Archive for: bbc
The Times claim that senior BBC executives have approached independent production companies asking them to help develop a “Top Gear for music” to debut next year.
The BBC are planning on producing a pilot in the coming mosts and have already approached major record labels for access to their new videos and artists. Additionally, the show wont have a chance to appear on BBC 1 or BBC 2, but its scheduled to run on BBC 3.
A BBC spokesperson says, “We are constantly discussing new ideas for pop music, but we currently have no plans to announce for any of our television networks.
Speaking to the BBC, Portishead multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrows said that he’ll begin writing the band’s fourth album this summer, that the band has signed with a new label, and how music festivals can boost album sales:
“I’m writing for Portishead through July and August… I just want to bang on and get another record done… It’s with a major. It’s with the biggest record company in the world. It’s with people we trust, which with a band is the most important thing… We did the Third record, it did incredibly well. We got very little support from the UK as we don’t represent a certain demographic of people, but we did Coachella [festival] and that was amazing.”
The Director-General of the BBC has come under a lot of fire this week for his proposals to axe two radio stations and drop a lot of content from the website in order to redirect funding to improve the quality of programming across the rest of the BBC’s network. The stars of music and media have been laying their scorn on the DG’s plans, and the vast bulk of comments on the “putting quality first” blog post he put up on the BBC’s site were resoundingly negative, chastising him for contradicting himself by taking down some of the best, highest quality content, and defending what are clearly their own favourite services.
For my part I can’t help feeling that any announcement of cutbacks is going to provoke complaints from the people who are negatively affected. There are definitely great programmes on 6 Music and the Asian Network, but if the stations are to be closed, there’s no reason the good bits can’t be cherry picked and put on the other stations with a broader reach, swapping out for worse shows, gaining listeners and improving the quality of service for the great unwashed that haven’t discovered the newer stations, or simply don’t have DAB radios. That said, there are certainly other places the budget could have been cut from, Graham Norton’s salary, for one.
A leaner, sharper BBC that provides an alternative to, instead of adding to the morass of commercialised drivel on the increasing number of other stations is something that I fully support. Whatever your views, Auntie is listening; you can log into the BBC Trust’s website and contribute to their public consultation here.
The BBC is reviewing its channel and programming lineup across all media, and looks set to cut some TV, Radio and Web services to focus its budget on making “fewer things better”. The highest profile services in line for the axe are digital/online only stations 6 Music and the Asian Network, with teen-aimed services Blast and Switch also in the firing line. The Corporation is also looking at cutting chunks out of its main web services, dropping sections with poor online audiences wholesale to reduce costs. The narrowing of services is aimed at freeing up more of Auntie’s budget to be focussed into the content on the remaining services; making less, but better content.
Strong feeling is evident among the Asian Network and 6 Music’s listeners, who are relatively few in number, but passionate about saving their stations and have already started campaigns against the cuts. Their views are not shared by everyone; Peter Bazalgette, creator of Channel 4′s “Big Brother”, applauded the cuts, and called for the BBC to retreat from more programming areas to make room for independent production companies, who have been hard hit by the recent recession. Mark Thompson conceded that some of the audiences, particularly the Teen sector that Blast was aimed at, were being better served by Channel 4 and other independent and commercial providers.
The BBC has struggled with its public service remit over recent years, trying hard to find a balance between its need to create unique, informative and educational programming as per its charter, and calls to justify the license fee with which it funds itself by making more entertainment programmes with a wider appeal. In this blogger’s opinion, a refocussing on excellent rather than broad programming is a very positive step, and a return to the values that make the Beeb so precious a national treasure.
U.K. rock act Blur’s headline set at Glastonbury got 1.9 million viewers for the BBC’s live coverage of the final night of the festival.
Blur, who reformed for summer dates, wrapped the 170,000-capacity event on the Pyramid Stage in Somerset last night (June 28). The other main stage headliners were Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band.
Ratings peaked at 1.9 million on BBC2 during Blur’s set last night. Overall BBC2′s coverage of the final night had an average of 800,000 and a 9% share between 10pm and 1am, according to unofficial figures.
The BBC reportedly had a total of 7 million viewers watching Glastonbury coverage on BBC2 over the weekend. There was also coverage on digital channels BBC3 and BBC4.
Meanwhile, Glastonbury organizer Michael Eavis said he has already got four major acts lined up for next year’s 40th anniversary event. Two of the acts have not played before, he added.
BBC Worldwide is working on an ad-supported music service that would offer free streaming or paid downloads of songs and videos from the BBC archives, including live performances from its “Top of the Pops” and “Live Lounge” on Radio 1, New Media Age reported.
The service is expected to launch next year with at least 1,000 tracks, and the BBC is reportedly negotiating rights with record labels including EMI.
Ads on the streaming content would comprise pre-roll and display ads sold by the BBC and served by DoubleClick.
