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BBC Thinking of Canceling Sky At Night

Posted by samzenpus on from the no-stars-in-the-sky dept.

Smivs writes "A year after veteran presenter Sir Patrick Moore died, the BBC are discussing pulling this iconic program. This has unleashed a torrent of criticism from fans of the monthly science-based astronomy show. There is an on-line petition for those who want to have their say."

5 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Nooo!!! by rotaryexpress · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What a terrible loss that would be. The Sky at Night is a very unique show that is a geared to the amateur astronomer. Seriously BBC, what does it actually cost to have a program like this on late at night, once a month?

    1. Re:Nooo!!! by nojayuk · · Score: 5, Informative

      It costs very little to produce Sky at Night. I worked on the show doing computer graphics over a decade ago; there's an old joke about the official BBC tartan being "small checks" and I can attest to that. The schedule was one 15-minute show a month involving a two-man talking-heads format in a tiny cubbyhole studio plus an annual "spectacular" with Sir Patrick making a visit to, say, Meteor Crater or a famous observatory like Siding Springs. Each studio program took a day to record, maybe three days production, scripting etc. There wasn't much else the BBC produced that cost as little per show.

  2. This has been a long time coming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Elements of the BBC has been trying to finish the Sky at Night program for many years. Back in the Year of Astronomy 2009, I was with a film crew interviewing him at his home, where he talked about the fight he has had keeping it going.

    Now he's gone, the knives are out. The program does not fit well within the BBC's output - it is a fact based program without stupid gimics or pointless 'celebrities'. Those celebs that do appear are (very) keen astronomers. It is a program format that works well for it's target audience - and it's an audience that is quite big. Every year the BBC (to their credit) organise a public astronomy event. This has proved very popular with families and individuals. My local astronomy society has seen an increase in members and enquiries whenever this event is on.

    The problem seems that although the program format works, it is seen to be 'old' - and as we all know, managers want change for change sake. They may talk about viewing numbers, but the program has been aired at different times - often edited to only 20 minutes.

    The BBC want it gone, despite Chris Lintott and Lucie Green doing an excellant job with it recently.

  3. Re:Abolish the licence fee by Tanaka · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No thank you. If it weren't for the BBC, The Sky At Night, would never have even existed.
    If there was no BBC, all we would have to look forward to is wall to wall reality TV.

  4. Re:Abolish the licence fee by schizz69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The BBC is THE best broadcasting agency in the world. It has provided an outlet for so many different arts, science and cultural programs that would never have been made with out the public funding it receives and not tied to being a slave to advertising agencies and the wares they are trying to flog.