Is the BBC relevant?

Bbc programming right now:
BBC 1: battle of britain: seventy years on, brothers Colin and Ewan McGregor take viewers through key moments of the battle of Britain.

BBC 2: Britain's biggest dig: the biggest ever cemetery excavation in Britain reveals the forgotten stories of rich and poor.

BBC 4: cat tales. in from the wild: the latest archaeology and genetics answer the biggest questions about out cats.

 

Some people like that stuff , and they usually do it quite well , they have a remit to do programmes like that

 

That's true but on every BBC channel at the same time a history programme which is only appealing to a small section of the population?

 

I’d say the Battle of Britain programme will probably be the most watched tonight you can tape one of the others on Betamax

 

They lost their relevance when they became so politically biased. Even warned by Ofcom about it.. What have they done? Just ignored it..

 

Never been more important.

The channels you mention attract a certain type of viewer at 10pm on a Tuesday. I can't imagine those are that then interested in the BML output on BBC3 or iPlayer. The diversity & the quality of their output is nuts for £2 a week.

 

Genuinely interested, what's the Ofcom warning?

 

Yes but £2 a week from how many forced subscribers? It is approx 27 million now.. Quality should be good!

 

They were warned about their bias in the referendum by Ofcom.

 

Is there a link to that? I can't find anything other than right leaning papers talking about sources telling them that Ofcom may warn them.

Genuinely interested to read more.

 

Think you'll have better luck locating the Loch Ness monster.
They reported Boris saying it's an oven ready deal, vote for it.
They reported like other outlets yesterday that Boris now doesn't want his own MPs to vote for his deal and to break international law.

They reported facts about Brexit, supposed project fear is now becoming reality. Clowns running the circus and they don't want folk to know.

Trouble is some folk can't bring themselves to see it.

Oh sorry I'm a snowflake, remainer, BLM loving, terrorist sympathiser, communist, socialist, Jezza lover and not patriotic. Any I've missed usual suspects?

 

Have the government been done yet under the trade descriptions act?

 

Well, seen as it seems most of the top earners appear to be on radio 2, maybe we are not tuning into what's good.

I've never ever listened to radio 2, ever. But for what they are paying their presenters on that and most appear in the top 10, looks like I'll have to dig a radio out and see what the fuss is.

What should I expect.... dunno. I'll see if I can stick it on in background whilst working tomorrow.

 

I watch a lot of Beeb programmes on the iPlayer platform. Some excellent stuff on there. Of late, before turning in, for the night, I've made a point of watching a couple of episodes of the documentaries featuring the West Ham Ladies team.

What heightened my initial interest was the fact that the whole operation is headed up by the teenage son of West Ham co- owner David Sullivan. Regarding the latter, I had little respect for the man, given that he made his fortune as a pornographer and the proceeds from his much maligned newspaper the Sunday Sport, which appeared to both exploit and hold women in very low esteem.

Sullivan took the decision to make his second son Jack, the MD of the Hammers ladies set up at the tender age of seventeen. On the back of that, BBC 3 executives then took the decision to make two documentaries re- " Footballs youngest Football Manager" and " Squad Goals", which basically are in depth " fly on the wall " programmes charting the everyday rigours of running a
football club. As well as putting Jack Sullivan under the microscope, it also charts the highs and the lows in the daily life of the Irons coach Matt Beard, who's unflinching optimism of winning the league and the cup, seems to know no realistic sane boundaries.

As the programmes have progressed, I have developed a degree of sympathetic admiration for both David Sullivan and the young Jack, in that, it is patently obvious that both are absolute West Ham United nuts. Sullivan Senior and his co - owner David Gold have had to be , in order to withstand the withering abuse that they have been subjected to especially when the Hammers fans targeted them a couple of seasons ago. Being given a police escort to leave their own stadium to avoid physical harm, could surely have phased lesser men.?

Their dedication to the cause really does not seem to know any boundaries, especially where investment is concerned. Alright, with a fortune estimated as being £1.5 billion , Sullivan and Gold with circa £450 million can afford it and in order to survive at the respective levels the two teams are presently at, they do not appear to be afraid to splash their cash. Given that young Jack has only got to ask for money from his Dad to hopefully advance the women's teams
fortunes, I have been greatly impressed by his prudence and unquestionable levels of responsibility that he appears to adopt in his decision making.

