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Government Could Ban BBC From Showing Top Shows at Peak Times (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the top-gear,-bottom-slot dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The BBC is on a collision course with the government over reported efforts to bar it from showing popular shows at peak viewing times. The culture secretary, John Whittingdale, is widely expected to ban the broadcaster from going head-to-head with commercial rivals as part of the BBC charter review. He is due to publish a white paper within weeks that will set out a tougher regime as part of a new royal charter to safeguard the service for another 11 years. ITV has complained about licence fee money being used to wage a ratings battle with it and other channels funded by advertising. A source at the BBC said the public would be deeply concerned if it were forced to move programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who and Sherlock from prime time weekend slots.In some unrelated news, Clarkson, Hammond, and May are still figuring out the name for their new show.

84 comments

  1. Typical conservative machinations by barc0001 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Kill the Beeb's ratings and then they'll claim it can't compete and should be shut down or sold off to one of their cronies for pennies.

    1. Re:Typical conservative machinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I'm also confused as to how that won't be the outcome of this. Top ratings go to whatever is shown at peak times, naturally. So move the shows that are there now and watch the replacements get the top ratings, or the channels languish and then you get the moaning. Either way, sounds like a stupid move.

    2. Re:Typical conservative machinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Part of the ongoing plan to kill the BBC.

      Phase 1: Don't allow them to increase the licence fee in line with inflation.
      Phase 2: Make them pay for the World Service, which is of no benefit to licencees.
      Phase 3: Take away the revenue from households that have someone over 70 years of age.
      Phase 4: Stop them from showing popular shows at times when people are likey to want to watch them.
      Phase 5: Shut it down because no-one is watching it any more.
      Phase 6: Everyone pays Rupert Mudoch's ransom for the only good TV left.

    3. Re:Typical conservative machinations by Blue+Stone · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yep, that's their modus operandi alright. They want everything in the hands of their party donors and to rule the UK (or what remains of it) as their personal fiefdom.

      What gets me is how supine the BBC is. Surely they know the person beating them about the head and body daily is going to kill them as soon as they think they can get away with it? Yet they bow and scrape, acquiesce, and attack the Labour party following Lynton Crosby's agenda to the letter.

      George Osborne, the chancellor, apparently wants to take a slice of the Beeb's license fee to prop up the newspaper industry. That'd be the champion of the free market, then, attacking the Beeb which operates on a public service remit by cutting into its revenues and using a bit of corporate socialism to prop up a newspaper industry whose loyalty is to its rich, tax-dodging proprietors and which has little or no interest to fair or balanced reportage (but generally loves the Tories).

      Don't even get me started on the NHS. The Conservative party wants all of the post-war (II) settlement gone to be replaced with rampant inequality.

      The Conservatine party: taking the Great out of Great Britain and selling it off for pennies on the dollar.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    4. Re:Typical conservative machinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > Yet they bow and scrape, acquiesce, and attack the Labour party following Lynton Crosby's agenda to the letter.

      "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

      Anyway, public institutions have been gradually filled with business types over the last 20 years, and it's only those lower down who are even interested in complaining. But they're also interested in keeping a job. Humans without unity are pathetic, servile cowards, tbh, but that's what 35 years of Thatcherism have given us.

    5. Re:Typical conservative machinations by negRo_slim · · Score: 0

      Good TV? Yeah that's a joke. There are good shows out there certainly but television itself is a desolate wasteland.

      --
      On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
    6. Re: Typical conservative machinations by Malc · · Score: 2

      Good lord if the best ITV can do is X Factor when they're faced with real competition then how shit would they be if the Beeb were neutered? Thank F*** for the Beeb for raising standards. £12.12/month for the license fee is an absolute bargain!

    7. Re:Typical conservative machinations by andymadigan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How's this: Get the BBC to start broadcasting over the internet in the U.S., and *I'll* pay your licence fee for you.

      In fact, if iPlayer + Live TV was available for a monthly fee anywhere in the world, I'll bet BBC would be so flush with cash they could abolish the domestic fee.

