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    UK public service TV ‘endangered’ in YouTube era, says Ofcom
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    UK public service TV ‘endangered’ in YouTube era, says Ofcom

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    31 Comments

    2. winkwinknudge_nudge on

      This Saturday, BBC’s line-up consisted of a 3 year old repeat of Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel, a 1 year old episode of Pointless Celebrities, a 3 year old episode of Blankety Blank, a 2 year old episode of The Weakest Link.

      I wonder why people are moving away.

    3. NoLove_NoHope on

      Adapt or die, it’s one of nature’s few constants.

      But for some reason, a lot of people with the power to change things seem to think that doing the same thing over and over or regressing into the past are the only two solutions. This extends a lot further than the BBC.

    4. seany1212 on

      Good? Times have changed and the young generations do not consumer media how we once did.

      I wasn’t bought up sat around the radio in the living room, TV needs to realise it will no longer be the primary breadwinner and falls into a secondary service just like radio did.

    5. bobblebob100 on

      Alot of good YouTube creators produce better content than traditional TV networks

    6. TheObrien on

      Public broadcasting lost the battle when it started catering for cheap TV. Victoria Derbyshire is probably a great journo, but Auntie has ruined Newsnight by turning it into a debate platform pitting informed views against fringe opinion.

      As soon as Beeb moved into this realm it was done for as the private sector do it cheaper and with less regulation tying them down – see Gbeebies.

      YouTube didn’t kill the Beeb – it’s committing suicide.

    7. johndom3d on

      When I was young (35 years ago) there were so many good programmes on TV. Great documentaries, comedy which was actually funny, top of the pops, gameshows… lots of really good stuff. Nature programmes, even the kids TV was great!
      Now it’s all dumbed – down shite. Comedy you just don’t get. Documentaries which make everything into a story.
      Repeats all the time.
      No wonder people are looking for a change!
      Go back to making good programmes and TV might see a resurgence. But I won’t hold my breath!

    8. Generic-Name03 on

      The only thing BBC is good for these days is gritty dramas and football coverage. Can’t remember the last time I sat down and put the TV on and saw something on channel 1 or 2 that I actually wanted to watch. It’s all just old gameshows or other crap. Scrap the licence fee.

    10. amlamba on

      What incentive does the BBC as an institution have to keep up with the times?

      It’s not like they have to please the audience to keep their lights on, just do enough so the government doesn’t cut your budgets. They are doing exactly that.

    11. Top-Spinach-9832 on

      I do still think the BBC in general as a whole package is pretty great. Services like BBC News (which is a monster in of itself), live sport, Radio, Weather, Food, documentaries, kids tv/education, the occasional drama still have their place in my opinion, and would be missed if they went. Also the local news is really good compared to a lot of the ad drowned local papers in most towns and counties.

      All of those things at once I’d argue are genuinely worth the £14 a month which equates to about what you pay for Netflix or Disney +.

      But it absolutely needs to shift away from live broadcast scheduled TV and towards an “app package” or “ service package” that includes everything the BBC has to offer. Or at the very least a hybrid of that and the tv license system. Britbox in my view was a good try, but a bit half baked. People also just don’t like that it’s an opt out, rather than opt in sort of situation for the TV license. But regardless, the whole interface of the TV license page is incredibly adversarial and very detached from telling you what the BBC actually offers.

      They need to completely re-brand and re-sell what I actually think is quite a good package. Pointing out that you actually get quite a lot for the subscription fee. Most of which you can access for completely free at the moment, with the BBC really only stressing that you’re paying for the live broadcast and iPlayer part.

      That said, maybe once you start putting up the paywalls on a lot of its services, you’d find most people just aren’t interested in any of it 90% of the year. Hence why they’ve probably resisted doing it.

