Comments on: The BBC and the future of broadcasting

By: rodsers

rodsers — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:33:58 +0000

In Germany there was a station called viva2 which was brilliant and targeted at me at the time – recently graduated but extremely careful with the limited disposable income I had. This station closed down because people like me had no purchasing power so no-one was persuaded to buy stuff because of advertising on this channel. This always happens to channels in commercial land:

idiots are influenced by advertising so commercial TV is aimed at idiots.

By: Ralph Corderoy

Ralph Corderoy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:02:12 +0000

Thought provoking. Spotted “Offcom” a couple of times instead of Ofcom.

By: TheAccidentalReader

TheAccidentalReader — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:40:45 +0000

Excellent speech (and not just because I could agree with 90% of it). But how unlike you, geek extraordinaire, to write something like this:

“a service so incomparable in its variety and quality as to be an actual reason for some to live in Britain”

Of course many of us are still hooked on R4 despite living abroad. Long live the Internet, “listen again”, and the very illegal TotalRecorder. I just hope the BBC don’t try to make it all UK-only. I did write to the BBC five or six years ago to ask if there was a Foundation to which I could contribute, but they said no… Why not, I wonder? There may be just enough of us feeling guilty for enjoying BBC radio without paying to make a small difference to its budget.

By: sjymusic

sjymusic — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:00:41 +0000

This was so beguiling and even made me think I have been wrong to long for change. I love radio 4, I love newsnight, and I love BBC costume drama but . . . . actually the rest ???. . . yes at one time I would have agreed with pretty well everything you said Mr Fry: BBC and UK were inseperable. I too was brought up on Blue Peter, Tomorrow’s World, and the Daleks, not to mention Man from Uncle and . . . do you remember that series of foreign films on BBC2 in the 70’s? That was astonishing!! alas never to be repeated . . yes you made a very good case . . but when I think about the over-glossy, self-aggrandising BBC TV news; the new extra-complicated Dr Who-type series; slick self-important Dramas made more with foreign audiences in mind (you can just tell); overblown, overlong, overdone Children in Need, Red-Nose Day (which has to make more money than ever before every single year and . . . are they the same thing? I never have figured that out); the over-slick, over-rigid, over-rehearsed, too serious ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ format, all those ‘phone us up’ programmes asking for Public Opinion; endless Doom and Gloom documentaries with the heavy all-purpose music scores and sombre voice-overs that really do scare my poor old mum half to death; patronising Panorama programmes that look into the sinister private affairs of the Transylvanian pirate shoe industry, (whenever did that become BBC territory?), the endless endless over-slick self-congratulatory adverts promoting the same programmes over and over and over again; the way in which the BBC finds a star and then flogs them in every corner of every channel until we are all heartily sick of the sight of them (nothing personal Mr Fry); those over-dressed, far-too pretty, skinny young women that the BBC seem to breed who shout through their noses rather than talk, ooze 0ver-Confidence and Rule the World for a series or two and never listen to a single person they interview; Weather people who are actually out in the weather (whoever thought that up – its just public humiliation isnt it?); morning news programmes with sunny backgrounds and false smiles that patronise and preach and patronise . . . whoops sorry I am getting carried away. ahem. What I was simply trying to say, before I got slightly carried away, Mr Fry, was: if the BBC were told next time around that they would not be given more than a small slice of the licence money, I, for one, would probably find that everything that I still love about the BBC would, indeed, be swept away for ever. . . .

By: fl3tch

fl3tch — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:47:14 +0000

If your grandmother or anyone else is interested in viewing iplayer content offline on the iphone, the solution lies here http://ipl2iph.blogspot.com/

(a fully paid up license payer – just bending the BBC to my needs a little)

By: Just Cook It

Just Cook It — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:45:24 +0000

I was lucky enough to see this speech online, it was a genuine pleasure and inspired me to write my own musing on the BBC which you may, or may not, enjoy reading.

http://alexrushmer.blogspot.com/2008/08/radio-4.html

By: SteveC

SteveC — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:44:44 +0000

Apologies for being fairly late to the party, but I’ve only just got round to listening to the podcast.

Anyway, I thought it was wonderful. I’d expand on this further, but my head hurts

By: Andrew Carroll

Andrew Carroll — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:51:52 +0000

Does anyone know where I can get a DVD of all the episodes of the great television series “Noel’s House Party”?

PS: I am mad.

By: happyuk

happyuk — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:13:24 +0000

I see the BBC as way past it’s sell-by date.

In this internet age what is it for? If it is still (as Lord Reith put it) to “Inform, Educate and Entertain” then vast sources of high quality information, education and entertainment are available only a click away, often for free.

In a modern free-market democracy the state has no business in broadcasting. What was once a fair and impartial BBC has now become just a job creation scheme for generations of non-productive, left-leaning types.

By: vLaDtHeBaT

vLaDtHeBaT — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:21:39 +0000

I downloaded your podcasts , they’re awsome !
Can’t wait to read your book about your american experience!