      --
      The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
    8. Re:Typical conservative machinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How's this. If anyone wants the BBC, they pay for it and get it. If you don't want the BBC, you don't have to pay for it and you won't get it. It's called capitalism, ought to try it some time.

    9. Re:Typical conservative machinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How about this: That's a nicer form of short sighted opportunism than destroying creative culture, putting a yoke on creatives and then complaining people have moved on and you deserve to make a profit because you gutted an industry. But it's still short sighted.

    10. Re:Typical conservative machinations by dbIII · · Score: 2

      What gets me is how supine the BBC is

      Remember the guy on the BBC that debunked the comment that Saddam could attack the UK within minutes? Hounded to suicide. The BBC is that way as a literal survival tactic.


      It's been that way for years apparently. Jimmy Saville spend six Christmases with the Thatcher family which may explain why all those complaints against him and efforts within the BBC to get rid of him came to nothing once they hit the top levels of management. Not being from the UK I'm hearing about it all after the fact, but it's part of a history of interference on many levels.

    11. Re: Typical conservative machinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in many respects you're right but the BBC is easily one of the best broadcasters and does manage to avoid a lot of (not all) comercial bias.

    12. Re: Typical conservative machinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot to include sharing the license fee with C4 (a comercial broadcaster).

    13. Re:Typical conservative machinations by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not a citizen of the UK. Not living in the UK. Hell, not even a native English speaker.

      But I'd pay for BBC iPlayer. Easily twice the amount I'd pay for Amazon Prime. The BBC offers opportunities for non mainstream voices to be heard. Comedy, decent science, OK documentaries, reasonably independent news. And I don't care much for other content as I could get that from other sources.

      Yet, I feel I don't fully pay the BBC. One indirect part I pay through the TV license in the country I live in, as they -inevitably- serve BBC content. Another part remains unaccounted for.

      BBC! If you're listening, there are people outside the UK willing to pay for great content which you produce. Allow us to pay for access to your content!

      And while you're at it: Reduce the influence of parasitic outfits wich implement/support artificial partitioning systems with the sole purpose of bleeding money from you. In the modern world you don't need these any longer.

      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    14. Re:Typical conservative machinations by jedrek · · Score: 1

      What's the problem with just watching the good shows? I mean, if you decide to consume everything, then there's no form of expression that worthwhile. Do you realize the utter garbage that is published every year, the hundreds of thousands of hours of unlistenable music, or wasted pieces of canvas. The only difference between those and television, is that you have access to the vast majority of TV being made in your market. The fact that there are good show, and that they can be so good, means that television is something worth paying attention to.

    15. Re:Typical conservative machinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This, exactly. The BBC is its own worst enemy, with its "license fee" and geographic restrictions. I've been writing to them, on an annual basis, for the past 10 years offering to pay them a fee if they'd let me subscribe to an online service on the same basis as UK residents.

      Fuck 'em.

    16. Re: Typical conservative machinations by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      It boggles my mind those in the heirachy who feigned ignorance. Johny rotten from the sex pistols straight up said as much on television in the 1970s and for his efforts at whistleblowing all he got was a ban from the BBC. From my understanding *everyone* at the BBC knew , yet the higher up lickspittles didn't do nothing

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    17. Re:Typical conservative machinations by mjwx · · Score: 2

      How's this: Get the BBC to start broadcasting over the internet in the U.S., and *I'll* pay your licence fee for you.

      In fact, if iPlayer + Live TV was available for a monthly fee anywhere in the world, I'll bet BBC would be so flush with cash they could abolish the domestic fee.

      The problem is that the Beeb licenses a lot of its TV shows and other content to commercial stations overseas. Also licenses to produce shows locally like Top Gear (US, RIP Top Gear UK) and Dancing With The Stars (based on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing).

      Licensing agreements prevent them from running a competing network, not to mention licensing regulations and fees for each country they operate in.

