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Don't copy our flawed system, former TVNZ head warns BBC


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Old 03-03-2014, 23:48
Winston_1
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From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11211861
A former head of TVNZ has warned the BBC not to copy New Zealand's television funding system.

The British Government is looking at dropping the BBC TV licence which pays to make its programmes. One option is an NZ on Air system, which gives money to an independent agency instead.

But former TVNZ chief executive Julian Mounter - an Englishman brought here in the 1980s to shift state television to a business model - has warned his countrymen in a letter to the Times that the New Zealand method leads to a decline in public broadcasting.

"NZ on Air chose to spend the money, in part, on what I considered to be pure public service programming ... however it also spent it on what I considered to be commercial programming, that which would be easily funded by advertising or sponsorship," he wrote.

"As a result it became much more difficult for us to make sufficient non-commercial programmes, which I believed were an essential ingredient for any national broadcaster to provide."

Mr Mounter said changing the BBC's funding "will be a highly dangerous step".

"Before taking such a decision policy-makers should study the experience of New Zealand carefully.

"Some think the change has worked well, I think it is a flawed system."

Herald media commentator John Drinnan said TVNZ, in Mr Mounter's day, provided educational programmes and sports, and catered for minority audiences.

"Mounter sums up the view of many TV programme makers that the set-up he created had some benefits, but in the end it becomes television to suit advertisers and not viewers," Drinnan said.

"It has taken a while to run down, and it is gradual. Nowadays the Government gets TV companies to make shows that deliver bigger audiences.

"It is why Sky TV has grown so big in this country."
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Old 04-03-2014, 07:39
dearmrman
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So it will ruin the BBC, oh well no loss then.
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Old 04-03-2014, 09:22
call100
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Only a fool would think that they would not be paying the same amount or more for an inferior product if you moved away from the current system to something else.
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Old 05-03-2014, 07:00
finlux
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The licence fee must stay.

There are enough rubbish channels/broadcasters as it is, without turning the BBC into the same.
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Old 05-03-2014, 08:10
dearmrman
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The licence fee must stay.

There are enough rubbish channels/broadcasters as it is, without turning the BBC into the same.
It already is, and has been for a while.
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Old 05-03-2014, 09:17
call100
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It already is, and has been for a while.
Compared to what?
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Old 05-03-2014, 11:33
mossy2103
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The British Government is looking at dropping the BBC TV licence which pays to make its programmes. One option is an NZ on Air system, which gives money to an independent agency instead.
No, not as I had heard, and not as this Government has stated. But apart from that small detail ......
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Old 05-03-2014, 11:41
stud u like
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The licence fee must stay.

There are enough rubbish channels/broadcasters as it is, without turning the BBC into the same.
Seldom anything to watch on the BBC these days.
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Old 05-03-2014, 11:55
ElMarko
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Yeah, it's getting worse because the squeeze has already started.

Not sure why that's so hard to understand.

Edit: actually, people's attitudes and likes/dislikes have changed as well over time so it'd be wrong to put the blame solely on money.
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Old 05-03-2014, 12:04
samburrows
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Not another thread about the BBC / TV License?

Wish there was a sub forum for the hundreds of threads already discussing this.

No criticism of the OP implied - it's an interesting angle and article, it's just the discussion will be dominated by rehashing the same pro / anti-BBC rhetoric which has been debated to death on these forums for years.
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Old 05-03-2014, 12:32
pzboyz
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I suggest ask anybody who travels abroad for work to comment on the free to air channels they find available ... they are very very poor. Please keep the TVL in the UK, once its gone its gone, just the way Murdoch would like it.
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Old 05-03-2014, 17:37
dearmrman
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Compared to what?
Well it's as rubbish as most of the other channels, if you think it is good then good for you. Personally I couldn't care less if the whole BBC organisation disappeared, wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

The TVL should be kept, but for been able to watch live tv, and spread out evenly not fund the BBC. People object to sky, but not many object to the BBC, considering it is essentially a paid for subscription channel.

At least one thing BBC3 is closing down, so 1 down 3 to go.
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Old 05-03-2014, 20:06
call100
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The BBC is more than just TV, yet, people jump on the bashing wagon at every opportunity just to bash the TV channels.
As someone else said, you only have look at every other comparable offering from every other country to realise how good it is.
All those who say it's rubbish...............compared to what??
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Old 05-03-2014, 20:24
ftv
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Seldom anything to watch on the BBC these days.
Maybe, but far more than is worth watching on TVNZ.
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Old 05-03-2014, 20:36
stanandjan
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The BBC is more than just TV, yet, people jump on the bashing wagon at every opportunity just to bash the TV channels.
As someone else said, you only have look at every other comparable offering from every other country to realise how good it is.
All those who say it's rubbish...............compared to what??
I am sure that only last month i enjoyed a BBC prog so much that I watched the end titles ..only to read that it was made by ITV!!
Interested i then watched others in more detail ..only to find that an awful lot of progs are NOT made by the BBC anyway..

I now understand that huge numbers of seemingly BBC people are NOT even employed by the BBC ..as they are often employees of their own Companies..
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Old 05-03-2014, 20:37
Spot
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The British Government is looking at dropping the BBC TV licence which pays to make its programmes.
What is their source for this?
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Old 05-03-2014, 20:44
Spot
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I am sure that only last month i enjoyed a BBC prog so much that I watched the end titles ..only to read that it was made by ITV!!
Interested i then watched others in more detail ..only to find that an awful lot of progs are NOT made by the BBC anyway..

