Friday 23 February 2018

Future of British Broadcasting part 6


The final part of Our Proposals for the

Future of British Broadcasting 




An Alternative to the Alternative


If CUT's recommendations for new services are not adopted and a decision is made to retain a broadcasting platform on approximately the current basis with regard to broadcasting content, there is no reason why it should produce any of its content 'in house'. The dissolution of the drama, factual and light entertainment sections of the BBC, allowing for the formation of more independent companies than exist at present and the sale of movables to them, may be accomplished within a framework preserving current broadcasting structures if it is thought desirable to maintain those structures, although the purpose of doing so becomes ever less clear. If commissioning and production remain within one organisation, it will always be inclined to produce 'in house' in order to reduce costs (or apparent costs), making the quota process necessary if it is to be obliged to buy in programmes, but what is the purpose of that obligation if there is no intention to make a transition? Separation between content and delivery systems is standard across the utilities sector; why should television be different from gas or electricity in this respect? The delivery platforms may be privatised at some convenient point when H.M. Government thinks fit.

Conclusion


In summary, whilst abolition of the BBC would mean a substantial reconfiguration of our media landscape, nothing of any value whatever would be lost. We would instead see greater impartiality, more plurality, and increased opportunities for public engagement with the work of local and national government. Arguably, the current system might once have been useful, but it is now thoroughly outmoded, doing unnecessary work and leaving undone much that is either necessary or desirable. The sooner the process of transition begins, the sooner we will have a system fit for the twenty-first century.  If H.M. Government makes no commitment to initiate transition the Secretary of State should indicate whether she imagines that the BBC is sustainable on an indefinite basis, or whether H.M. Government accepts that it is simply delaying the inevitable. No decision should be made on this subject without taking into account the popular discontent that will result if failure to plan a transition leaves H.M. Government having to bail out the BBC when the system collapses because people refuse to carry on paying for services they do not want just to get the ones they do.

By Prayer Crusader St Philip Howard

3 comments:

  1. The time really has come to ditch the outdated TV (BBC) licence fee!

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  2. This is very interesting, thank you. I think it would be very helpful if a final post could be written providing a bullet point summary of the key issues and related recommendations. Not only would that make this more readily digestible for those who might not be willing or able to read all six posts, it would also provide a very helpful basis for a letter should anyone wish to take this up with their MP, for example. I'm personally not yet convinced the abolishment of the BBC is the best solution (simply thinking about what would fill the vacuum and its impact on society - I can only imagine it being worse, not better) but most certainly the BBC needs to get into a position straightaway whereby it can control who watches and that they can only watch if they pay, thereby leaving those of us who want nothing to do with it in peace. I have to regularly justify to the Gestapo why I don't pay the licence and I'm always expecting them to turn up at the door because clearly no British human can possibly exist without the evil eye in the centre of the home and therefore I must be lying!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your thoughtful response, we will contact the member who wrote the proposal for a response to your request.

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