Word: bbc
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Back then, viewers had only four channels to choose from and no cable, and all the channels were required to include some socially redeeming content: BBC1, home of the BBC's most popular output; the more esoteric BBC2; the commercial network ITV; and Channel 4, then only four years old and set up to break the duopoly of the BBC...
...menaced by the same digital revolution that's wreaking global havoc in newspapers, magazines, film and music. Challenged by technologies that allow anyone to read news, watch TV or listen to music on a variety of devices, these businesses are frantically scrambling to reinvent themselves. Mark Byford, the BBC's deputy director-general and head of journalism, says there's particularly a noticeable "falling away" of TV viewers who are "under 35 and especially under...
That's not a drain the BBC can tolerate. The BBC derives 78.5% of its $8.5 billion in income from an annual $275 license fee payable by any household equipped to receive TV. In return, the BBC is obliged to cater to all ages and socioeconomic groups. "In a world of fragmentation, a world of more choice, of a revolution in how people are accessing content, one of our big, big challenges is to hold that reach," Byford says...
...even more fundamental challenge is to convince the government and the public that the BBC should continue to exist largely as is after its present 10-year charter expires in 2016. For almost two decades, the BBC expanded its operations rapidly as it tried to adapt to convulsive changes in technology and viewing habits. It funded these adventures with cash from license payers. It was already beginning to slim down again when, in 2006, the government limited increases in license fees over the next six years, leaving the broadcaster with a $4 billion shortfall. Cutting jobs and selling property will...
...viewers tend to associate the BBC with wonderfully acted period dramas like Sense and Sensibility and exquisite nature shows like Planet Earth. But how about Help Me Anthea--I'm Infested or Help, My Dog's as Fat as Me or Freaky Eaters? The latter programs have something in common besides the power of their titles to make BBC executives blush: they were all commissioned by the digital TV channel BBC3. Set up in 2003 to cater to those fickle younger audiences, BBC3 has scored several successes, including the exuberantly tasteless comedy Little Britain. Featuring such popular characters...