I now understand that huge numbers of seemingly BBC people are NOT even employed by the BBC ..as they are often employees of their own Companies..
Who made the programme is irrelevant. With very few exceptions (the BBC buys very little home grown programming 'off the peg') the programmes will have been commissioned by the BBC and the production overseen by it to ensure the original brief from the Corporation is met and that the production is up to standard.

Or, to put it another way, without the BBC the programme would not have been made in the same way, and quite possibly not at all.
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Old 05-03-2014, 20:52
dearmrman
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The BBC is more than just TV, yet, people jump on the bashing wagon at every opportunity just to bash the TV channels.
As someone else said, you only have look at every other comparable offering from every other country to realise how good it is.
All those who say it's rubbish...............compared to what??
Compared to sky/Virgin and that's because the quality programming these days comes from America (HBO etc). You can't compare it to ITV, CH4 & CH5 because they are not subscription paid tv, you can dress it up how you want, the BBC is pay tv. Oh the Radio channels are rubbish as well.

Personally close the entire BBC operation down, I will not miss it.
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Old 05-03-2014, 20:59
theonlyweeman
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Compared to sky/Virgin and that's because the quality programming these days comes from America (HBO etc). You can't compare it to ITV, CH4 & CH5 because they are not subscription paid tv, you can dress it up how you want, the BBC is pay tv. Oh the Radio channels are rubbish as well.

Personally close the entire BBC operation down, I will not miss it.
You can't compare HBO and the BBC, because HBO a significantly smaller amount of content so can afford to spend inordinate amounts on all of it, whereas the BBC can't.
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Old 05-03-2014, 22:07
call100
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Compared to sky/Virgin and that's because the quality programming these days comes from America (HBO etc). You can't compare it to ITV, CH4 & CH5 because they are not subscription paid tv, you can dress it up how you want, the BBC is pay tv. Oh the Radio channels are rubbish as well.

Personally close the entire BBC operation down, I will not miss it.
I guess as you don't listen to any BBC radio/TV station or use iPlayer and watch mainly American TV that your idea of 'quality' has been somewhat diluted...So the question is still out there.
Compared to what?
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Old 05-03-2014, 22:21
dearmrman
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I guess as you don't listen to any BBC radio/TV station or use iPlayer and watch mainly American TV that your idea of 'quality' has been somewhat diluted...So the question is still out there.
Compared to what?
Have you seen Game of Thrones or The Newsroom? those two shows are better than anything the BBC has ever done, and is ever likely to do. If you haven't I would suggest you do, to see what quality really is.

Last thing I watched on BBC was the last series of Sherlock and some how they managed to balls that up from the previous two. Haven't listened to the Radio Stations in a long time and have never used Iplayer.
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Old 05-03-2014, 22:25
technologist
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I am sure that only last month i enjoyed a BBC prog so much that I watched the end titles ..only to read that it was made by ITV!!
Interested i then watched others in more detail ..only to find that an awful lot of progs are NOT made by the BBC anyway..

I now understand that huge numbers of seemingly BBC people are NOT even employed by the BBC ..as they are often employees of their own Companies..
Yes because successive governments have said that the BBC should not make programmes - hence the Indy quota
And it cannot make programmes for ITV so there is a double whammy!!!
But it is cheaper !!!!
See the latest report in the wocc http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/p...cc_review.html
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Old 05-03-2014, 22:27
Spot
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If US imports were what everyone in the UK wanted, it would be worthwhile for free to air channels like Channel 4 and Five to outbid Sky and use them to rake in the ad money. The fact that, by and large, this doesn't happen and that US imports rarely feature amongst the most watched shows would seem to indicate that whilst many viewers might enjoy the odd US show, Bristish audiences value British content quite highly.
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Old 05-03-2014, 23:35
zz9
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Who made the programme is irrelevant. With very few exceptions (the BBC buys very little home grown programming 'off the peg') the programmes will have been commissioned by the BBC and the production overseen by it to ensure the original brief from the Corporation is met and that the production is up to standard.

Or, to put it another way, without the BBC the programme would not have been made in the same way, and quite possibly not at all.
There is evidence to support this. Look at Shine who made Merlin for the BBC, to positive critical and popular reviews. Yet they made Hex for Sky and Demons for ITV, both of which were dire. Demons especially was a truly awful cross between Buffy, Smallville and Doctor Who.
So it does look like the input and direction from the broadcaster can make a huge difference in how good the show turns out.

That's not to say all ITV shows are dire of course, as examples such as Downton, Frost and Poirot are clearly very well made shows.
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Old 05-03-2014, 23:39
zz9
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I am sure that only last month i enjoyed a BBC prog so much that I watched the end titles ..only to read that it was made by ITV!!
Interested i then watched others in more detail ..only to find that an awful lot of progs are NOT made by the BBC anyway..

I now understand that huge numbers of seemingly BBC people are NOT even employed by the BBC ..as they are often employees of their own Companies..
The government forces the BBC to get at least 25% of its shows made by outside independent production companies. And another 25% is up for grabs with both indies and in house BBC productions pitching shows.

This leads to cases such as the Jonathan Ross "£6 million salary" claims when in fact that was the fee to make his show, including paying for all the production staff, the crew, the band etc and even having to pay £1.5 million a year back to the BBC to hire the studio at TV Centre. Not saying Ross wasn't well paid, but no way did he just get £6 million to put in his bank account and keep.
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