Can Phone Votes Cover The Cost Of The BBC’s National Final?
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Spotted the question at the end of last week on Facebook, suggesting that the BBC can use the money from a phone vote to pay for a National Final... but how much do these phone votes around Eurovision actually make the BBC?
Who'd like some numbers and reasoning?
Who'd like some numbers and reasoning?
If the smaller programming budgets at the BBC may prevent a 'Song for Europe' style show to select the UK's Eurovision 2013 song, "why not use the money from the phone vote to pay for the National Final?" Time to break out the ESC Insight calculators to see if this really is an option.
ESC Insight: Can Phone Votes Cover The Cost Of The BBC’s National Final?
ESC Insight: Can Phone Votes Cover The Cost Of The BBC’s National Final?
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Comments
Ewan. The BBC cannot make a profit from phone votes. It is against their charter. So that's a non-starter.
Indeed they cannot make a "profit" but they can feed income back into program creation.
Maybe that would be the right way to do it.
Aren't all audience tickets free?
Usually in the country anyway, but in Sweden you have to buy tickets for melfest, probably covers or off sets the cost of such a massive arena tour.
In anycase, the mediocre ratings for British NF's with an even lower number of televotes cast and a small televoting cost means it wouldn't make a difference to the overall budget. A national final would cost anything between £275k-£600k (if it was a one off show).
They're definitely not. Unless it is for a charity event (i.e. Children In Need), the only thing the BBC can use the money for is the cost of the phone lines themselves.
They can't. Phone vote income is only allowed to cover the cost of managing the phone vote. Even tagging a charitable donation on is dodgy...
When Strictly started, they used to put a 10p donation on each phone vote for the Fame Academy Foundation (or something similar). People complained that they wanted to vote but did not want to be forced into making a donation. Therefore the donation part was dropped and this continues unless it is a tie in for a specific charity (ie Let's Dance for Comic Relief)
For commercial TV, it is of course completely different.
EDIT - Globbits beat me to it!
I think the BBC are best staying with internal selections because they have created more column inches and hype than any British NF ever did. National finals have never really been a big part of the Eurovision season in this country anyway.
A one artist NF would be nice though.
Agreed on internal selections, and if it comes to a one artist NF (via the One Show?) my money would be on Dreams Can Learn To Fly ;-)
Kimberley's song I doubt it the BBC would demand exclusivety on an act like her.