BBC3 closure: now director of TV refuses to guarantee the future of BBC4 - Polidicks

[quote=theguardian.com][b]The BBC's director of television has refused to guarantee that BBC4 will stay on air beyond the next licence fee settlement following the decision to make sister channel BBC3 online only.[/b] A former controller of BBC3, Danny Cohen admitted it was "painful" to close down the 11-year-old youth channel, after the BBC confirmed on Thursday that it would cease transmission in the autum of 2015, becoming an on-demand service available via the iPlayer. However, Cohen said the BBC had no choice because of the 2010 licence fee settlement, which saw the corporation take on extra funding responsibilities such as the World Service. Asked by Richard Bacon on BBC Radio 5 Live on Thursday afternoon if he could guarantee the future of BBC4, Cohen said: "The honest answer is no, I can't. We don't know for certain what will happen with BBC4 in the future. "The reason we made this change for BBC3 is because we face a series of financial cuts the like of which the BBC has not had to cope with before.[/quote] [url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/06/bbc3-no-guarantee-future-bbc4-danny-cohen]Source[/url] BBC. What the [b]fuck[/b] are you doing? BBC 4 is probably the best channel british tv has to offer, it would be a tragedy if they were to let this happen.

this is a call to arms

I'm getting Deja Vu here from when they where going to axe 6 Music and The Asian Network...

Three was really going downhill, but 4 has a lot of quintessentially british programs. Shouldn't scrap it.

oh no don't close bbc4 i really don't want to miss a documentary about 60 years of british pop music [img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5003648/lol.PNG[/img] look at tonight's fantastic line up of shows on bbc4

[QUOTE=zerosix;44159165]oh no don't close bbc4 i really don't want to miss a documentary about 60 years of british pop music [img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5003648/lol.PNG[/img] look at tonight's fantastic line up of shows on bbc4[/QUOTE] On Friday BBC 4 shows music related programmes, but the rest of the week they show their usual schedule.

They've got no money, the fuck do people expect them to do? They axed BBC3 because of the primarily young, internet savvy audience who are more likely to go online to watch the content. Of course it's not ideal, but what people aren't getting is that they don't want to do it, they're saving money because financially they're in the shit.

[QUOTE=Gustafa;44159238]They've got no money, the fuck do people expect them to do?[/QUOTE] just print more money it isnt hard

[QUOTE=rampageturke 2;44159255]just print more money it isnt hard[/QUOTE] why arent u in charge yet the economy is saved

we're gonna see this more and more in the future. i think the days of having thousands of channels is going to die - there's no demand for it anymore. most things are gonna switch to digital

[QUOTE=Gustafa;44159238]They've got no money, the fuck do people expect them to do?[/QUOTE] They could always increase the price of the licence fee a bit, and if they have to, maybe make it so that people have to pay the licence fee to watch iPlayer. They could also try to get the government to subsidise some of the cost, but there's no way David Cameron or the Tories would agree to that. ...And of course, if the government continued to pay for the World Service, instead of putting the burden on the BBC, then they probably wouldn't have to do this.

[QUOTE=ChestyMcGee;44159292]we're gonna see this more and more in the future. i think the days of having thousands of channels is going to die - there's no demand for it anymore. most things are gonna switch to digital[/QUOTE] in the end it'll be a service for live shows and on demand only.

[QUOTE=theblah12;44159303]maybe make it so that people have to pay the licence fee to watch iPlayer[/QUOTE] i'm pretty sure this is currently the law anyway but it's absolutely impossible to enforce. i think the current law says something like "if you own anything capable of playing iplayer then you have to pay the license fee" which is retarded because pretty much half the nation has a phone that can stream iplayer at this point

[QUOTE=AK'z;44159331]in the end it'll be a service for live shows and on demand only.[/QUOTE] The real end is when computers and televisions become indistinguishable.

[QUOTE=ChestyMcGee;44159364]i'm pretty sure this is currently the law anyway but it's absolutely impossible to enforce. i think the current law says something like "if you own anything capable of playing iplayer then you have to pay the license fee" which is retarded because pretty much half the nation has a phone that can stream iplayer at this point[/QUOTE] you dont need a tv license to watch catchup stuff on iplayer, but watching things like bbc1 as their air live on iplayer you'd need a license

So... With all these closures I'm going to assume TV licences become cheaper or the quality of existing BBC channels go up.

Or you know, they could not do silyl things like spend two and a half million on iphones, ipads and mac books in just two years

[QUOTE=ChestyMcGee;44159364]i'm pretty sure this is currently the law anyway but it's absolutely impossible to enforce. i think the current law says something like "if you own anything capable of playing iplayer then you have to pay the license fee" which is retarded because pretty much half the nation has a phone that can stream iplayer at this point[/QUOTE] Nah the law is that if you use anything to watch content live you have to pay the license fee. If you have a tv/pc/mobile device and only use it for on-demand/catch-up services you don't need to pay a license fee.

Who needs BBC 4 when all the classics are on BBC 1 such as homes under the hammer, bargain hunt and doctors

[QUOTE=Daemon;44159746]Who needs BBC 4 when all the classics are on BBC 1 such as homes under the hammer, bargain hunt and doctors[/QUOTE] Don't you be dissin' Bargain Hunt.

[QUOTE=Gustafa;44159238]They've got no money, the fuck do people expect them to do? They axed BBC3 because of the primarily young, internet savvy audience who are more likely to go online to watch the content. Of course it's not ideal, but what people aren't getting is that they don't want to do it, they're saving money because financially they're in the shit.[/QUOTE] Not[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25367046"] pay disgraced execs millions of pounds[/URL] in serverance packages for a start.

[QUOTE=Midas22;44159393]So... With all these closures I'm going to assume TV licences become cheaper or the quality of existing BBC channels go up.[/QUOTE] It'll become more expensive and the quality of program'll become just pure dogshit, like below those abhorrent Channel 4 programs where they exploit mentally ill people for morons to laugh at.

Why dont they do what Australians do and have the channel funded by the crown , it works here and nobody has to fork out huge amounts of money for ridiculous TV licences

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;44159952]Why dont they do what Australians do and have the channel funded by the crown , it works here and nobody has to fork out huge amounts of money for ridiculous TV licences[/QUOTE] Because then it could become subject to political interference.

[QUOTE=RayvenQ;44159426]Or you know, they could not do silyl things like spend two and a half million on iphones, ipads and mac books in just two years[/QUOTE] Only for them to be confused with printer paper [IMG]http://cdn2.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article29588754.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/bbc_ipad.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Midas22;44159393]So... With all these closures I'm going to assume TV licences become cheaper or the quality of existing BBC channels go up.[/QUOTE] In an ideal world. But no it wont.

And that means more people will skip past paying tv licence

[QUOTE=Genericenemy;44159982]Because then it could become subject to political interference.[/QUOTE] To be honest if I don't have to pay money I couldn't give a shit about political interference, I go to facepunch for my politics. :v: