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BBC cuts jobs / Charter renewal

1,000 people may leave the BBC (July 2015)

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BA
bilky asko


Would the listening audience be better off if Radio 2 didn't exist, particularly if it is unlikely that even without Radio 2's presence, the market would deliver an equivalent quality product?


It'd give the smaller players in commercial radio (such as UKRD) a chance to provide a broader product to a wider audience which is commercial radio's natural target audience 25-44s.

Personally I don't want Radio 2 to close, but to have a clear public service focus, which has got muddled in the last 20 years in daytime.


Round here, the local UKRD station is the most listened to station.
LL
London Lite Founding member
If Radio 2 has taken share away from a commercial radio station, then why is that the BBC's problem? Surely that's the problem for the commercial radio station to deal with, and try and get back market share. You could also then argue, or say, that it's not a level playing field, in the sense that commercial radio stations are allowed to compete with, and take market share away fro, the BBC, but the BBC isn't allowed to do that. Is that fair?


Indeed. I don't recall reverse comments in the 70s when the commercial radio stations arrived, and in some areas totally demolished BBC radio audiences.


Commercial stations, otherwise known in those days as ILR, had specific PSB requirements and were contracted by the IBA, providing a service that the BBC didn't offer on their local or even national services.

Considering it was a Conservative government who introduced those early stations in the 70s, it could be argued they were local PSB's using a commercial model.
NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
Commercial stations, otherwise known in those days as ILR, had specific PSB requirements and were contracted by the IBA, providing a service that the BBC didn't offer on their local or even national services.

Considering it was a Conservative government who introduced those early stations in the 70s, it could be argued they were local PSB's using a commercial model.


There was no real desire to introduce commercial radio at all; somebody somewhere in the past decided the BBC and only the BBC will do radio. But ultimately hands were forced (possibly due to Radio Luxembourg and the pirate radio stations of the 1960s) and the rest is history.
MA
Markymark
If Radio 2 has taken share away from a commercial radio station, then why is that the BBC's problem? Surely that's the problem for the commercial radio station to deal with, and try and get back market share. You could also then argue, or say, that it's not a level playing field, in the sense that commercial radio stations are allowed to compete with, and take market share away fro, the BBC, but the BBC isn't allowed to do that. Is that fair?


Indeed. I don't recall reverse comments in the 70s when the commercial radio stations arrived, and in some areas totally demolished BBC radio audiences.


Commercial stations, otherwise known in those days as ILR, had specific PSB requirements and were contracted by the IBA, providing a service that the BBC didn't offer on their local or even national services.

Considering it was a Conservative government who introduced those early stations in the 70s, it could be argued they were local PSB's using a commercial model.


Well, that's exactly what ILR (and ITV/C4) were until 1991, commercially financed PSBs, with broadly the same programming requirements as the BBC. Some would say the ILR stations had both hands tied behind their backs because of that, and it made for dull broadcasting, but my memory of stations such as Capital, LBC, BRMB, and Piccadilly was programming far more imaginative and compelling than BBC R1 or 2 could provide. Ironically, it all started to fall apart for ILR when the regulation was relaxed. Today, the situation is more or less reversed !
Steve Williams and Steve in Pudsey gave kudos
SN
The SNT Three
ttt posted:
Sod off back to Digital Spy where you belong, please.


I've been happily plodding along on TVF for ten years longer than you, so thanks, but I'll stay. What's great about this forum is that everybody is entitled to an opinion and to respectfully disagree with it, not calling it out as 'nonsense' or telling them to sod off.

The BBC have some severe cuts to make and I was wondering out loud why more of these haven't been applied in radio (that isn't to say that there haven't been cuts to radio). I would (still) argue that certain stations need to be cut with the best of their programming integrated into existing stations. Some users here think Radio 2 lacks focus: why couldn't they assume some of 6Music's remit while the BBC makes a significant cost saving by having one less station to transmit (same goes for 1/1xtra, 4/4extra etc).
GE
thegeek Founding member
I've heard that the BBC is going to be rationalising their control room infrastructure over the next few years - bringing CCA and Centralised Coding & Multiplexing back in-house (they're currently run by Atos, having been part of the BBC Technology sell-off 10 years ago), and their operations will eventually be merged with the BH radio & TV control rooms.
MD
mdtauk
I've heard that the BBC is going to be rationalising their control room infrastructure over the next few years - bringing CCA and Centralised Coding & Multiplexing back in-house (they're currently run by Atos, having been part of the BBC Technology sell-off 10 years ago), and their operations will eventually be merged with the BH radio & TV control rooms.

Does that mean taking back control of channel playout, or does Red Bee/Ericsson still control that?
GE
thegeek Founding member
Nope, they've recently signed a seven-year extension with Ericsson.
RK
Rkolsen
I've heard that the BBC is going to be rationalising their control room infrastructure over the next few years - bringing CCA and Centralised Coding & Multiplexing back in-house (they're currently run by Atos, having been part of the BBC Technology sell-off 10 years ago), and their operations will eventually be merged with the BH radio & TV control rooms.

Does that mean taking back control of channel playout, or does Red Bee/Ericsson still control that?


And I assume that would mean they'd ingest ITV HD, Channel 4 HD and Film 4+1 for BBCB before sending it out to Arqiva to the transmitters.
IS
Inspector Sands

The BBC have some severe cuts to make and I was wondering out loud why more of these haven't been applied in radio

I suppose it's because the radio services are a lot cheaper than the TV ones to start with - the cost of 6 Music is a tiny fraction of what BBC1 costs - cut a million off it and it disapears, cut a million from BBC1 and it loses a couple of episodes of a drama series
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 2 October 2015 10:38am
JA
james-2001
Am I the only one who thinks BBC Radio (1 & 2 at least) are dire? Not that commercial radio is much better, but you at least hear a decent amount of music on there. Radio 2 isn't quite as bad as Radio 1, but Radio 1 certainly just seems to be endless banal waffle, with an occasional song thrown in. I always cringe whenever I have to listen to it.
IS
Inspector Sands

Does that mean taking back control of channel playout, or does Red Bee/Ericsson still control that?

'Control' is the wrong term really, they do the work for the BBC, rather than have any actual 'control' over the channels

And I assume that would mean they'd ingest ITV HD, Channel 4 HD and Film 4+1 for BBCB before sending it out to Arqiva to the transmitters.

Ericsson won't be doing that, no

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