Midweek Thread 19th May 2021

378 Responses to Midweek Thread 19th May 2021

1. StewGreen says:

   May 21, 2021 at 7:02 pm

   7:30pm @BBCTwo
   Mary Beard talks to
   – James May, Gary Numan,
   *David Olusoga .. AGAIN *
   – Rosie Jones and William Dalrymple
   to explore what we lose from arts and culture when we cannot travel

      3 likes
2. Fedup2 says:

   May 21, 2021 at 7:13 pm

   Meanwhile – the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has published a Report on the BBC and its’ attitude to the future –
   This is the exec summary –

   STARTS
   ‘The BBC stands at a critical juncture. The internet has changed dramatically the way that people consume media, putting pressure on the BBC’s audiences: the BBC has recently lost its place as the media provider that young people spend most time with. The BBC also faces several emerging financial challenges. Licence fee sales have fallen by nearly half a million in the past two years, shrinking the BBC’s main source of income. There is also considerable uncertainty about the eventual impact of the removal of government funding for free TV licences for the over-75s, and the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The BBC is also currently in negotiations with the government about the future level of the licence fee.
   Despite these challenges, when giving evidence to us the BBC appeared complacent and unconcerned by the declining time that people spend using its services, or the fact that around 200,000 new households each year choose to opt out of paying for the TV licence. The BBC also appears to have put off the hard choices that its financial position means that it will have to make. Little detail is available, for example, about the cuts to its frontline staff and content that it concedes it will be forced to make. Its ambition to increase its commercial returns by 30% over five years appears somewhat unambitious given that returns in 2019–20 represented less than 6% of the income the BBC raised from the licence fee, and its plans for an increased presence in the nations and regions are unconvincing. While we understand that the BBC may be reticent to share detailed plans given that it is in the middle of licence fee negotiations, we would expect it to be able to share a clearer vision of how it will address the decline in its audiences while also investing it its transition from traditional TV viewing to online.’
   END
   Nice to see trouble coming from other angles – eh?

   We are winning .

      10 likes
3. theisland says:

   May 21, 2021 at 7:23 pm

   Link to the report (pdf).

   “the BBC appeared complacent and unconcerned …”

      5 likes
4. Fedup2 says:

   May 21, 2021 at 7:45 pm

   Theisland
   Thank you for reminding me of my techy limitations ….. 😎

      2 likes
5. Fedup2 says:

   May 21, 2021 at 8:43 pm

   New Thread up …. Thank you for your contributions ..

      0 likes