Does the BBC or BSkyB spend more on programmes?
Once it was unfashionable to have an opinion on accounts. If you needed to have one, you would hire a professional to arrange something for you.
But, no more! Everyone has an opinion about the accounts of the BBC. Is twenty grand a week too much for flying people to Salford? You decide!
I thought it might be instructive to look a little more into the idea that the BBC now has just one quarter of what BBC boss Tony Hall recently called "broadcast revenues" (which is the licence fee plus subscription plus spot advertisements income).
To that end, I have compiled a chart to compare the way that the BBC and Sky spend the money they get from the British public.
The first thing you can't help noticing is that the BBC spends MORE on programmes than Sky. We also know £767m a year (31%) of Sky's programming costs are for the 116 Premier League soccer matches it shows.
Other number to note is that to collect from 26.5m homes costs the BBC £111m (£4 each) , to collect from 10.4m Sky homes (including in RoI) £647m (£62 each).
I suspect you can't help noticing that Sky spends £1.1 billion on "marketing".
As BSkyB is a private company, you can't deny the need to for them pay their shareholders profits. Last year that was £1.3 billion.
A note of caution then: if you could sell off the BBC it will most likely end up costing double for the same service. Just like, some may say, gas and electricity...
The Tony Hall graphic.
Cost of TV Licence over time, which is a Brian Butterworth graphic you will also find on Television licensing in the United Kingdom (historical) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For your delectation and delight you can read the 2013 BSkyB Annual report here:
BSkyB Annual Report 2013
And the BBC's here:
BBC Annual Report Financial statements 2012-13
6:20 PM
Wetherby
Briantist: I came across a formula for bass reflex cabs in the 1970's in a book probably by Briggs and made 2 somewhat large units using Super 8rsdd units which are still in use today. I could never afford B&W or Kef so DIY was the order of the day including an FM tuner and amplifier using designs from 'Wireless World'.
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Mike's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
9:01 PM
The bbc versus sky comparison misses the fact that BBC also programme all the radio stations and have developed the excellent iplayer. I cant think of any sky programmes that have attracted me. Also look how much sky charges for things like HD programmes. I left sky and moved to BT but 12 months later was tempted back to sky by a 75% offer for the full package for a year. We would be a far poorer nation without the BBC. Just look at the state of TV in the states
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10:38 PM
Blackburn
If it was possible to fund the BBC by other means than the TV license then I would choose that. The BBC remains a major player in the provision of television, radio and internet resources. I may not like all that the BBC offers but I certainly get my money's worth. I'm not a great TV watcher, I prefer to listen to the radio and all of that is from the BBC because I can't abide advertisements. Radio 4 Extra is my favourite station which I tend to listen via the internet because of the on demand facility. Unlike some others I'm quite happy with DAB radio because of the greater choice of stations.
I'm glad the BBC don't have much sports output because I don't like sport. If only they'd cut down on royal coverage too because I don't like the monarchy either. I'm not keen on comedy on the radio and I cringe at some of the old stuff from the 50s, 60's and 70s that they still put on, but nonetheless who else does radio as good as the BBC?
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Joe's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
11:59 PM
Joe: Germany now has a charge levied against each household which pays for public service broadcasting. It no longer depends on whether a TV is in use, so no need for detector vans, which saves money, and automatically includes any viewing on computers or mobile phones.
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Joe: I have to agree with you about the iPlayer Radio on-demand: the Android App is so well implemented https://play.google.com/s…n_GB
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7:16 PM
Briantist: The Ipod/Iphone/Ipad App is also excellent - very simple to use, whether streaming live or from the archives.
I mentioned KCRW in a previous post, and the Guardian's David hepworth has just mentioned the station, with regard to its Eclectic 24 music channel Next week's radio: from Eclectic 24 to November Dead List | Television & radio | The Guardian - he suggests that the BBC will do something similar - an excellent idea.
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5:04 PM
Mike Davison: One thing I do remember from being a child in the early 1980s and going to "hi-fi shows" to see my god father.
QUAD would get their one pair of speakers and one amp out and demonstrate it with a range of music from classical.
What a lovely bit of nostalgia. Yes the quad electrostatic speakers had quite a flat smooth audio response but weren't that efficient ,quite large and had relatively low audio sound pressure levels. At about the same period I was visiting HiFi shows at Harrogate (along way from where I lived) and nearer to home the annual February London Hifi show held at HOTEL RUSSEL in Russell Square. I remember reading a write up of a pair of Lowther Horn Loaded single driver loudspeakers.They were about 9 inches square and about 3 foot high.
To say they were loud when I heard them was an understatement because the write up in the HiFi News said, quote;' Lowther can be heard on the Third floor, ALL AROUND THE THIRD FLOOR!! .Those were the days.
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5:15 PM
Briantist. I came across a formula for bass reflex cabs in the 1970's in a book probably by Briggs and made 2 somewhat large units using Super 8rsdd units which are still in use today. I could never afford B&W or Kef so DIY was the order of the day including an FM tuner and amplifier using designs from 'Wireless World'.
Me the same, Was the tuner the 4 valve Jason FM tuner and the Audio Amplifiers the Mullard 5/10 .?
I have just sold eleven Mullard EL84's (brand New) on Ebay which I found in my loft and originally purchased in the early 1960's as spares .
Not one sold in the UK but bidders purchased from all around the world. The reason that one buyer had said he wanted to replicate the analogue sound of the 1960 's of his Marshal guitar amplifier.
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2:42 PM
A comparison of who gets paid the most and how efficient the programs made are would be more interesting but thats asking too much I know.
Spending more doesn't mean they make more or make better. In fact
Sky has made more and better programs consistently. The BBC has 1 or 2 hit shows every 5-10 years. That is an abysmal record. You only have to watch the "awards" programs to see how abysmal british TV has become now. Those shows are a catalogue of low quality ineptitude.
Their news department is grossly incompetent. Relying on re-broadcasting
government false proaganda (see inflation, unemployed count etc) and dead donkeys. They have far too many radio channels. Channels promoting dangerous cults and other esoteria.
Really for the money they do get they should be churning out vast quantities of high grade content.
Instead we get an endless stream of vauous drivel and so called "presenters"
getting "award" for doing nothing of any interest or talent whatsoever.
Sky is aprivate company that can and does do what it likes with its money.
The BBC is not and should not be allowed to.
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8:16 PM
bored: ' In fact Sky has made more and better programs consistently. The BBC has 1 or 2 hit shows every 5-10 years. '
The Bafta's tell a different story -
BBC1 - 17 nominations. BBC2 - 17. BBC3 - 6. BBC4 - 3 (44 in total). ITV & ITV2 - 14. C4 & E4 - 29. Press Release: Nominations Announced for the BAFTA Television Awards in 2014
Sky got one nomination/award Television in 2014 | BAFTA Awards - for a David Attenborough documentary. A man who basically has spent his whole life working for the BBC, and was former controller of BBC2. The rest? BBC, C4 and some ITV.
' Channels promoting dangerous cults and other esoteria. ' .Umm - what?
' vauous drivel' - an excellent description of your case.
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