Lii got in there, first

Not unless someone has privatised the BBC whilst we weren't looking! BBC Worldwide is owned by the BBC. The BBC is a public corporation owned by the state on behalf of the British people, it's established by royal charter and operated as a public service. It's employees are technically civil servants.

You don't directly own any asset, in the same way that you can't turn up at your local town hall demanding access to the stationary! But it isn't a private company free to do whatever it likes with it's income.


The TV license provides about two thirds of their income, commercial activities provide the remaining third. The BBC are allowed to operate commercial subsidiaries, but not in such a way as they would interfere with its charter or are otherwise against the interests of UK license fee payers. That's protected by the BBC Trust who are your representatives (appointed by your elected Gov't). The Trust do have the authority to fire BBC employees, which they may do in your interests.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thorterr View Post
im trying to think if its legal lol ,,us uk people denied our trailer thatsbeen shown to non licence payers in another country





oh come on human nature its a joke ( lol ) where where you when god was giving out sense of humours?? in the toilets with gastroenteritis??? lol

They released a statement telling us it was made especially for the event. This, alone, tells us it is not for general consumption, whoever made it.

And, while it's not citing anything in particular, most reports of the trailer from those who saw it state BBC Wordlwide, not BBC. Would they necessarily know the distinction without having seen it in front of them?

BBC Worldwide is a commercial subsidiary. As BBC has legislation against it being a commercial business, they have to work with each other as though they are two separate companies, to avoid any conflicts or illegalities.

I was busy learning how to write.

(That was a joke, by the way)

That's a subtle misunderstanding. The BBC isn't forbidden from operating commercial activities, the charter allows them but requires them to be undertaken by subsidiaries. The subsidiaries (including BBC Worldwide) are still regulated by the BBC's royal charter, and remain accountable to and governed by the BBC Trust.

From the charter -

Well, that's the root of the complaint. That the BBC released footage to BBC Worldwide to provide an exclusive trailer for commercial benefit in another territory, whilst not providing any equivalent previews to the license fee payers in the UK that paid for the footage.

To take the argument further, would it be considered fair for the BBC to sell exclusive rights to the anniversary special itself, to pay-per-view customers in America before it is shown in the UK? That would be a great way of maximising the commercial return! But I suspect it would raise genuine outrage, and quite probably the attention of the Trust.

This arguments is again becoming a bit of a point scoring battle between fans as to whether they should or should not feel "entitled". I'm personally not particularly annoyed about the lack of a trailer, but I have become surprised at how many weeks have passed since comiccon with absolutely zero for the home audience.

This clearly has annoyed some people and they have my sympathy even if I'm not annoyed myself. It's something I think the BBC would do well to take note of, this is badly handled PR.

I agree it seems to have been handled poorly. But, like you, I just can't bring myself to feel the outrage that others are capable of. I trust we will get a trailer in due course, and cannot see why people are comparing apples to not just oranges, but to tables or cats...

On GB it's being compared to nectar points. I don't know why, either.

I apologise, my laymans terms might have been too simplistic. As you have pointed out, too, the BBC itself cannot undertake commercial activities, hence the need for BBC Worldwide.

Now that has to be explained, not least because I've now got coffee all down my shirt after reading it!

Oh, good grief!

It's a subtle difference, but it's something I've looked into before to understand the distinction. Essentially, it's truer to say "The BBC undertakes commercial activities through subsidiaries" rather than "The BBC cannot undertake commercial activities, so it created BBC Worldwide.

The former is more accurate as it recognises that those commercial activities are part of the BBC's charter and governed by the BBC Trust. The later tends to suggest that the subsidiary is independent of the BBC and can operate as any other commercial company, which isn't true. The commercial activities of BBC Worldwide must still ultimately be judged to be in the interests of the public and the Trust can intervene if that is not so.

Competition law is probably the main reason why these activities have to be through a subsidiary.

I've tracked down the source of the best trailer discussion







Who wants in on this?

Probably because the marketing team believe that two months is too early for such things. Now make that one month .....

For, in all seriousness, trailers, teasers and the like are meant to inform viewers, tell them that something is coming, make them aware of an event. All so that more people watch.

They are not some sort of gift for the fans, some means of keeping fans happy.

I want to make two comments on this.

First, although there's no real definition of what is PR and what is marketing (because it depends on the industry and product), I would point at this as an example of lousy PR as an unexpected consequence of a marketing plan.

Second, the event isn't just the anniversary special. It's the anniversary itself! Doctor Who is 50 years old, that's a celebration. I wouldn't be surprised if the general awareness of that outside of the fans is quite low. That ultimately may also be harmful to the various commercial activities which help support the show.

Yep, I can completely believe that that came from GB. It makes little sense at all, and there are people arguing over it.

This is why I have regularly defended all of the non-show stuff in relation to the 50th. Members on DS and elsewhere have argued that if it's not on the TV Show, it's not important and should be dismissed. But it's all of that stuff which keeps Doctor Who in the public consciousness.

All the 50th merchandise, the books, the stamps, the toys, the unique items... and then things like the DW proms and the Heathrow airport presence... with Doctor Who: Live in the middle of it... when all of that stuff gets mentioned and discussed in newspapers, on television and on the Internet - it keeps the show just... there... and all the above were presented in a way to remind viewers/listeners/readers that it was the 50th anniversary.

Even if a great number of fans couldn't care less about all that stuff, I don't see it as any less important. It's like the 50th schedule in November. On the BBC (TV, Radio) and it's BBC Worldwide channels (i.e. Watch), there's a lot of Doctor Who content available.

Regardless of whether that content is of any interest to us.

Don't forget though - the marketing plan is directed at the general audience, not at the small number of dedicated fans who simply can't wait to get their hands on new material. If the BBC starts trailing this event too soon, then the majority of viewers are going to be thoroughly sick of it by the time the anniversary arrives.

It's only considered lousy by those who currently have an issue with it (for whatever reason). However, trailers are not there to placate fans or to provide succour. They are a marketing tool to increase awareness and to get people talking.


And there is always a fine line between starting any campaign too early, thus risking fatigue and maybe causing loss of impact (just think of some early Christmas campaigns by retailers and producers), and too late (thus risking not getting people on board or fired up enough to want to watch).

It's not as if there's only a few weeks left either - there's a whole 8 weeks or so, and going by previous trailer/teaser campaigns across TV, 4 or 5 weeks beforehand is likely to be early enough in order to raise initial awareness, build expectation, and retain (and further expand) interest.

Precisely.

I don't disagree with that, though there are some here who would and have. What I might suggest has been missing is an effective PR plan, which could feed material out to the fans and their many websites.

That wouldn't be the trailer, because that's the marketing plan. But they might have been able to do a better job of releasing things such as production still or cast interviews over the past few months. I actually think they went too far and fast in releasing the picture of a Zygon and Daleks obviously stomping through Gallifrey. A series of pictures that show a lot less but build up would have kept the fan base speculating and talking about it for months.

Even without such things, the threads on this forum and others would seem to indicate that such fan base speculation and talk has indeed been to the fore for several months now.

Indeed, it could be argued that such speculation has been assisted by the lack of pictures and teasers

Perhaps the reason they haven't shown a trailer is because they have realised it is crap !
Only joking. I'm not bothered that something was shown at comic con or wherever but I am a bit disapointed that with about 8 weeks to go, there hasn't even been a mention ot the 50th on the main channels.