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BBC cost-saving measures
Guy_Barry
Posts: 3,586 Forum Member
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Although today's announcement is mostly about TV, I note that Radio 4 Extra is to move to BBC Sounds only (though not for three years), and there will no longer be separate content for Radio 4 long wave:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-61591674
I suspect that most listening to R4 Extra is now via Sounds anyway, and there are only a handful of LW-only programmes on R4 (of which the main one, Test Match Special, is also on 5 Sports Extra). None the less, Yesterday in Parliament and The Daily Service will have to go somewhere, and it's hard to work out where...
Will this mean the end of the shipping forecast or will FM/digital listeners have to endure it?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-61591674
I suspect that most listening to R4 Extra is now via Sounds anyway, and there are only a handful of LW-only programmes on R4 (of which the main one, Test Match Special, is also on 5 Sports Extra). None the less, Yesterday in Parliament and The Daily Service will have to go somewhere, and it's hard to work out where...
Will this mean the end of the shipping forecast or will FM/digital listeners have to endure it?
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Specific shows/sports events I use Sounds for but I will miss 4 Extra not being there.
I suppose the writing has been on the wall though since it went to a repeating 8 hour schedule.
They can't remove BBC Radio Wales from the local muxes because they don't have the rights to broadcast EFL matches across the UK, not to mention the fact that the MuxCo licences may not survive without the BBC's income.
There is a possibility that the BBC will seek commercial operators to pay for the spare 64k on their national mux.
Interesting, I didn't think of that. Is there any similar reason they couldn't do it with Radio Scotland, other than the inevitable political fallout of Radio Scotland appearing all over England, including in places that can't get their own local radio station?
Or move R4x, WS and Asian NW to DAB+ and there will be enough for them and R Wales and Scotland on the BBC mux
Perhaps those shows will end up online to strengthen BBC Sounds. AM.switch off is long overdue and now most people can access a digital platform now is probably a good time to do it.
Even then you'd lose the ability to listen to a national station while near or crossing the border
Quite possibly - Yesterday in Parliament could easily become online-only, as it's just an updated version of Today in Parliament (which the BBC is obliged to broadcast under its Charter). I can see the Daily Service becoming an online-only offering as well.
Wouldn't work with the shipping forecast though! As I think we've discussed elsewhere, it has to be transmitted on long wave. The options are transmitting it across the whole of Radio 4, or not transmitting it at all.
Perhaps it's time for the shipping forcast to sink. If seafarers can use a sat phone and internet to get updated information on fish prices or anything else, I'm sure they can get the shipping forcast.
I'm pretty sure the coastguard puts out regular weather on one of their radio channels.
As well as the difference in sound quality, I've lost count of the number times interviews have been cut short on The World At One etc. because the connection has dropped.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/speeches/2022/digital-first-bbc-director-general-tim-davie
Yesterday in Parliament and The Daily Service have existed as temporary additional services on the BBC DAB multiplex for decades. They already have a home. They only pop up when they are broadcast.
Zoom works really well…. If the contributor has a good internet connection.
Invariably they are just using the usual dodgy Wi-Fi in their study and they take no special measures to ensure the quality of their connection.
You need to get to Page 7 before you see mention of Radio 4:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/738564/MSI_Leaflet_2018_August.pdf
4 Extra has been my saviour over the years, helps me through many a sleepless night. - what to do! I ditched the World service 🥱 - but then, I’ m 80 , so who cares.
I much prefer BBC 4 to the drivel that is on BBC1
I'd happily subscribe to 4 extra. I'm consoled a little to learn it will be part of BBC Sounds because most of the time I do listen to it online but I fear it will lead to scrapping it completely.
At home I listen to KOZT rather than R1 or 2 and if I want to listen to classical music I turn to Classic FM. and n the car I listen to R4 or music on a USB.
Today this means that these broadcasts are a good back up for satellite networks.
I think an agreement with the Coastguard and Maritime agency could mean they could use the Danish model just to use this transmitter to put out four 30 min broadcasts for news and shipping/coastal forecasts or if they continue to use the Long Wave network to broadcast the BBC World Service as well as the shipping forecasts.
All the other stuff from this report indicates that the BBC wants to become a digital streaming service instead of a television and radio broadcaster. which I suppose will save them loads of money.
If Cardiff have a mid week game then it will only go out on the South East Wales mux and FM frequencies, and it's the same with Swansea which only goes out on the Swansea Mux and FM frequencies for that area. On AM, FM and DAB across the rest of Wales they get the regular evening programme. They could put the EFL coverage on FM only.
But have you also counted the number of times when an internet call has worked perfectly well for broadcast?
I don't know how much a radio car costs to run, but given how cheap Zoom/Whereby/Skype/whatever are, the cost difference must be enormous. If the BBC has to save money somewhere, discontinuing a service which — while essential when it started — can now be performed similarly by cheap and widely available external services, sounds good to me. Almost any other cut would be worse.
Overall, I think the changes sound reasonable. If the BBC today had a new batch of archive material they wanted to make available, there's no way that they'd think of creating a linear broadcast station (whether radio or TV) for distributing it. It made sense 20 years ago, but that doesn't mean it still makes sense now. In the overall history of the BBC, Radio 4 Extra is a quite a new service, but technology has changed a lot since 2002.
In the early days of BBC7 (before Listen Again), I sometimes managed to listen live, but would often attempt to set timers to record particular shows when they were broadcast. It was inconvenient! Being able to pick the programme I wish to listen to is way better. (Though I still miss the original BBC7/Radio 7 weekly email newsletter which talked about the shows on that week, rather than just listing them.)
The BBC shouldn't spend money doing things just because they've been doing them for years. There was a time when the best way of distributing BBC schools (and indeed ITV schools) and Open University course materials was to broadcast them on linear channels, with published schedules so interested parties could watch them at those times or (later on) set a VCR. But that's no longer the case, and of course no longer happens. Not everything the BBC does need to remain like that, and it isn't necessarily a bad thing for them to discontinue a service which has service its original purpose.
That sort of sensible thinking isn't needed here on Digital Spy.
A very good post @Smylers .
Almost certainly none that are permitted out of sight of the coast.
It is rather straw clutching to assume that the MCA will pay to maintain 198 when they already pay to maintain an extensive network of VHF & MF coastal radio stations.
I think people are just batting ideas around - discussing the issue on a discussion forum. Should we be quiet and bow to your superior knowledge of the subject?