Friday, March 25, 2011

Talking Point: would you care if the BBC cutback on late-night and daytime programmes?


The BBC's latest idea to save money is to axe overnight programming, saving £150m per year. This could mean nothing but repeats airing on BBC1 and BBC2 between 10.30pm and 6.00am every day.

This would put a few art programmes and The Graham Norton Show in the direct firing line, although I suspect the BBC would simply reschedule Graham Norton for slightly earlier in the evening.

There are also plans to cutback on BBC2's daytime schedule, with the channel generally being used to show repeats of BBC1's content during that time.

It's all partly driven by the fact the TV license fee has been frozen at £145.50 per household until late-2016, so the BBC have to make do with their current income for five years.

But what do you make of these proposals? Will you care if the output from the BBC is lessened during non-peak hours? I guess it will only affect you if you watch TV during daytime/nighttime (i.e you're a stay-at-home parent, unemployed, a student, or work shifts, etc.)

Personally, it wouldn't affect me, so I'd be happy for the BBC to make cutbacks in these areas of the schedule. I'd rather this than the BBC cutback on existing primetime shows. But how about you? Do you value the quieter hours of the schedule more than most people? Maybe you work unsociable hours? But if so, would repeats really be so bad? Who actually expect original premieres after midnight, anyway!

Over to you!

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