Why does the BBC spend a ton on extra content for the BBC Three shows? The semis are going to be watched by hardcore fans, ergo, they'll want the EBU feed.
You can actually say exactly the same about the Woman's FIFA football on there at present.
Again, it's going to be hardcore woman's football fans, very little if any crossover with BBC 3's demographic, yet that's not been 'BBC 3-isd' to fit in ?
Why does the BBC spend a ton on extra content for the BBC Three shows? The semis are going to be watched by hardcore fans, ergo, they'll want the EBU feed.
You can actually say exactly the same about the Woman's FIFA football on there at present.
Again, it's going to be hardcore woman's football fans, very little if any crossover with BBC 3's demographic, yet that's not been 'BBC 3-isd' to fit in ?
All bets are off when it comes to sport and news. The funding of sport and news output on channels works differently to everything else. Effectively the channels don't fund sport shows on a commissioned per-hour basis, so have less influence on them.
RS
Rob_Schneider
If it doesn't "fit" on BBC Three, why is it there? BBC Two should be handling that - indeed if Three is lost where else is it going to go, realistically? - and it would inevitably pick up a bigger audience.
I always feel stuff like the Cake Shop VTs would be better in an Xtra Factor style programme to air after the show, which COULD be on Three.
I had the world feed in sync with Three during SF2 and yes the skipped content was certainly missable; but we have missed out on some decent stuff during the Nordic era like you say. The Scandinavians seem to be experts at getting the production spot on. Look at the Oslo, Malmo and Copenhagen shows and they're just in a different league to Vienna, Baku and, dare I say it, Dusseldorf.
If it doesn't "fit" on BBC Three, why is it there?
Because BBC Two don't want it and wouldn't pick it up when it was first created. It fits more on BBC Three (or the original version of BBC Three) than anywhere else, and has to go somewhere if the BBC want to enter the final. Because we're in the Big 5 it is less important in the UK than many other countries, so is less of a ratings generator than if we were competing.
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BBC Two should be handling that - indeed if Three is lost where else is it going to go, realistically? - and it would inevitably pick up a bigger audience.
The only two real options for the voting semi-final are BBC Two and BBC Four. BBC One won't take it. I doubt BBC Four could afford it, so it is likely to be BBC Two I suspect.
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I always feel stuff like the Cake Shop VTs would be better in an Xtra Factor style programme to air after the show, which COULD be on Three.
The VTs are there to mitigate some of the less than ideal host broadcast stuff. The final is usually OK - but some of the semi-final stuff has been woeful over the years...
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I had the world feed in sync with Three during SF2 and yes the skipped content was certainly missable; but we have missed out on some decent stuff during the Nordic era like you say. The Scandinavians seem to be experts at getting the production spot on. Look at the Oslo, Malmo and Copenhagen shows and they're just in a different league to Vienna, Baku and, dare I say it, Dusseldorf.
I agree about Oslo and Malmö, though Copenhagen was a little patchier. Both Malmö and Copenhagen dropped stuff that really didn't work during rehearsals, Vienna didn't.
Last edited by noggin on 13 June 2015 1:50am - 2 times in total
RS
Rob_Schneider
So what about the non voting semi? It's going to look rather odd if we don't broadcast it. There's Red Button but it won't be in HD. There would be an uproar.
So what about the non voting semi? It's going to look rather odd if we don't broadcast it. There's Red Button but it won't be in HD. There would be an uproar.
I would expect both semifinals would be shown on the same channel. Though I'm not sure there would be an uproar if it was relegated to Red Button now it has a linear channel number on platforms and can thus be recorded. The semifinals were SD in 2013, and I think 2012, weren't they, once BBC HD had closed and before BBC Three HD had launched?
Been thinking about this a bit more. The more I think about it the less likely I think it is that the semifinals will be on BBC Two if/when BBC Three closes. I suspect a route will be found to fund the semifinals being shown on BBC Four.
If BBC Three has closed by May 2016, then I suspect the ESC being in Sweden will help, as BBC Four is a Nordic drama hotspot - so they can probably find some link.
The semifinal that the UK votes in has to be broadcast on a mainstream channel in the UK. That's a requirement for the Big 5 countries even though they don't have to enter a semifinal to get to the final. iPlayer wouldn't be acceptable.
The semifinal that the UK votes in doesn't have to be broadcast at all in the UK.
Been thinking about this a bit more. The more I think about it the less likely I think it is that the semifinals will be on BBC Two if/when BBC Three closes. I suspect a route will be found to fund the semifinals being shown on BBC Four.
If BBC Three has closed by May 2016, then I suspect the ESC being in Sweden will help, as BBC Four is a Nordic drama hotspot - so they can probably find some link.
A few years ago, it would have seemed inconceivable for BBC Four to broadcast something as frivolous as the Eurovision Song Contest, but these days they show old Top of the Pops which are pretty frivolous, so anything is possible. And it if moves to BBC Four, it would be a good opportunity to bring back Paddy O'Connell!
Just to drift off-topic for a moment, it was frustrating how the BBC Three consultation still made no mention whatsoever about what would happen to the channel's coverage of live music and sport. It is somewhat fortuitous that Wimbledon is apparently moving to a week later from this year, which means it no longer clashes with Glastonbury, so hopefully it means in future more time can given to the music festival on BBC Two and Red Button without having to wait for the tennis players to finish first, which they rarely manage to do on time!
My bet would be on promoting both SFs to BBC ONE making a week of it there. Cheap Content will be key, will help build momentum to Sat as well.
(Esp if the EBU can guarantee that there'd be no overrun of each)
I don't think that is at all likely, they won't want to do anything that would risk diluting the audience for Saturday night, which is why even promoting them to BBC Two is almost as unlikely. I think the semi-finals are only really of interest to a niche audience so they belong on a niche channel. Even the recent Eurovision's Greatest Hits show turned out only to be of interest to a niche audience, attracting woeful ratings by BBC One standards.