BBC Parliament

If it wasn't accountable to the Government do you really think they'd bother?

As I've said before there is a place for live parliamentary broadcasts but the amount of time the channel spends broadcasting recorded coverage, especially of previous elections which are only of interest to a minority of the minority, doesn't justify a whole channel, especially on Freeview where space is limited and can be used more effectively at times for other things.

I've no problem of the live coverage of parliament when it is in session, but I think it should be part of the BBC News Multiscreen service.


P.S. Also consider this - have you ever seen the BBC actually use BBC Parliament as a selling point for getting Freeview? They barely acknowledge it exists!

to be fair, they only have the elections on in recesses.

at other times the coverage may be recorded but it's stuff like committees which might be occurring at the same time as the commons or other committees.

So about one week in every three then!

Viewing figures for November - when it went fullscreen on Freeview and had things like the Queen Speech (which as it was important was shown on one of the terrestrial channels, and probably on News 24 too!) - hit a massive high of - well, they are too small to measure, meaning the average viewer watches less than 30 seconds a week, and the channel has less than a 0.05% audience share.

BARB

I know people will hit back with the "public service" argument - but how can it be deemed a public service when the public are just not interested!

From an economics point of view - the BBC is a public service and is here to operate where 'the market fails': ie broadcasting such programmes the Heaven and Earth Show and See Hear. These are essential programmes I'm sure you would agree, but they are so niche that no mainstream commerical channel would (or does) broadcast any sort of equivalent.

The BBC fills the gap in that respect just as the Government provides street lights and schools where equally "the market fails." P.S. I'm a student and I pay my licence fee so

I'm one of the strongest critics of the BBC and the licence fee, but I think BBC Parliament is the sort of thing the BBC should be providing. It is not the job of the BBC to try to get the highest ratings possible, they are there to ensure that stuff is put on air that commercial broadcasters wouldn't touch with a bargepole.

It's not like it costs much to run, either.

I had to pay my licence fee when I was a student - as do students currently - unless you want to break the law if you own a TV in student accommodation.

That is one comment that BBC Parliament should be used to try and turn around! People moan about decisions that the Government and Parliament make IN OUR NAME yet do not take an interest in the decision making process.

If people did find time to watch say an hours worth of debate or one of the summary programmes on BBC Parliament, take and interest and then lobby their MP there is a much larger chance of somebody listening to their voice and something actually being done about it rather than people just moaning!

As to the showing of recorded programming, the election night coverage is useful should somebody want to investigate the history of what's happened to government and how it's evolved over time.

Recorded coverage of committies allows individuals who have an interest in a "select" area to catch up with that stage of discussion.

BBC Parliament has the ability to get people more involved, I would suggest more promotion of the channel would be better, people now just not knowing what or where it is!

I am old enough to remember how non-stop coverage of Parliament on TV started. It was the Parliamentary Channel, run as a public service by the UK Cable companies. The idea was to emulate C-Span in the States which was/is funded by the Cable TV industry. The trouble was that UK Cable was never the dominant force that US Cable was/is. When Congress isn't sitting they have many interesting educational programs on. The Parliamentary Channel was never able to do that so UK Cable lost interest in the project and handed the job on to the BBC. They are doing a better job but it cannot be compared to C-Span.

I still don't buy the "getting involved" line about this channel. If you can't be bothered to go on the internet to read up on issues and watch coverage there then you obviously can't be bothered to "get involved" in the first place (I know not everyone has broadband but then again not everyone has digital either - but library etc. are more likely too.)
If someone gets all their politics from Nick Robinson, Andrew Neill and Jenny pretty face they're not going to know what's going on. There needs to be more effort on the main channels but not shunted away on a single station with narrow interest select committees. Sure, it's handy for students and politicians, but I don't want to know about a proposed badger training scheme in Liverpool. Even if everyone knew about it, I doubt many would watch.

The irony is in the year at Uni I didn't pay the licence fee I used the BBC more, listening to BBC Radio and using BBC online.




You refer to programmes as good examples though - and that's the point! The BBC would never get away with a 24/7 religious or deaf channel, so why Parliament.

Actually a signed simulcast of one of the main channels would be much more of a public service than BBC Parliament!



These people defending BBC Parliament here - how often do you actually watch it? Lets face it, the station only crops up here whenever they show an old general election!

Because the decisions of parliament affect us all. It's like the Electoral Commission voter turnout campaign - 'If you don't do politics, what do you do?'

In many ways the size of the audience is irrelevant. The fact that parliamentary proceedings are so easily and widely accessible is a powerful statement in itself.

Most people may not choose to watch, but it's vital that the choice is available.

A simple solution here I think - hand it over to ITV - and make it more democratic in the process - and self funding, with text and interactive votes that actually do matter!