Any fans of Eastenders were disturbed to hear this as they were watching the omnibus of EastEnders on Saturday. The Corporation owned and operated channel is going to have an online chat session with the channel programmer today. 6pm GMT
BBC America needs to be ashamed for saying no one was watching. They never ever once advertised the show and they relegated all the episodes to a saturday omnibus. Shame on them. Now viewers will be subjected to endless reruns of Changing Rooms and Ground Force in endless cycles.
Having looked at the website I am surprised if BBC America gets any viewers at all. Ground Force repeated every half hour all day is not the best the BBC should be showcasing to the world.
Yeah its really messed up. They have licensed so much of the programming to other channels that all the rubbish is left over. They way they channel is structured BBC America must bid for and pay for programming in competion with any other American channel. For example SPOOKS was bid on by A&E network and they won the rights to screen it. A&E changed the name to MI5. http://www.aetv.com/tv/shows/mi5/mi5_homepage.html. Notice how the webpage is almost exactly similar to the BBCi page. Anyway this is the problem with BBC AMERICA
Couldn't the BBC raid their vaults and turn it into a sort of Amercian UK Gold? Maybe get some older programming from Thames and the like. Really show how good we can be at making television. BBC America could be a window into Britian for American viewers. Ground Force is not a pretty view.
I've never understood why it's called BBC America, as it seems a bit of a stupid name. It's the only BBC entertainment channel which Americans can see, so I don't see why it can't just be called "BBC".
The BBC should be ashamed at themselves for their part in the channel. What sort of impression does it give Americans of British TV. Anyone would think it's just wall to wall DIY and gardening shows...
Woody_streatham posted:
Couldn't the BBC raid their vaults and turn it into a sort of Amercian UK Gold? Maybe get some older programming from Thames and the like. Really show how good we can be at making television. BBC America could be a window into Britian for American viewers. Ground Force is not a pretty view.
It's worth remembering that BBC America is a commercial venture and has to pay the BBC to show its programmes. (Isn't it a joint venture between BBC Worldwide & The Discovery Channel?)
It's worth remembering that BBC America is a commercial venture and has to pay the BBC to show its programmes. (Isn't it a joint venture between BBC Worldwide & The Discovery Channel?)
The channel is completely owned and programmed by the BBC. Discovery handles the distribution on the cable systems, that is all. BBC America is a part of BBC Worldwide. Its a part of BBCPRIME and BBC Canada. http://www.bbccanada.com/ BBC Canada is a joint venture with Alliance Atlantis. Its a weird venture because of Canada broadcasting laws that state they must show a precentage of Canadian programming per day. Also they run BBC KIDS in Canada. The programming is a bit better because of BBC Worldwide doesnt have as many programming deals with other channels in Canada. BBC PRIME is very similar to the BBC in the UK. BBC AMERICA by the way shows commericals unlike the BBC in the UK. So dont worry the License fee is not going to running of this channel.
Couldn't the BBC raid their vaults and turn it into a sort of Amercian UK Gold? Maybe get some older programming from Thames and the like. Really show how good we can be at making television. BBC America could be a window into Britian for American viewers. Ground Force is not a pretty view.
The problem with this is that they have license deals with many PBS station across the United States. Since PBS is not really a true network in the sense that it has a central programming schedule, the BBC has to wait until the licensing deals they made with hundreds of independant stations throughout the 70s and 80s and 90s to expire. They have a really bad situation going because they have licensed everything to different channel. Even the programs that have or are being remade are licensed to channels that have no intention of airing the original UK import.
To be honest, I think EastEnders should face the axe here. It's dated, too gangster focused and very unoriginal at the moment. Unless it gets back to it's best, EastEnders will end up going the Brookie route IMO.
According to overnights, 16 million people tuned in to see the return of Dirty Den - something like a 65% audience share. If it can still pull in figures like that there's no way the Beeb would axe it.
If BBC America want to end its run, then that's really up to them. ISTR that when EastEnders launched, it was carried in the US for a while (no idea on which network though) - however they had to issue crib cards with essential Rhyming Slang so the yanks could understand it !
BBC Prime still shows current and what it calls 'Classic' EastEnders to Europe, Southern Africa, Israel and the Middle East.
They could cobble together the best/more important reports from BBC regional news shows and transmit these so that ex-pats could keep abreast of the bigger reports that concern the part of the UK the person came from......
