Re: BBC cuts may mean the test card returns
Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamD
(Post 35276374)
For a publically funded service, it sure does burn through a lot of cash and yet, despite cutbacks, the license fee always seems to remain the same.
Maybe they should switch to an ad based service and scrap the license fee, after all, we are in hard, economic times.
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The BBC would probably do reasonably well out of ad funding ... Slots around Eastenders and Doctor Who would be worth a fortune. However, the adverts are paid for by the marketing departments of the major brands and retailers operating in the UK and those departments do not have a bottomless pit of money to spend. Money spent advertising on the BBC would be money not getting spent on any number of smaller channels - inevitably driving some of them into bankruptcy.
If the licence fee distorts the broadcast industry, be in no doubt that the absence of it would also cause distortion.
Personally, I'm in favour of retaining the licence fee because it gives us, via the BBC Trust, a far greater degree of influence over the service than we get to have over the commercially funded public service channels. That, in turn, means that the BBC has to continue to cater for a far wider range of interests and tastes than the other PSBs are interested in these days.
As for the test card ... I'm all for it. BBCs One and Two have very little reason to exist between 9am and 5pm and between 1am and 6am especially as the corporation caters for much of the potential audience that exists between those hours through its 'digital' channels. |
