Good move
I'm all for that. Call the telly the telly and all that.
In a radical rebranding move, the BBC will rename the department responsible for television programmes to "TV", and the department responsible for radio to "Radio". The department that produces journalism - sport and news - will henceforth be known as the "Journalism" department. The changes coincide with a reshuffle of Beeb …
Do you mean the programming I sometimes watch or listen to on my laptop?
I take it TV is the new name for YouTube, iPlayer, Netflix and other video services?
Yes, I know most people probably do still have a traditional television and, possibly, still listen to traditional radios (well DAB ones soon, perhaps) but surely I'm not the only person for whom a "TV" and "radio" don't exist any more?
Vision - sounds too strategy-boutique
Quite ... when in the recent DG merry-go-round one of them was described as previously being "Director of Vision" I assumed that he'd been in charge of some "blue skies" group that had been coming up with ideas of where broadcasting should be going in 5-10 years time. It was a bit of a shock to find out the "Vision" just meant TV programs!
Anyway, why not a Dept of Radio and a Dept of "Radio with Pictures"!
TV: TeleVision
Tele: (long) distance
Vision: seeing something.
Therefore TV means "Seeing something from a distance". Unless you're using your laptop in the studio, I would argue that you are watching it from a distance and therefore all of those VoD services still fall under my definition of TV.
Coincidently, the TV broadcast system as we know it also falls under my definition of radio.
" but surely I'm not the only person for whom a "TV" and "radio" don't exist any more?"
possibly not, but, I bet there a lot more people out there who prefer to watch on a TV set that is at least 42" and is hooked up to at least a 5.1 surround system.... you enjoy watching on your 13" laptop with tinny speakers.
Why would anyone watch video on a laptop in my living room? Have you never heard of monitors and projectors? I mentioned the laptop because it, and my phone, are the only radio devices I tend to use regularly so I took it that when watching a video in bed I'm using this "radio" they talk about.
I do think that Video and Audio (possibly Video Programming and Audio Programming) are much better than the silly Vision though.
As to the strict definition of television since it's essentially a brand name it can mean what you want it to. I've no problem with extending it to include YouTube but what about downloaded films? I wasn't in the studio then either. I also saw the moon on television once through a telescope?
"possibly not, but, I bet there a lot more people out there who prefer to watch on a TV set that is at least 42" and is hooked up to at least a 5.1 surround system.... you enjoy watching on your 13" laptop with tinny speakers."
I don't own a TV. I do have a large dumb panel in my living room for watching downloaded and steamed content.
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I like the idea of BBC calling its visual broadcasting iTV - how deliciously confusing!!
(For those not in the know, for many years the choice of channels in the UK was "BBC" (state owned and no adverts) and "ITV" ("Independent Television", with adverts). I still refer to the local broadcast on Channel 3 (Freeview) as ITV ...)
And for everyone else who was distracted by the whooshing sound of a joke going over their head
The BBC used to produce serious documentaries, funny sitcoms, expensive drama, decent science programs etc. While the commercial iTV produced cheap bargain-house-price-cooking-with-celebs type crap.
Now that the BBC's 97 channels produces nothing but ....
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Function Director_General_Tony_Hall
_TV=TV
_Journalism=Journalism
_Director_General_Tony_Hall="WIN!
end Function
'---------------------------------
Function Director_General_Mark_Thompson
_TV="BBC Vision"
_Radio = "BBC Audio and Music"
_Director_General_Mark_Thompson="FAIL"
_bullshit=true
end Function
Vision should remain in tact and ONLY deal with visual aspects of broadcast media, it's so obvious!
Any programme broadcast on TV or online should have the visual element provided by BBC Vision, and the soundtrack 100% independently produced by BBC Audio. What could possibly go wrong?
I heard her interviewed on 'The Media Show' on BBC Audio and MusicRadio 4. It's an excellent program, and has kept Beeb management on their toes a few times. Boaden really doesn't appear to be the sharpest tool in the box. Her excellent defence of the Newsnight editor on the show was only undermined by the fact that she hadn't actually bothered to ask him what happened, she'd simply prepped for the interview by reading his blog online!
When I'm dealing with a customer with a problem, I always speak to the people they're complaining about before launching a defence. It's an excellent (and easy) way to avoid looking like a total arse! Also, she's his bloody boss. Has she heard of management? Has she heard of telephones? I know Radio is the poor cousin to TV, but surely they at least get those...
Anyway, the DG was no better. He appeared in front of a Parliamentary Select Committee, and he'd only bothered to brief himself by reading the online blog, rather than asking the guy. Perhaps the editor of Newsnight is fictional, and the role is actually fulfilled by an AI? Or he's got a phobia about phones perhaps?
Now now.
As Winston Churchill so nearly said about the BBC, never in the field of management has so much money been paid to people with such nebulous job titles.
Under Thompson, didn't they start off with 9 management levels and manage to reduce it to 7, sort of? It would be interesting to read a bovine excrement free explanation of why so many levels were needed and why so many people needed to do so much managing.
Ah, BBC job titles! It was alleged that in the Sixties (or thereabouts) an engineer at the BBC had managed to get himself awarded the title of Engineering Information and Electrical Installation Officer, so that he could, quite validly, answer the telephone with "EIEIO?", but checking a few years ago with someone who worked at the BBC found no trace of this.
An episode of South Parks apparently recycled the same idea with "Email, Internet, Electronic Information Officer."
It was alleged that in the Sixties (or thereabouts) an engineer at the BBC had managed to get himself awarded the title of Engineering Information and Electrical Installation Officer, so that he could, quite validly, answer the telephone with "EIEIO?"
Anonymous IV,
Ah that was good old Farmer MacDonald! Lovely chap.
From now on, serious programs, drama, the shipping forecast (four times a day) and news including daily coverage of the royal family will the broadcast on The Home Service
Comedy and light music will be broadcast on The Light Programme
Serious intellectual stuff, and high-broadcast-quality classical music will be broadcast on The Third Programme
There. Everybody should be happy now.
Oh, I forgot the best-of-all BBC channel, the one that carries endless repeats of all the good stuff they used to make and are lucky enough to still have on tape. I don't care what they call it, as long as they keep it --- but get rid of the stupid announcers with their ridiculously exaggerated accents.
The BBC as a whole needs to go away and be the commercial provider they are in all but the truest sense of the word.
It is nothing more than a fascist conspiracy to continue to rip off us with yet another stealth tax, and if we all just quit paying, they'll have to reduce the gazillions of idiots back down to a manageable number of useful staff.
Reducing the number of repeats, and imports and just produce basic TV & Radio.
Seriously? Calm down dear! It's only a commercial...
Sure, the BBC are over-managed. However, they're not that expensive. When you think what original content the BBC produces for £3bn, and compare it to the £5bn that Sky turns over, and the lack of content that they produce with it, suddenly the License Fee starts to look like decent value. Admittedly Sky are improving that, and they spend an absolute ton of cash on both sports rights and good sports coverage (which are both expensive). But if you compare the £250 cost of basic Sky (without Sport) to the Beeb at £150, Sky look horrendously expensive!
ITV are free, but you have to watch adverts. They have a similar budget to BBC1, but look like they achieve less with it.
Since Producer Choice came along, we had to ask ourselves every month or so 'just what are we called this week?'
Still, in spite of everything, the Beeb still churns out some excellent stuff - BBC2, BBC4, and Radio 4 for me, but your mileage may vary. And oddly enough, there are still people out there with attention spans long enough to stare at a screen on a wall *at the time the programme is broadcast*, or to listen to a radio in real time.
Reminds me, I must go and pay my license.