BBC4 to be cut by end of the year

[Sir Velo]

For us this will be a disaster.

You enjoy the repeats of Top of The Pops presumably?
I tend to agree with Bryn; the channel has long since relinquished any claim to be a significant broadcaster of the arts. Its remit seems to be to recycle repeats of game shows, sitcoms and pop music, with a token nod to serious arts every so often.

[cloughie]

It really is odd IMV
Do they really think that people have some kind of "loyalty" to a channel ?

If Radio 1 started playing La Monte Young's music throughout the day I would go there in a flash.

Steady now those flying pigs can be messy!

[cloughie]

I think that's correct: they don't care which channel has what they want to watch. But they watch BBC1 and BBC2 because that's where they find what they like - and they have the biggest audiences. They don't listen to Radio 3 because that's not what they want to listen to. But IF this rumour is correct, it shows that the BBC has finally thrown in the towel as far as "high culture" is concerned. Why couldn't they save even more money by closing BBC2? Because BBC1 doesn't have enough broadcast hours to carry all those wonderful entertainment programmes that we love. [And as it seems necessary, that's irony]. Or if they closed BBC2 and kept BBC4? Well, of course, BBC4 would become BBC2.

...and the last shall be second!

[Old Grumpy]

(this is an old one but still relevant IMV)

Does anyone really take that much notice of which "channel" things are on ?

Sometimes when I do watch TV (which isn't that often) if i'm not going to watch a specific thing I simply go up and down until something looks interesting... whether its BBC1 ,2, 4 or any of the others makes no difference.

The vast majority of folks I meet/know under the age of 35 (or so) don't watch terrestrial TV at all or have landlines and so on

And most likely don't pay a TV licence either, so why should they be favoured by the BBC?

OG

[Cockney Sparrow]

You enjoy the repeats of Top of The Pops presumably?
I tend to agree with Bryn; the channel has long since relinquished any claim to be a significant broadcaster of the arts. Its remit seems to be to recycle repeats of game shows, sitcoms and pop music, with a token nod to serious arts every so often.

I think the content is more often better than you describe - on history, Art, travelogue etc. I fervently hope they will appear on BBC 2 so BBC1 and 2 can drop some of the dross. On Friday nights BBC4 falls seriously short with TOTP repeats (even, for goodness sake "The Good Old Days" - which should be accessible for study in a museum).

An original programme on non-popular music is so rare it warrants attention on these boards. (I'm excepting programmes from the Broadcasting House corridor walkers like T Service and S. KLein, and the Proms - these latter are deployed to a) keep the BBC insiders in work and b) tick the boxes for serious content - on this showing it doesn't take much to get past OFCOM (or before them, the Trust).

[MrGongGong]

And most likely don't pay a TV licence either, so why should they be favoured by the BBC?

OG

I don't think they are "favoured" by the BBC.

[Dave2002]

You enjoy the repeats of Top of The Pops presumably?
I tend to agree with Bryn; the channel has long since relinquished any claim to be a significant broadcaster of the arts. Its remit seems to be to recycle repeats of game shows, sitcoms and pop music, with a token nod to serious arts every so often.

I gather, from here, that is often available on Fridays. Actually Fridays seem to be a really bleak night across most of the channels.

I agree that BBC Four has become variable in output. There have been some really good programmes, but now, as with other channels, mixed in with other much less worthwhile stuff.

[gurnemanz]

People voted for a government and party leader known to dislike public service broadcasting. I shall miss BBC4 but as compensation we have a satellite dish by which we can watch most German channels free-to-air. I mostly record (eg full operas) to hard drive by timer from EPG for future use. There are three very good channels with cultural, scientific and documentary content, including a lot of classical music:

Arte - German/French arts channel
3Sat - German/Swiss/Austrian channel with cultural content.
ARD Alpha - science and documentary based but also some classical music

Regional opt-out channels also carry cultural content. eg Bayern Fernsehen

Conveniently, there's a site where you can check out what cultural programmes are being shown on all public service channels. https://programm.ard.de/TV/Themensch...pps/Startseite. This year there's even a link there for all programmes involving Beethoven.

[MrGongGong]

I agree that BBC Four has become variable in output. There have been some really good programmes, but now, as with other channels, mixed in with other much less worthwhile stuff.

What David Byrne sang

[oddoneout]

Typical! Just as there were starting to be quite a lot of things I found of interest(not fussed if they're repeats, not least because often I've not seen them first time around) in recent weeks.
If the proms were to go to BBC2 I would expect far far fewer of them, and a risk they'll be given the 'show' treatment(sleb presenters, filleting etc). Wasn't part of the original idea of the Proms to bring music to the masses? If so I would have thought having them on BBC2 is the best way to do that since then they're available to anyone with a legal TV.
It's so dispiriting the extent to which worthwhile cultural activities, of all kinds, are being eroded and pushed into the background, due to the general philistine nature of those at the top who dictate policy and control finance - and who suffer from severe visual and aural impairment it seems to me in terms of looking at and understanding how good and important a part of our lives they are. Doesn't make money, doesn't fill party coffers - ditch it.

[Old Grumpy]

I don't think they are "favoured" by the BBC.

I bet most of the target audience for BBC 3 don't pay a licence fee (whereas viewers of high art on BBC 4 might

[Nick Armstrong]

It is being reported this morning that BBC4 is to be closed by the end of the year, with most of its miniscule budget to be used to bolster the online YOOF channel, BBC3.

Although it now consists largely of repeats, its still the best TV channel for arts and documentaries (and indeed, foreign TV series), so this would be terrible news.

Instinctively saddened by this (if true) - it’s been a great fall-back over the years, especially these past weeks... Often catching up on repeats of series which I’d missed, but also of course the foreign series. Sadly though, it was bound to be first in line in these times, and it has to be said that there are so many alternatives that it may not be much missed in reality. (Especially the lazy recycling of endless pop shows).

[Dave2002]

I feel that a permanent shut down would be a really bad move. However, it might indeed make sense to have a period of reduced output, in order to get through this period if that's the only way to make things work financially. Where is this coming from? The BBC? HMG?

[ardcarp]

"The highbrow channel, which has an average viewer age of 62, has a content budget of £44m but accounts for less than two per cent of the nation’s viewing, according to the report."


Is it 'highbrow' to want the occasional programme about history, art, nature, or even music ? Looking down the schedules for BBC1 and 2 there is almost nothing we want to watch on most nights. We're probably heading for an entirely online viewing pattern in the near future. Any remnant of Reithian values may linger for a while on radio. If we're lucky. Thought for the Day and The Shipping Forecast?

[Nick Armstrong]

Interesting tweet (and ensuing comments in response to her) from Suzy Klein:

https://twitter.com/suzyklein/status...748955653?s=21