Comments on: Now to rescue the print media

By: Peter Copping

Peter Copping — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:22:01 +0000

Just to say Guardian Group already has a TV station, at the moment in Manchester, (Channel M) Sky203, Virgin878 an band3 ch39 (but the singal in awful there) Is it just Guardian TV in waiting?

By: Mike Dorey

Mike Dorey — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:41:36 +0000

“With the BBC’s mission shifting from informing, educating and entertaining the British people on TV and radio to creating public value across multiple platforms and media” What does this mean to licence payers exactly? Especially since TV Viewing is increasing and Radio audiences are as high as they have ever been? Are these licence payers happy with the the BBC’s mission ’shifing’ in this way? Is the ’shift’ an aspiration or a statement of what is actually happening?

If you are advocating Newspaper ownership, is this actually any better than using top-slicing to release money to spend on other non-BBC projects? I don’t agree with top-slicing myself, but I also worry about viewing the BBC as some kind of ‘investment bank’ in this way…

By: David Flisher

David Flisher — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:07:04 +0000

An outstanding idea, but one that’s unfortunately unlikely to see the light of day. Can you imagine the (a)moral indignation of the Murdoch free-market cheerleaders? I also can’t see any politicians being prepared to stand up against such, given that so few are prepared to unequivocally defend the licence fee of the notion of public service as inherently good. Shame though.

By: Ryan Morrison

Ryan Morrison — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:01:24 +0000

An alternative idea – mainly for local newspapers could be for part of the new BBC Local proposition to include an element of external spend and have the sites (which tend to cover a fairly large patch) buy a number of features or pieces of content from local newspapers every week/month.

This could also include a content sharing arrangement that would allow those local newspapers to use BBC Local video content for free and would see the newspapers headlines displayed on the BBC Local site.

By: Steve Bowbrick

Steve Bowbrick — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:58:49 +0000

Much better idea Nick. Still, as a thought experiment I like the idea that the BBC might smear its public service obligations across a number of media, old and new. I know that buying national newspapers is not very likely (to say the least) but I do like the idea of yoking together diverse outlets to achieve PS goals…

By: Nick Reynolds (BBC)

Nick Reynolds (BBC) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:48:59 +0000

Very funny and unlikely to happen to say the least.

Rather than the BBC buying up newspapers – and don’t forget that the BBC already has a a suite of commercial magazines (maybe BBC Worldwide could buy the Mail – imagine the furore!) – newspapers should reinvent themselves as content producers and then the BBC could buy in that content. There’s no reason why the Guardian couldn’t develop a TV or radio arm as an independent production house and then the BBC commission some content from them as it does from other independents.

By: Podnosh Blog » Archive » Compact, concise, connected - why Birmingham (Post) must change.

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:45:16 +0000

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