      Also the BBC operates a lot of local channels in other countries like BBC America or BBC Asia. Granted, BBC America is a commercial supported channel.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    18. Re: Typical conservative machinations by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      I would pay $18, make it an even $20 and offer the entire back catalogue, a month for the BBC. Hell I already "pay" $10 a month (a $120 donation each year to Minnesota Public Radio) since I listen to the BBC World Service (91.1 HD3 in the Twin Cities if anyone cares) all the time in the car and I let MPR know that is all I listen to of their offerings.

      --
      Time to offend someone
    19. Re:Typical conservative machinations by ultranova · · Score: 1

      Phase 6: Everyone pays Rupert Mudoch's ransom for the only good TV left.

      Phase 7: more people simply abandon TV because with BBC gone, it's even less competitive against the Internet.

      Commercial TV isn't competing against the BBC or other national broadcasters, it's competing against Facebook and a billion funny cat videos. And it's going to lose because it's inferior in both technology and content, as well as led by people so used to captive audiences that they think they're entitled to them.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    20. Re:Typical conservative machinations by ripvlan · · Score: 1

      This is all very strange. Let me see if I understand this: The "people" give money to the BBC - the BCC creates really amazing shows to please the people. Seems like they use that money very responsibly. As an American I watch some shows & BBC radio. Although - to be honest - most BBC shows are now viewed via Netflix. But I used to buy (buy!!) current Top Gear on iTunes. This is top quality stuff.

      So this is why I'm confused by the purported contents of this White paper. Bury good shows at off times or create crappier shows? What the heck are those people paying for? If I had to pay a tax like that - I'd want really good stuff created. Competition - it's a good thing. Good stays around, crap dies.

      Otherwise I'd want my tax money back to spend on Netflix/Amazon.

    21. Re: Typical conservative machinations by wickedwitchofwest · · Score: 1

      Yep, typical of the micromanaging swine. I suppose they'll sell this as looking after the interests of " hardworking families" , not as protecting the interests of their tax avoiding friends on the boards of ITV.

    22. Re:Typical conservative machinations by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      You have people paying subscriptions for BBC-America. Doctor Who is fine, but I don't care for Top Gear and wtf is BBC-America doing showing Star Trek Next Generation to Americans?

      It is a valid complaint against gubbernment though -- using taxes to create competition to private interests...that pay taxes.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    23. Re: Typical conservative machinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Will they still be allowed to show their bottom shows at valley times?

  2. Prime time? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    Who the heck watches non-sports TV "live" at this point? DVR it people! Get the app!

    1. Re:Prime time? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      1) Name me a cheap PVR which replicates all video cassette functionality.

      2) Apps / web sites are all less versatile than recording from broadcast.

      3) The point in prime time is to offer something that everyone can watch at once as a social experience, e.g. to get to gether / to chat about the following day. The reason most programming is shit these days is that you don't put as much creative effort into something that's only going to be watched by half a million people instead of half the country.

      tl;dr 100 crap choices are worse than a handful of good ones.

      Anyway, this is just Tories being Tories: the State is something to sell to your friends, and taxes are something to channel to them for on-going maintenance of things that aren't allowed to fail.

    2. Re:Prime time? by C0R1D4N · · Score: 1

      Better question, how terrible is British nightlife that Friday and Saturday evenings are "primetime viewing" those timeslots are where we in the US send TV shows to die.

    3. Re:Prime time? by negRo_slim · · Score: 1

      3) The point in prime time is to offer something that everyone can watch at once as a social experience, e.g. to get to gether / to chat about the following day. .

      I think the point in prime time is that that's when the most eyeballs are available. Anything else is just happenstance that marketers have been able to leverage.

      --
      On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
    4. Re:Prime time? by MrL0G1C · · Score: 1

      "tl;dr 100 crap choices are worse than a handful of good ones."

      And they all cater to the lowest common denominator and are very establishment, status quo, brain washing consumerist crap, including the BBC.

      So I really don't care what they do to the BBC or any other channel because I don't watch any of it any more, I can't be bothered to waste my time searching through big piles of shit just to find the occasional good bit.

