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**Chris** · 10-11-2011, 14:18

It's 'Delivering Quality First', not 'Spending More Money First'. They have to try to maintain quality with less money. That means doing less, not doing more.

BBC HD is going to be shut down and replaced with BBC2-HD. BBC3 and BBC4 are going to be run as feeders for 1 and 2 (mostly 2, I think) so successful programming first shown on those channels will eventually get an HD airing on BBC1 or BBC2. Beyond that, they are already shutting down some of the red button streams on satellite so that they can end their leases on those transponders, i.e. spending less, so they are hardly going to start looking to broadcast more channels in HD. Besides, the decision to stay with terrestrial free-to-air broadcasting rather than moving the whole country to FTA satellite means there simply isn't the bandwidth for all the BBC's channels to go over to HD anyway.

The White City complex has been obsolete for some time and has not been fully occupied for years. The BBC needed to move into new facilities elsewhere and has decided to make the most of the opportunity to do business in parts of the UK that don't expect stupid money for postage-stam sized pieces of land. Hence the new buildings at Salford Quays in Greater Manchester.

As for a BBC Sport channel ... that's a really bad idea. Sports rights cost an absolute fortune. ITV tried it and pretty much bankrupted itself (remember ITV Digital, the service that went bust because of the amount it spent buying rights to the football league? It was rescued at the last minute and renamed 'Freeview'). Premium sports events, with the exception of the ones on the national 'crown jewels' list, are on subscription channels these days, and that's where they're going to stay.

10-11-2011, 14:18	#59
Chris Trollsplatter Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 38,090	Re: BBC cuts may mean the test card returns It's 'Delivering Quality First', not 'Spending More Money First'. They have to try to maintain quality with less money. That means doing less, not doing more. BBC HD is going to be shut down and replaced with BBC2-HD. BBC3 and BBC4 are going to be run as feeders for 1 and 2 (mostly 2, I think) so successful programming first shown on those channels will eventually get an HD airing on BBC1 or BBC2. Beyond that, they are already shutting down some of the red button streams on satellite so that they can end their leases on those transponders, i.e. spending less, so they are hardly going to start looking to broadcast more channels in HD. Besides, the decision to stay with terrestrial free-to-air broadcasting rather than moving the whole country to FTA satellite means there simply isn't the bandwidth for all the BBC's channels to go over to HD anyway. The White City complex has been obsolete for some time and has not been fully occupied for years. The BBC needed to move into new facilities elsewhere and has decided to make the most of the opportunity to do business in parts of the UK that don't expect stupid money for postage-stam sized pieces of land. Hence the new buildings at Salford Quays in Greater Manchester. As for a BBC Sport channel ... that's a really bad idea. Sports rights cost an absolute fortune. ITV tried it and pretty much bankrupted itself (remember ITV Digital, the service that went bust because of the amount it spent buying rights to the football league? It was rescued at the last minute and renamed 'Freeview'). Premium sports events, with the exception of the ones on the national 'crown jewels' list, are on subscription channels these days, and that's where they're going to stay.