Comments on: New BBC chief vows to re-invent content, not just re-purpose it

By: Punyabrota Dasgupta

Punyabrota Dasgupta — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 05:45:49 +0000

I guess it is also about what exactly we define as a content here. for example, is it the only core editorial piece or packaged along with supplemental information, social network references, curation, etc which further enriches and decorates the core content. If that is the case, I guess much of that is probably already happen but surely in an unstructured way. Interested to see how it shapes up!

By: Mel Blauvelt

Mel Blauvelt — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:22:29 +0000

The BBC became bleh 15 years ago, this just sounds like more bleh to me. They used to be leaders, trendmakers, not followers. This is more corporate speak and more sideboob gazette instead of giving genuine (sometimes difficult) talent a chance. That’s what made British TV and radio stand out among the rest: authenticity. Not a %#?!ing iPlayer.

By: MBM

MBM — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:08:41 +0000

I think the thing some people overseas might not realise is the BBC is funded by a licence fee. In the UK, if you have a tv or any equipment able to view live BBC content then you must have a tv licence.
I think it would hardly be fair to expect the BBC to provide content worldwide when only the UK licence payers would be paying for it. I understand people mentioning “monetizing” the content but I don’t think that is within the remit of the BBC.
They do have a commercial arm which sells BBC programmes abroad but this again wouldn’t be handled by that part of the BBC

By: Litigant Joan Conway

Litigant Joan Conway — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:53:16 +0000

Sounds like a trap to me…”a genre-based approach.”

In other words if the genre-based is “a gangster story,” we all know how that goes.

But some current “gangster stories” no longer fit into that approach, like “American Gangster,” was an urban epic.

Could we be talking about playing “cowboys and Indians” here.

Today’s Native Americans are not going to like a genre-based approach if they are systematic losers by reconstructing the content controlled by White men.

By: Richard Keatinge

Richard Keatinge — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:15:34 +0000

The usual “new broom” thinking: If decentralized, centralize. If centralized, decentralize. That way you have something to do for your first two years.

By: scottdouglasrobinson

scottdouglasrobinson — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:06:24 +0000

The BBC of my dreams focuses solely on content and steps away from all delivery. In a multi-platform world we don’t need iPlayer – nor BBC1, Radio5 Live… we would, instead, get maximum benefit from a BBC that creates stunning publicly-funded content that is offered, for free, to all delivery platforms. iPlayer is a great achievement but the BBC pays for its online developments with TV licensing revenue and that skews the online landscape in the UK, making it more difficult for free market competitors to survive and thrive – and that ultimately doesn’t benefit anyone.

I also think it is difficult in the UK to have a meaningful debate about what kind of BBC makes sense for today and the future because the BBC and its rich history is such an important part of the British psyche.

By: ARCooke

ARCooke — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:36:27 +0000

Apparently the US cable companies (Comcast and Time Warner mainy) which take BBC America are threatening to stop licensing BBC America channel if BBC iplayer is introduced into the US.

By: Robert Andrews

Robert Andrews — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:29:41 +0000

Lisa Grimm,
Looks like Tony Ageh runs archive at the BBC since Roly Keating moved on.

By: Lisa Grimm

Lisa Grimm — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:27:06 +0000

I think this makes sense as a starting point, but I would love to know what the long-term plan is for ensuring this born-digital content is properly preserved and available in the near and far future; for those of us who have worked in the online field since the 1990s (as well as in digital preservation), it’s easy to see that so much has already been lost. Let the lost Doctor Who episodes – among so many others – from the BBC’s past be instructive to its future. I’d love to help make that happen, if anyone there wants to hire and sponsor me!

By: janeyb

janeyb — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 10:27:41 +0000

To be fair he said it was going to take a couple of years for the reorg. Should allow plenty of time for experimentation of this kind, assuming even the BBC can’t spend two years *only* obsessing over the org chart.