Page 1 of BBC redundancies

It`s always a damned shame when anyone loses their job.
No argument there.
But I recently had a chat with a local film director I know through a mutual mate (we`re both extras in his film).
Basically, the BBC have just handed him £300K and said "make an hour long drama, anything you like".
Seriously, it is that vague. :/
That sort of apparently flippant expenditure needs controlling a bit better, doesn`t it ?

well it is my opinion that they`ve wasted loads of money for years and that i;d want better justification for my licence fee

As an example I will simply site the many many millions given to the waste of space that is Graham Norton

(oh and what did they do with him, pretty much nothing for ages and then rolled him out for some crappy dance or singing shows)

Chris

A.C.C. Member
LFC
YNWA

Yes it does. I always thought that you had to sell the concept bfore a budget was agreed, this is solely based on my many viewing of DVD extras where writers and directors talk about fabulous meetings.

I have to admit that I worry about what is happening to the BBC and the impact it may have on programming. Everyone knows that factual programming is more expensive than cheaper reality-based programming and I would guess that most productions in either case are made mainly by outside production houses and sold to the BBC (like Top Gear).

If you think about it, the BBC is a mammoth organisation with all the TV and radio offshoots, not to mention the web based stuff. Keeping track of all that expenditure must be a nightmare for those running the budgets centrally.

I would prefer to keep the BBC but they need to recognise that certain things no longer belong there if the expenditure is too much and therefore doesn`t give value to the licence payer. I`m thinking sports here in particular.

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Reviewer
www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk

Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn...

And those who dance will spin and turn,
And those who wait will wait no more,
And those who talk will hear the words,
And those who see will fade and die,
And those who laugh will surely fall,
And those who know will always feel their backs against the thin wall...

In my line of work we have had the BBC here quite a few times in the past. They are certainly good at p***ing money up the wall. Recently we were going to do a gig that the BBC were going to televise. I spent over a month on the phone and playing email tennis with the production team discussing the ins and outs of our venue. They then made an appointment to come up from London to do a reccee. I thought one would turn up - no eight of them! All up via 1st Class trains - two did the talking and the other six (clearly just hangers on) did fcuk all and you could tell knew absoultely nothing about the gig.

When the gig happened all the BBC staff stayed in hotels and used expsenses for all meals and travel.

When these redundancies are made it won`t make NO difference at all. They`ll simply re-employ these staff on short term contracts ormake them go freelance.

The new BBC in Salford is taking shape as I can see it from my office window - all I can think is how much more money are they gonna p*** up the wall when it`s open! :¦

This item was edited on Thursday, 18th October 2007, 13:39

Quote:
I thought one would turn up - no eight of them! All up via 1st Class trains - two did the talking and the other six (clearly just hangers on) did fcuk all and you could tell knew absoultely nothing about the gig.

Some Radio 1 DJ was talking about the same thing the other day.
He and someone else did a little gig/skit thing at a kids` school.
Basically, the two of them + a sound recording engineer would have done.
He stated he couldn`t believe how many people turned up to `help`.
Clearly, they could do with losing some staff. :/

I also worry about the direction in which the BBC is heading. Are we starting to see the broadcaster's downfall? It will become increasingly difficult for them to justify the cost of the TV Licence in the future.

In my opinion the corporation should scrap the television channels BBC3, BBC4 and Cbeebies, as well as radio stations Radio 6, Radio 7, 1extra and Asian Network.

Also, programmes such as Eastenders should either be entirely scrapped or reduced dramatically to divert funds to high quality programming.

A cut in high quality factual programming, drama series and news broadcasts is not acceptable.

Regards,
Adam

According to the BBC:

Quote:
Mrs Bennett, who is director of BBC Vision, told the Edinburgh TV Festival there were areas where the BBC "duplicated types of programme" across its channels.

She called for a reduction in the number of programmes made.

She said "doing less" was her preference, and that the strategic use of repeats was a way of filling some gaps.

"Repeats are not necessarily a bad thing," she said. "When people miss a programme, you`re making up for that loss."

The BBC have also said:

Quote:
Making 10% fewer original TV programmes by 2012/13, focusing on fewer, high quality shows.

Across TV as a whole, the BBC plans to commission 10% fewer hours, saving £100m every year.

Reduce the size of the BBC`s property portfolio by selling BBC Television Centre by 2012/13

There will be less light factual "middle-ground" programming.

BBC 3 and 4 are safe from closure. (bugger)

The biggest hit in redudacies are:

Responsible for Redundancies

Vision, which are responsible for Factual, children`s and entertainment television, their redundancies will be 640 - 660.

Regional news and programmes there will be 510 - 550 redundancies,

News for TV, radio and new media there will be 355 - 370 redundancies.

So basically there`s going to be a small handful of programmes being made, and the rest will be filled with repeats on all four channels, I think it`s time to call it a day on the television licence.

floyd

See one thing that`s bothered me about the BBC lately ?
They openly plug their live online broadcasts.
Now, correct me if I`m wrong, but do you need a licence to listen to stuff on a PC ?
Maybe you do here, but how about all these ex-pats that are allowed to listen (possibly watch) BBC stuff abroad, for f*** all ?
You hear it every day.
"Helloooo to Juan Kerr, listening in Madrid"...
That`s right Juan, you enjoy at my expense... :/

This item was edited on Thursday, 18th October 2007, 14:28

BBC stuff online (at least through the iPlayer) is not available abroad. It blocks the `foreign` ip address.

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Quote:
BBC stuff online (at least through the iPlayer) is not available abroad. It blocks the `foreign` ip address.

Does that just cover ` live ` stuff though ?
Like I said, you often hear people saying they were listening in x,y,z,