02-11-2023, 02:05 PM
The way the Digital BBC stuff is presented as a panacea and/or used to justify things that are basically unrelated is nonsense though. The overall approach obviously isn’t - most would not disagree with investing in iPlayer and apps, but many wouldn’t be happy with cuts to Local Radio creating savings that are “reinvested” in BBC Sounds podcasts. So a lot of it is controversial, some aspects more than others.
One niche example of “Digital BBC” scapegoating would be the closure of the Oxford and Cambridge sub-regions. We realise it was basically to free up capacity to make regionalised BBC One HD work (without extra transponder space on satellite, extra coding and mux, etc) while the BBC spun it as “we don’t need sub-opt regions because people read their news on our website and app”. It’s sort of true, but not really the whole story. They would have fared better, PR-wise, if they’d just been honest.
One niche example of “Digital BBC” scapegoating would be the closure of the Oxford and Cambridge sub-regions. We realise it was basically to free up capacity to make regionalised BBC One HD work (without extra transponder space on satellite, extra coding and mux, etc) while the BBC spun it as “we don’t need sub-opt regions because people read their news on our website and app”. It’s sort of true, but not really the whole story. They would have fared better, PR-wise, if they’d just been honest.