      --
      Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
    5. Re: Prime time? by Malc · · Score: 2

      I don't think you can make any judgements about 'nightlife'. I've lived on both continents and find nightlife is however you want to make it. Having moved back to the UK I find the scene much better than the US because nobody (at least in London) drives.

      I've always resented the TV companies in the UK for putting the best things on the box when I'm out. Love the iPlayer though.

    6. Re:Prime time? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      With get_iplayer, you can grab programmes for watching later, in high definition, up to either 7 or 30 days after broadcast. That's far more useable than a VHS (which has to be programmed before the start of a show and grabs a time window, not a specific show).

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    7. Re:Prime time? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      iPlayer it! Watch it on your smart TV, or AirPlay it, or Google Cast it, whenever you feel like it. If you have none of those, a NowTV box is 15 quid (it used to be 10, so check eBay) and it comes with apps including iPlayer.

      Then, the BBC could just air the shows a few hours before prime time and people who want to watch them at prime time can still do so.

    8. Re:Prime time? by bullgod · · Score: 1

      Several Millions.

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3299241/Another-slump-ratings-X-Factor-loses-4-million-viewers-Strictly-Come-Dancing-hits-new-series-low-live-show.html

  3. Parents just don't understand... by transami · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the commercial guys don't seem to understand Netflix. No amount of bribing the Goberment is going to save them.

    --
    :T:R:A:N:S:
  4. what at dick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the culture secretary has been trying to kill the bbc off since he was appointed. maybe that's why he was appointed.

    tory bastards.

    1. Re:what at dick by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 1

      Rather than selling it off (which the Tories will attempt), just operate it under exactly the same model as Channel 4. Publicly owned but commercially operated, and with the same remit it currently has. That seems to work pretty well for Channel 4 and can have equal guarantees as to its independence and character.

      The main point is, if they just sell it off we will have permanently lost something of unique value just for some quick money. I don't see that as a good deal.

    2. Re:what at dick by Fragnet · · Score: 1

      The Tories aren't going to sell it off, so your premise is false from the start.

    3. Re:what at dick by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 1

      I hope you're right, but I don't agree. Given the chance they will float it for quick bucks and a nod of the head from Murdock and chums.

    4. Re: what at dick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its fair to say its been a succession of tory culture ministers have been doing this. They don't like the alleged left wing bias (which is why the BBC has to be balanced) and they don't like that it competes (some would say unfairly) with commercial broadcasters. Personally I find it very annoying that our government put this ahead of the most important thing, producing entertaining, educational and informative television.

  5. Good old conservatives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I do hope all the people who voted for the conservatives are feeling personally accountable for what they are doing to this country.
    Screwing the NHS, screwing the BBC, screwing the economy, screwing pigs.

    These days i have to watch where i sit lest i find a conservative ready for me.

  6. BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If ordinary people are loosing money, then sadly there is nothing to do about it.

    If rich people are loosing money, or not getting as much as they want, then the rules must be changed. Even, as in this case, it is detrimental to everybody else.

    Solution: Adblock and piracy.

    1. Re:BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Solution: get a dictionary.

      The word is losing, not loosing. If you get it wrong you look like a goose.

    2. Re:BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if you have nothing better to contribute besides correcting somebody's spelling, you look like an ass.

    3. Re:BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if you get it right, you lok like a gose. Or something like that.

  7. ITV still exists? by GreatDrok · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm trying to remember the last programme by ITV that I regularly watched. Last time I looked it was a bunch of generic cheap reality crap. I guess there's Downton Abbey but that's done now. Seriously, ITV made its bed and is now complaining that people don't want to watch crappy shows that get broken up every few mins by adverts. What a shock. The problem for ITV isn't the time the programmes are on, but rather VOD services such as iPlayer meaning people don't sit in front to the TV any more at a specific time and they definitely don't want to watch adverts. ITV Player is a joke by the way. Netflix and iPlayer. Job done.