    12. Sir_Henry_Deadman on

      So it’s repeats, Mrs brown’s boys, sport or news

      Vs

      Specific YouTubers who create content weekly to daily about my exact hobbies and interests that the BBC could never make a programme about

      I think there are 5? Ish shows I’ve gone back to iPlayer for 2 are now canceled or over what am I supposed to do sit and watch anything with the little time I get

      If anything I watch old BBC shows on YouTube like noels house party for little nostalgia boosts

    13. Viscerid on

      To watch you need to pay tv license. I don’t pay as there are better forms of entertainment available for the price. I might watch a bit if there wasnt a cost involved. Scrapping the fee is a good starting point.

    14. Low_Screen_4802 on

      Kids don’t watch TV anymore. It’s either, Roblox or YouTube for them these days. Television is dead.

    15. xParesh on

      I’d happily see all broadcast TV moved online or disappear altogether as long as Youtube, Netflix and the other streaming continue.

      Our Broadcast media have been totally behind all the technical innovations that are going on. They only cater for old people and the lowest common denominator.

      Goodbye and riddance and take the TV licence fee with you.

    18. Novel_Opportunity303 on

      YouTube Premium is worth every penny. I almost couldn’t fathom paying for it back when it launched, now it feels like I couldn’t live without it. We got hooked on some small travel content creators, who made a trip to some mundane town an entire half hour video, and it was genuinely entertaining. Channel 4 have also started uploading to YouTube which is great because YT is a far better platform than what BBC etc use.

    19. StinkyDogsCunt on

      Because the BBC haven’t made anything good in forever, it’s all crappy crime dramas and naff gameshows.

    21. tylerthe-theatre on

      Well yeah… nothing worth watching on BBC except a nature doc which ends up on Netflix anyway. Make great shows and people will come

    22. s1pp3ryd00dar on

      Well, the saving the BBC could do is cut funding from all of its News and weather on TV, Radio and Website consolidating it if required (it does not need a different news presenter and weather person for every station and locality).  Oh and cut up that contract with Capita and their goons that harass non-licence payers. 

      And put that money towards making some more diverse content that’s not soaps and game shows. 

      But what would I know? I’m subscribed to Mr Hewes on youtube fooling about with tanks and Jim Bowen’s old Bentley. Most people probably wouldn’t be interested in that. Oh, and EmeliaHartford, erm, just because.

    23. Puzzleheaded-Set-928 on

      Good. It’s full of crap now, anyway. Serve it’s death knell ASAP. please.

    24. InsuranceOdd6604 on

      Most of the BBC is slop for boomers or news curated and presented with an English establishment bias (TM). The only reason it still exists is because of some exclusive content like sports, but mostly because it caters to people who haven’t adapted to using the internet as their main source of home entertainment.

      Its TV side will die with the last boomers, one way or another.

      They should focus on global revenue via an enticing iPlayer subscription model, instead of looking for excuses to put all their hope in their special revenue model via taxation in the UK, with probably an arrangement with the government to keep it in public ownership and to use it as a platform during emergency broadcasts.

    25. zonked282 on

      any company that provides a service people dont want, at a price point they wont pay isnt going to survive, its simple economics. The BBC is not exempt from that just because it sends people scary looking letters

    26. pdirth on

      So…getting the reasons in early to change from ‘TV Licence’ to ‘Internet Licence’ I see…. /s

    28. 1HeyMattJ on

      Yeah it’s because you’ve been showing a revolving door of property shows, auction shows, cooking shows and tea time quiz shows for the last twenty plus years. Your content sucks!

    29. Cynical_Classicist on

      Maybe Ofcom should have done it’s job, and we wouldn’t have ended up in this mess!

    30. tykeoldboy on

      TV is mostly made up of of dumb reality shows and mind numbing game shows and I would rather watch Youtube. at least then I can choose what type I want to watch

    31. Naskr on

      Make something that isn’t just “diverse cast in a modern setting does something modern” or “Doctor Who smashes the norms” and maybe the BBC would be a relevant producer of television. That’s the sort of stuff Youtube cannot replace but when you compare the BBC’s output to other streaming services then it’s embarassing.

      And they have thoroughly murdered their golden goose IPs in favour of some internal BBC-approved ideology that has not translated to success.

      The BBC also did used to have good niche content, stuff like Screenwipe etc. and Youtube has replaced that entirely.