Bob CollinsThe Department for Culture Media and Sport has issued a green paper inviting the country to comment on whether the BBC as an institution is still necessary. (Disclaimer: American Public Media, the parent of Minnesota Public Radio, is the exclusive distributor of the BBC in the United States)
Times have changed and people no longer are as restricted about the information they’re able to receive.
The minister is questioning whether the BBC still needs to be a global service.
One question that is particularly important is how we can best understand the idea of universality’. As more and more options become available for how audiences watch, read and listen to content, the question of the extent to which the BBC should focus on providing programmes and services for all audiences, and on an equal basis, across every platform, or whether it should instead focus more on particular or underserved audiences with its output,
becomes relevant.A second question relates to whether the BBC should instead have a more targeted or prioritised set of purposes to reflect its increasingly varied and competitive environment.
“That would be bad for Britain and would not be the BBC that the public has known and loved for over 90 years,” it said in a statement.
The BBC is likely to lose revenue from the mandatory licensing fee of people with TVs, and the failure to pay may be decriminalized. Doing so will force the BBC to target its endeavors, according to a government official.
“I think they should switch off the BBC for two months,” Graham Norton, a popular BBC presenter tells The Guardian.
“Just put £24 into everyone’s bank account, and switch the BBC off for two months, and people would s*** themselves,” he said.
The green paper also considers plans to privatize the BBC Worldwide service.
Singer-Songwriter Allison Moyet took to Twitter today to warn against that.
We let go of the BBC at our own peril.Everything has to be paid for.Not everything has to make rich men richer. Selling Britain by the brick
— Alison Moyet (@AlisonMoyet) July 17, 2015
People sending me bullet points of what the BBC 'should' be. Good luck with having ANY say on what replaces it or who invents the news.
— Alison Moyet (@AlisonMoyet) July 17, 2015
How many of the little people still have their shares from privatisation. Y'know. So we would all have a stake? Rolling in it yet?
— Alison Moyet (@AlisonMoyet) July 17, 2015
Paedo cover ups.That's the reason? Ok.Lets get rid of Schools,Churches,Hospitals & Families while we're at it.Mostly Families.Hetro Families
— Alison Moyet (@AlisonMoyet) July 17, 2015
The public debate on the green paper is scheduled through October.
