20-02-2023, 09:25 PM
(20-02-2023, 08:49 PM)Kojak Wrote: It’s an important public service, and one which, in an ideal world, the BBC wouldn’t be ceding to the private sector. If anyone should be providing a UK news channel, it should be the national broadcaster. That’s not to put down Sky, because they do an excellent job. It’s just a shame that the Beeb’s funding has been cut to the extent that they can no longer provide such a service.Arguably, there was an alternative route that'd have allowed the BBC to maintain a UK rolling news channel - instead merging the News channel and 5 Live into a primarily bi-media news service (with news continuing on TV when 5 Live takes sport) - but the BBC's approach to reforms is always a bit too cautious/conservative for that route. It would have had its own faults and no doubt would also have been accompanied by many protests on this forum, but it's an interesting counter-factual.
But, as you say, ideally this wouldn't be happening, but the logic behind the proposals is sound and it's fundamentally a shame for the BBC to have ended up in this position. For what it's worth, though, I don't share the catastrophising prophecies of certain members about the ultimate outcome of the new channel - I expect viewership will hold up reasonably well and my impression about the UK opt is that will be more of a regular occurance than rare (which in of itself asks certain questions). I also have enough faith in BBC staff that the channel will be professionally run, even if running orders do end up being a bit of an unsatisfactory compromise. Ultimately, it's not great, but I can absolutely see ways the channel could work reasonably well.