Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Boards

Music Social More…

A general debate about the BBC, Sky and shit like that

vamos [Edit] [Delete] 10:48, 27 April '12

I know the Guardian get on their high horse about Murdoch, but Polly Toynbee brings home some very scary truths about what the news coverage would have been like had the Milly Dowler hacking story not broken when it did. We were about a few days away from Murdoch owning most of the country's media and essentially 'doing a FOX', which as anyone who follows American politics knows would have been disastrous.

Personally, I've never had Sky. I've long given up on the BBC or Channel 4 having the financial clout to win back all the shows and sports they've lost to them, but I just don't see the point in 35 of the Freeview channels I currently have, let alone the 100+ extra ones Sky would give me. Obviously there are occasional games of football I'd love to watch but that's what pubs are for. £55 a month isn't decent value for me, plus I dislike the broadcasters knack of letting a show get popular on the Beeb then coming along and pinching the latter series.

This part of Polly's column - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/26/murdoch-cameron-shameful-tale - angered me the most though:

'Sky's dominance over the BBC is already looming: now past its investment phase, Sky's income is multiplying fast at £5.5bn a year, against the BBC's static £3.5bn. Sky's growing billions can buy everything, not only sports and movies, but every best series: the BBC trains and develops talent, predatory Sky will snatch it. Nor is Sky that good for the Treasury: for every £1 in Sky subscriptions, 90p flees the country, straight to News Corp and Hollywood in the US.

The BBC is remarkable value for money: Sky subscribers can pay £500 a year, the licence fee is £145 for masses more content. Sky is parasitic, as its own subscribers watch many more hours of BBC than Sky, so Sky would collapse if the BBC denied it its channels. Yet the BBC still pays £5m a year for appearing on its platform, a deal struck by Thatcher to help Murdoch.'

We've got a successful, great homegrown business admired the world over, making us loads of cash (Doctor Who and Top Gear are two of the most exported and watched shows the world over) and tax revenue and we're trying to essentially get rid of it. It just beggars belief?

Do you think any government will try and safeguard its future in 2017 when the charter comes up for renewal? Has any of this scandal made you or anyone you know boycott a Murdoch product? Do you even care anymore?


Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND