If anyone feels strongly enough to want to preserve TVC there is a No.10 petition which expires in a couple of weeks.
No doubt MR Thompson will continue his mad mission to sell the place but at least the studios will be there for those who want to make Telly Programmes.
No doubt MR Thompson will continue his mad mission to sell the place but at least the studios will be there for those who want to make Telly Programmes.
TROGGLES's signature posted:
YOU MIGHT THINK THAT, I COULDN'T POSSIBLY COMMENT
'nuff said.
:-(
A former member
buy selling the place and moving into other location like that a cheaper better and elsewhere in the county.
Whilst not wanting to get into the huge amount of money it is going to cost the BBC through the PFI contract - lots of figures can be jiggled - it is a very expensive political move.
At least if the petition is signed there may be a possibility of keeping open, an asbestos free (by March) TVC.
Though it'll be the loss of an icon, it is the right option for the BBC to move out of TV Centre - and the future of the BBC is much more important than the building it's in.
Actually is it good for the Beeb? I could be totally wrong but I'm read somewhere that it would cost £75M or something to fix TVC to make it a proper modern telelvision complex, and £400M to rent studios in Salford. Now there could be more to it than that, so apologies if I'm wrong, but if that's right, then I know which option I prefer.
Actually is it good for the Beeb? I could be totally wrong but I'm read somewhere that it would cost £75M or something to fix TVC to make it a proper modern telelvision complex, and £400M to rent studios in Salford. Now there could be more to it than that, so apologies if I'm wrong, but if that's right, then I know which option I prefer.
As Bail said, the point of the petition is not to force the BBC to stay in TVC. Its aim is to make TVC a grade 1 listed building so that it can't be knocked down. Whatever you think about the BBC, TVC is an icon of British broadcasting and it would be such a shame to see it demolished.
One of the worst terms I have heard from BBC management was the 'analogue dinasour in a digital age' quote. They know very well that there is nothing wrong with TVC, no concrete problems, no asbestos (after March 2008) and is staffed who want to produce quality television.
If the BBC is destroyed by its present management (the current term is a smaller BBC fit for purpose !) , then the ability to have studios to make british programmes will depend on production facilities. Take away the spin and a smaller BBC means the broadcasting house news operation closely aligned to the Home Office controlled world service. BBC media centre - basically office but no production staff - Manchester - paid for but not owned by the BBC licence fee for another 40 years and BBC Scotland or should that be SBC?
If the petition is signed enough times perhaps someone will be embarrassed enough into preserving high quality production jobs.
i fear i may be unpopular in this view - but there are no sacred cows in the bbc any more. pebble mill has gone and oxford road is going. it would be extremely hypocritical for the bbc to decide not to trot out the same old cliched reasons for knocking down their main london base in favour of a cheaper alternative.
the bbc's network production efforts in the regions are in decline - so to me, scaling back the in-house london set up in favour of more indie productions would level the playing field a little. with less competition from in house (london) productions, indies based around the country are more likely to get a look in.
BBC media centre - basically office but no production staff -
That is a bit of a distortion. The Media Centre and Energy Centre will both have large in-house production staff based in them - particularly while White City is being refurbished when the large chunk of London production staff (particularly the bulk of Factual) move from White City . They may not be production staff making studio shows - but they still make programmes. (If by production staff you mean craft/technical staff - like lighting, sound, cameras then that is a different kettle of fish. Production staff usually means Producers, Asst Producers, Researchers, Production Managers, Production Assistants, Production Co-ordinators, Runners etc. There are also LOTs of edit suites in these buildings, with Picture Editors beavering away...)
London documentaries, current affairs, science, history, arts etc. are based in these buildings, as shortly will be the production teams for Top Gear and The One Show, Watchdog and Crimewatch. (All multi-camera studio or OB shows - though not all made in conventional studios - and all a mix of studio/OB and single-camera location films)
The sale of BBC Resources (separate - but inextricably linked to the potential sale of TVC) means that the BBC will no longer own the in-house production studios at TV Centre anyway... With Kids, Five Live and Sport leaving their production offices at TV Centre, and News leaving the News Centre, there will be a lot of empty offices on the TVC site.
As for the "Analogue Building in a Digital Age" - that doesn't hold true for the studios - TC1 and TC8 are amongst the most modern HD-equipped studios in the UK - however the office infrastructure is different. One major issue is that large chunks of TVC have full-up cable ducts, and 1960s style office layouts, neither of which are helpful when trying to deploy distributed, high-tech desktop preview, logging and offline editing solutions, or open-plan team-based working.
The split between the TVC studio operation - which is excellent, but being sold off anyway (though if they still need to get rid of some of the vestiges of "can't do" that pervade certain areas of studios - but not OBs...) and offices (that are effectively not great) is the important one to remember.
TV Centre isn't just a studio centre, it is a large office complex. It is great as a studio centre - far less so as an office building.
(Single glazing, poor air conditioning, low-grade IT etc.)