It would appear, that to bestow such a responsible role upon his son, could as far as Sullivan Senior is concerned, in the longer term, prove to be a stroke of absolute genius. He is now 71, Gold is 84 and their current influential Vice- Chair Karen Brady is now 51. Sullivan must hope that when the time comes for Karen to call it a day, his son who will then only be in his late twenties, will have the experience as a well rounded practitioner, as well as being qualified by experience , to take over the running of the football club. If I were a Hammers fan watching the documentaries, I certainly wouldn't have any reservations in welcoming such a concept.

It's patently obvious in watching the programme that akin to the men's game, the teams having the most money pumped into them are the big three viz: Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea, which makes me admire young Jack even more, given the fact that without any outside influence or assistance, he has recently single handedly, agreed the highest sponsorship deal ever attained by any Club to date in the Women's Premier Division. I for one am looking forward to
watching further editions of this programme, which if nothing else, has impressed upon myself, how difficult it must be to head up such a complex and diverse concern as a professional football club. Well done young Jack and thanks BBC 3 for making two such informative programmes.

 

Ah looking further they eventually swept it under the carpet after suggesting that would happen.... but go take a look at the official investigation docs online and look at the farce of the investigation. Then look st who made up the Ofcom panel for this.. 10 from 13 with BBC links/careers.

Part of the complaint followed approx 25 episodes of Question Time and the panelists / discussion.
In this panels view they decided not to look at the entirity but select 2 episodes specifically to look at.
They selected one which followed the Manchester bombing so to avoid Brexit being discussed. Then one other where a pro remain panelist disagreed with another, making the coverage apparently impartial... This complaint centered around the full batch of episodes, they completely made a mockery of the whole process.

Sorry my error..It was widely reported that they were to be warned which is why I thought they had, but honestly you will see how they are now above reproach being their own adjudicators!

 

Ken Bruce and pop master never miss it. Steve Wright is middle of the road and Jezza Vine is entertaining especially when rabid right wing types turn up and show they should never be given air time. Jezza and Bruce's slots and Wrighty's serious jocking play some good stuff.

 

Used to like listening to the late great broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan. Drifted away listening to the breakfast show when he hung up his mic.

 

Cheers mate. Any links you can share would be great.

 

A lad I used to work with at YPO, went on to work as a researcher for the BBC. He once came back for
a colleagues leaving do and was telling us, that the main part of his job, was to ask the great British public
what they wanted to view and it appeared that the three main areas with the broadest remit when the replies
came back, were entertainment, drama and factual. I don't personally know how they conducted their surveys.
I have never been asked for an opinion and I have never met anyone who has.


One of the shortcomings in their ability to plan a strategy of course is their budget or more to the point, the lack of it.
They are constrained in that they are unable to compete with Sky and BT as far as sport is concerned, which means that to the trained eye, we seem to be overloaded with programmes dealing with antiques, cookery, property, baking, nature, quizzes and obscure programmes that don't seem to hold any appeal for their rivals.

Like ITV, it really is becoming an absolute disgrace the number of repeats they now get away with showing.
Perhaps the time has come that in order to broaden their appeal, it might well be prudent to consider attracting
additional funding to enable them to compete by either seeking lucrative sponsorship deals or charging various
entities to advertise their products and services. In itself, the annual licence fee is not extortionate, but it is a
tad antiquated and for some, like pensioners, is an overhead that they are unable to afford.

To my mind, as far as our old age pensioners are concerned, up to a pre- agreed prescribed level, television,
broadband and landline telephone charges should be free at the point of delivery. It could be means tested
but for some, following a lifetime of working and responsibly raising the citizens of the future, it's the least that
we could seek to provide them with.?

 

Absolutely spot on.

It greatly amuses me when you've got the Usual Suspects in floods of tears because someone has the temerity to criticise their beloved Mr Johnson for spouting his usual ********.

Its gone even further on Facebook and Twitter at the minute as they're convinced the Mainstream Media (which they cunningly shorten to MSM) is left leaning and out to 'get' that wonderful patriot Boris Johnson and his pals when all they've done for years is show pictures of Ed Miliband eating a bacon sarnie contrasted with a frankly terrifying picture of Theresa May aiming to "CRUSH THE SABOTEURS". Those same Saboteurs that still realise this Oven Ready deal was a massive lie.

It should also be noted that there's still no link of this supposed biased investigation by Ofcom.

Anyway, morning All. Crumpets for breakfast.