    --
    "I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
    1. Re:ITV still exists? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      itv play needs to come back!

    2. Re:ITV still exists? by Fragnet · · Score: 2

      It's not say that is it, it's saying that the competition is unfair because the BBC doesn't have to live or die by its programming, yet it still chooses to compete with commercial television and radio for some bizarre reason.

    3. Re:ITV still exists? by Blue+Stone · · Score: 2

      The Bill used to be the only ITV show I watched without fail. Once they butcherd that then killed it ... nothing.

      ITV is the purveyor of banal, LCD, mass-market mediocrity, and nothing else. They don't even balance it with a bit high-brow stuff these days.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    4. Re:ITV still exists? by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      They have a pretty good selection of crime dramas such as Lewis and Grantchester. Midsomer Murders has been playing for 15 or 16 years on there.

      They probably get most of their money from Coronation Street though. I don't watch that but I do like the crime dramas.

    5. Re:ITV still exists? by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      Plebs is one of my all time favourite shows, and the download I get always has a iTV watermark.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    6. Re:ITV still exists? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      I'm trying to remember the last programme by ITV that I regularly watched

      "Callan" was awesome.

  8. British TV by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    I just need to know what time Benny Hill comes on.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:British TV by jjbenz · · Score: 1

      Benny Hill brings back fond childhood memories.

  9. It's kind of amusing by John.Banister · · Score: 3, Interesting

    to see the commercial broadcast channels encourage the government to push more viewers towards adopting online viewing. The notion of supporting something that benefits their ecosystem is going to look much better in hindsight. Netflix will be the beneficiary, even if they don't carry the displaced content.

  10. Name for the Show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Clarkson, Hammond, and May are still figuring out the name for their new show.

    Prime Tier, the show about cars, people and culture around them. Inspired by this news submission.

  11. Subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    âðYS

  12. What a surprise... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    John Whittingale is an old friend of Rupert Murdoch.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/n...

  13. Speaking as an American by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 0, Troll

    This is the kind of BS you have to worry about when you have government doing things it shouldn't be doing, like running a national TV network. We have several forms of 'public' TV in the States, but none of them are run with the sort of dictatorial mandate that the BBC operates under (license fees, content regulation, you name it).

    1. Re:Speaking as an American by itsdapead · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is the kind of BS you have to worry about when you have government doing things it shouldn't be doing, like running a national TV network

      Yes, I envy the USA and the wonderful, unbiassed, philanthropic networks run by massive multinational corporations - and the great thing is, freedom of choice: you can choose to watch the network run by the massive multinational corporation who's entrenched interests best represents your interests. Plus, of course, the US networks are famous for never censoring or regulating content.

      Oh, yes, there's public broadcasting in the US. I remember watching a show on one such channel once when visiting the US: it was the original British version of House of Cards (not the Netflix US remake) in which the anti-hero F.U. takes on (and outwits) the King who Didn't Resemble Charles At All... the US channel actually prefaced it with a little lecture about the evils of monarchy* just in case any USA viewers started rooting for the King (because although F.U. was an evil, corrupt murdering bastard, he had been democratically elected after democratically murdering/smearing/blackmailing his opponents). Not sure which sponsor had insisted on that little rider. (NB: the UK monarch doesn't actually get to run the country - I'm still not a fan, but we need the tourism and the alternative would probably be to outsource the whole bunch to Disney who'd be far more likely to interfere with running the country)

      Anyway, at least PBS doesn't run those adverts telling you how wonderful it is that you get to watch adverts because they protect your right to choose products made by the companies that can afford the most adverts (seriously - Philip K Dick would be proud. This was some years ago, are they still running?)

      NB: The government doesn't run the BBC, but every 10 years or so they get the chance to re-write the charter under which it operates. That's what's happening at the moment - and the current government would quite like to shut it down to keep their friends in big media companies happy. You can tell the government doesn't run the BBC because if they did they'd have already shut it down.

      * Citation needed, I know, but it was a while ago and the bruise where my jaw hit the floor has long gone. It was certainly a "did that just happen?" moment.

