually, allowing the broadcaster to expand its services and introduce channels. But after a series of embarrassing episodes, including the disclosure of the huge salaries paid to bureaucrats in the organization, the BBC was forced to curtail spending. Last year, confronted with a Conservative-led government skeptical of its financing model, the BBC agreed to freeze the license fee at its current rate of £145.60, or about $224, a year until 2017.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/wo...html?ref=world


Note: October 6, 2011

I'll happily watch reruns of Blackadder, Little Britain, Faulty Towers, The Two Ronnies, Red Dwarf, Dad's Army, The Young Ones, and current favourite - Outnumbered. :yeah:

Whereas if it's just going to be repeats of Eastenders then they can go take a flying...! :nope:


...jump!

Agreed on this :D

Except for "Outnumbered" (which I don't like but the wife loves) we don't see any of that when they broadcast BBC stuff on PBS.

It's always Vicar of Dibley, Keeping up Appearances, As Time Goes By, To the Manor Born and Last of the Summer Wine ad nauseum.

Nearly 10% of the personnel fired? Damn, that's bad!
This is also a drawback for the affected workers, as the BBC has two different paygrades, one for London, one for the Rest of Britain; the wage difference is about 10-15%.

The same crap as anywhere, poor planning by the management leads to kicking the grunts out. :-?

No drawback at all, the BBC like any other company which does London weighing pays it strictly because London is that much more expensive to live in. If they move to Salford the employees won't be paying London prices so have no need for the additional London pay rates.

Forget about Blackadder, Faulty Towers, Red Dwarf and The Young Ones the rights to those have all been sold to other broadcasters. :(

Funny how this 'shake up' of the BBC, coupled with the threat of repeats coincides with the new 'global subscription' model. Charge the world for unique programming and then churn out the old stuff. Clever.:yep:

I expect a reduction in my TV license soon, especially since the cash generated can no longer be earmarked to new and unique programming.

The reason behind this is clear to me, however if you had a cheap housing, you still have less money in the pocket. It also affects your "credit rating" (is this the right word for it?) when you earn less. Same with your pension level.

Not to be talking about the fuzz people have where the partner/kids are bound to the city.

You only have less money in the pocket if the housing and other expenses still cost more than the allowance you were getting for housing and expenses.
Compare manchester prices and London prices, you can do it anywhere, compare Dublin and Galway.

An allowance wouldn't affect your credit rating, do you think the banks take into account Luncheon vouchers employees get?
With the pensions it depends on the set up but most will go on wage not allowances(or bonuses), the only real impact it would have is if the BBC is an organisation that pays the allowance as actual salary instead of an allowance.

I find myself going back increasingly to the Gold channel these days.

To get a reduction in you TV licence we'll need to get BBC Alba to shut down - I mean who watches it's endless repeats of Rab C. Nesbitt? And then we either need DCMS to close down S4C, or get them to start paying for the BBC programs they use!

Then shut down all the foreign stations, keeping BBC World Service for Johnny who wants to listen to it.

And I think -10 -15% decrease for living in Manchester (or thereabouts) compared to London would see a net increase on comparable living quarters. A move to South Shields would yield even greater increases. :03:

They don't broadcast any of that on the BBC here either. They franchised the rights to GOLD and DAVE for lots of money. To be honest I've seen then all so often I couldn't watched any of them any more even if I was forced to at gunpoint. Plenty of decent - and new - comedy coming through the BBC.

To be honest, some of the stuff outwith the usual prime time guff has been fantastic on the BBC over the last couple of years. It'll be a shame if the same drama unit that has recently given us State of Play, The Shadow Line, Sherlock and Page 8 is going to be badly affected.

BBC Alba is pretty much ring fenced as - just like STV - the beeb get a grant for indigenous language stuff be it Welsh or one of the Gaelic languages. Now, they can get rid of BBC 3. Any channel that gave Two Pints of Lager to the world deserves to be axed.

Whole thing smacks of punishing everyone to prove a point. Never mind, sooner or later Murdoch will slither back into the Tory good books and they'll close it down for him as a 'welcome back!' present. :shifty:

A move to South Shields will soon entitle you to a free licence :DL

You'll have to pry my BBC America from my cold, dead hands.




Okay, maybe that's a bit drastic, seeing as how the only thing I ever seem to watch on there is Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, but still.

Many famous people live there, :DL