dinosaur

Interesting this pops up after recent debate in the UK about requiring a subscription for the iPlayer.

Wonder what will eventually entail for us over here...also was surprised at 38.5 million viewers in China - non-trivial.

sir_eccles

The problem the BBC has is they make considerable amounts of money selling shows around the world (e.g. Top Gear, Dr Who and all those nature shows). Why would any channel like BBCAmerica spend money on buying those shows if everyone is watching them on iplayer instead.

Anian

They wouldn't, but if the BBC can cut out the middle man then they stand to make larger profits for themselves. Whether any of those companies would agree to non-exclusive rights is another thing though. The tv industry is horrifically slow at catching up with more advanced technologies, and change means they might lose the little grip they have.

username.exe

Unfortunately iPlayer is off the ball even on a domestic level.

It was rather irritating that they only held shows for around 7 days (I think this has changed to 30 days now), when their competitors entire catalogues of their best stuff out there on demand (Channel 4 for example).

Then there was this notion that there's going to be a store where you can buy your favourites in a digital format... why? If you've already purchased a television license, why do you have to re-purchase a show?

It will be very interesting to see what the Conservative government proposes to do with the BBC and the license fee, but it's clear that the Beeb are on the back foot.

sir_eccles

It would be a shame if the Tories got rid of the license fee and sold the BBC to their friends.

username.exe

Privatising the BBC would be a disaster, however there does need to be some level of reform.

sir_eccles

Really? What is actually wrong with the Bbc that actually needs fixing?

rpjs

Apparently the Beeb did experiment with a for-pay iPlayer for overseas users, but closed it earlier this year. It was never available in the US as the US cablecos threatened to drop BBC America if the Beeb had made it available here.

lansbury

Not only that PBS threatened to stop airing BBC programs as well.

rpjs

An empty threat as they wouldn't have anything to show if they did!

lansbury

Really what about the ITV programs they show. Our PBS station carries far more programs than those made by the BBC. They make some very good ones of their own, especially programs about Oregon and the PNW. Today they don't have one BBC program in the schedule.

Anian

A big chunk of the people who watch PBS and give money to them are not the same kind who would use internet tv instead.

username.exe

Most of the leadership (although that has gradually started to change over the last year or two) have been absolutely dreadful. Tony Hall has done well, but it's generally acknowledged that he's there to steady the ship and will be off in a year or two.

The license fee model is becoming outdated and imo too expensive. Thousands of people swamp the courts very week through enforcement issues costing even more.
More and more it is becoming normal to consume media on a subscription basis; let people who want to consume BBC products purchase a subscription the same way that we do with Netflix and HBO.

News is not given the profile it truly deserves and needs greater investment internationally.

Technology projects have been disastrous and have consistently lost gross amounts of money. I found that in general there was a very wasteful culture towards resources (disclosure I used to work there), mainly because many people viewed the company as a trendy media business rather than a public sector organisation.

I love the BBC, grew up consuming its broadcasts and still check their news site several times a day, but they are going to have to adapt and change.