      --
      In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
    2. Re:Speaking as an American by Raenex · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yes, I envy the USA and the wonderful, unbiassed, philanthropic networks run by massive multinational corporations

      Yes, because the BBC has never shown bias or having an agenda driven by politics.

      and the great thing is, freedom of choice: you can choose to watch the network run by the massive multinational corporation who's entrenched interests best represents your interests

      Yes, there are a great number of choices, and you know, sometimes entertainment is just entertainment and not a corporate conspiracy to do their bidding. Of course, you can always go online or do whatever. But thank god you have the BBC to save you from the horrible fate of American television viewers!

    3. Re:Speaking as an American by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      when you have government doing things it shouldn't be doing, like running a national TV network

      Americans may find this difficult to comprehend but there is a huge difference between "state funded" and "state run". This is why the USPO has fallen to bits, republicans tied the hands of USPTO managers by dictating prices of everything they sold, ie: they made and enforced all the financial decisions at the local post office, it was a deliberate (and successful) effort of the part of FED-ex and others lobbying to kill the "unfair" competition. It won't be so easy to pull down the BBC, it's has way more respect from the public than Murdoch and his pet government(s).

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    4. Re:Speaking as an American by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... none of them are run with the sort of dictatorial mandate ...

      Of course the US government wouldn't interfere just because movies didn't have a right to free speech, just like 37 states didn't pass 100 "movie censorship bills in 1921" telling Hollywood what people could see: Nothing the moral elite objected to such as; criticism of the government or its employees, sex, nudity, profanities and later, communism. In other words, none of the things that adults viewed in a live theatre production. The resulting self-enforcement by Hollywood was called the 'Hayes code':

      1. No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.

      2. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented.

      3. Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.

    5. Re:Speaking as an American by cardpuncher · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is the kind of BS you have to worry about when you have government doing things it shouldn't be doing, like running a national TV network

      You're right about "government doing things it shouldn't be doing". The BBC is established under a Royal Charter which is supposed to make it a public institution independent of the government of the day. However, governments of the day have never really been able to keep their hands off - from widespread security vetting of BBC staff, heavy-handed threats relating to programs on defence and security issues through to the latest plundering of the TV licence revenue to fund welfare and broadband iniatives at the cost of programming (including one TV channel lost).

      The government is supposed to leave running the BBC's national TV networks (and radio networks) to the BBC, but the BBC has always been supine in the face of government pressure (partly because the government can, in the end, turn off the money and partly because its oversight board is stuffed with government appointees many of whom are looking forward to their next sinecure) with the inevitable consequence that each demand is more onerous than the last.

    6. Re:Speaking as an American by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, come on. You can't pretend the BBC doesn't, several times an hour, show adverts telling you how wonderful the BBC is. What's the difference exactly?

    7. Re:Speaking as an American by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's literally the point he's making.

    8. Re:Speaking as an American by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah, putting the US Patent and Trademark Office in charge of delivering the mail was probably a bad idea.

  14. A better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have a much better idea, instead why don't you require commercial broadcasters to provide content that people actually want to watch (or allow them to go out of business). Reality shows are only entertaining for the first zero or one episodes, but they are everywhere now because they don't cost anything to produce.

  15. Freedom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, they really got freedom in the U.K. don't they?

    Of course, if they decided to revolt against the now fascist government, they would be out of luck since they don't have any guns.

    DUH!

  16. Wait, I'm Confused... by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 0

    The way I read the article, it seemed to imply that people still watch non-sports TV shows *LIVE* over in the UK. That can't be right... can it?

    1. Re:Wait, I'm Confused... by budgenator · · Score: 1

      The way I read the article, it seemed to imply that people still watch non-sports TV shows *LIVE* over in the UK. That can't be right... can it?

      That's what I was thinking, moving your best shows off primetime slots only means DVR recording conflicts! Learn to make your commercials look good at 5X speed and your golden!

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    2. Re:Wait, I'm Confused... by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      The new Tivo allows auto skipping of commercials on recorded programs. You hit the green D button and it just flashes to the end of the break, no fast forward at all.

      It is a beautiful thing.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  17. Latest 1% InfoOp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    A - Pay some shills to threaten Bernie Sanders in virtualspace
    B - Blame the threats on Donald Trump
    C - Hope and bribe that Hillary will win because "evil Donald" has been ingrained into the public conscience

    BBC, NyTimes, CNN and many others are willing executioners in this evil scheme.

  18. Well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All your mainstream media conspires to perform almost the same evilness as BBC.

    Look at this, if in doubt: https://www.rt.com/news/341499-yemen-saudi-saleh-interview/

    They pontificate how evil Iran is, how brutal the Russians etc etc.

    The Saudis meanwhile - they sponsor terror worldwide unchallenged. Nah - they get shipments of advanced weapons in the billions instead of a cruise missiles into some villas in Riad.

  19. no pity for bbc/goebbels by sittingnut · · Score: 0

    i for one feel no pity whatever for bbc or its employees. its is state owned propaganda.
    it maybe, or may be not (let british decide that), impartial about news inside uk.

    but it is is extremely partial mouthpiece of current, secular, so called 'liberal', western elite, and their ideology of death and looting; ever ready to excuse any crime, coup, invasion, torture, drone child killings, spying, etc etc committed by that establishment.

    i don't intend to pity goebbels of modern day.

    1. Re:no pity for bbc/goebbels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the fuck are you on about?

    2. Re:no pity for bbc/goebbels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, the proper question should have been "What the fuck are you on? And are you sharing it?"

  20. Guardian == BBC by residents_parking · · Score: 1

    If the BBC is biased (it is), the Guardian more so. They're joined at the hip. They share stafff and stories. For example, in the week when the UK Labour Party have been rocked to the core by racism, the BBC choose to headline the football. The Guardian's headline is about synthetic cannabis.

    Don't quote the Guardian about the BBC, and vice-versa.

  21. collision course... by axewolf · · Score: 2

    The BBC is on a collision course with the government like my nose is on a collision course with my face

  22. fair... by SuperDre · · Score: 1

    Well, I must admit ITV has a point, it's really unfair that BBC is producing topshows with public money, whereas ITV has to pay for them themselves and have to compete with those publicly paid for shows.. It's not as simple as 'well they have to make better shows then', as IMHO shows like Dr Who or any 'entertainment show', shouldn't even be done by public services. BBC is just acting as any other commercial network, and therefore doesn't really have a real purpose anymore, and should go back to doing educational/information shows/broadcasts.. The big shows are produced by the same companies that produce for commercial networks anyway...

    1. Re:fair... by Custard+Horse · · Score: 1

      ITV is a commercial channel and relies upon content to gain commercial interest. If ITV is forced to 'up it's game' due to competition, this is good for the consumer and good for ITV who can charge more for prime time slots.

      If the BBC was forced to show it's best shows at other times, the consumer would still watch those shows and the programming on ITV - which would be non-prime time - would be of no interest to the consumers and sponsors would not be interested in placing commercials.

      In the absence of competition neither ITV nor the BBC would go the extra mile to create content which the public crave. This cannot be a good thing.

      As for constraining the BBC to educational and documentary programming - this would make it even easier for ITV to produce content that was 'good enough' rather than great.

      Eventually, there would be outcry for ITV that the BBC was unfairly capitalising upon educational or documentary programming thus children and Slashdot readers would be watching basic arithmetic and Large Hadron Collider content at midnight.

      In the words of Isaac Newton: "Leave it the fuck alone" (out of context as the BBC was extant at that stage)

  23. BBC is proof... by Martin+S. · · Score: 2

    The BBC is one example of the Public Sector beating the Private sector hands down, the NHS is another. This is why the Tories are trying to cripple it.

    You must also remember who Whittingdale is, this is the guy who had his shenanigans and hypocrisy covered up by Sky/News International because he is one of their own and going after the BBC for them.