I admit gladly I'm a BBC fan. Not of everything they do of course. And there is plenty i like elsewhere too but I don't have and don't want a subscription to Sky or Amazon or Netflix or anyone else. And I fully accept others have different preferences.
I also accept that in the 21st century the licence fee needs thought. But I caution on knee jerk changes. The diversity of funding streams is a major strength of all British broadcasting, not just the BBC, because they're not all fighting for the same pot.
What upsets me is lil informed assumptions driven by the Mail and others. Having worked there I know there is so much nonsense talked.
The BBC is not expensive if you look at all you get for the licence fee. Per hour of output and per viewer it is cheaper and more efficient than its rivals.
Most of its employees are modestly paid. Its stars get less than elsewhere. Because the BBC is transparent it is hard to find the comparisons. But ITVs top paid light entertainment stars get 5 times as much as the BBC's. Chris Evans at Virgin gets twice as much as Zoe Ball at R2 for a quarter of the audience. ITV's Chief Exec gets more than twice as much as the BBC DG for much less responsibility.
The BBC gender pay gap is well below the national average. Etc. The BBC has taken equal opportunities seriously for years. More than 20 years ago it was a constant drummed into management responsible for appointments.
I'll say no more because I know the critics won't be convinced and won't bother to go over old ground again in the future. But that is why I get narked.
Thank you very much for enlightening us all ... arise Sir Merv
..... why can't they use the same software to upgrade the SD output from Leeds, thus avoiding us having to switch channels to watch our regional news.
Over to you Sir Merv.
I was told that the Look North type progs are recorded in HD but that they were then ‘ downscaled ‘ for transmission. Either way changing the channels back ‘n’ forth involves, as you well know, the pushing of just two buttons but if this is too much for you then you could try watching both News items on the Regional Channel ... just saying
Bit late in responding to this one, sorry, I was using ‘ Catch Up ‘.
..... why can't they use the same software to upgrade the SD output from Leeds, thus avoiding us having to switch channels to watch our regional news.
Over to you Sir Merv.
I was told that the Look North type progs are recorded in HD but that they were then ‘ downscaled ‘ for transmission. Either way changing the channels back ‘n’ forth involves, as you well know, the pushing of just two buttons but if this is too much for you then you could try watching both News items on the Regional Channel ... just saying
Bit late in responding to this one, sorry, I was using ‘ Catch Up ‘.
Regional BBC programmes are a waste of space as far as we in Cumbria are concerned. Ours is based in Newcastle so it's great if you want to know what is happening on the East coast. There has to be something major for this side of the region to get a mention. Then we have the left wing bias of the BBC news room so as far as news on the BBC is concerned it's a no from me.
The saving grace of the BBC is the radio although even that is not as good as it used to be. Radio 4 comedy used to be excellent for satire and clever comedy. Programmes such as 'I'm sorry I haven't a clue' and 'Just a Minute' were great listening but they now seem to have gone for puerile satire which is just not funny unless you are very young. Apparently the BBC wants to attract more young people to Radio 4 and have changed their content for that purpose. Do they honestly think the yoof of today are going to be switching from commercial radio or Radio 1 and 2 to go over to Radio 4? Someone at the Beeb needs their head examining.
Sorry Merv but if you have influence at the Beeb can you have a word with them?
The yoof of today listen to their music on the likes of spotify, and get their news from snapchat. They will not go near any Beeb output until they are married, have kids and let them watch cbeebies to keep them quiet.
Regional BBC programmes are a waste of space as far as we in Cumbria are concerned. Ours is based in Newcastle so it's great if you want to know what is happening on the East coast. There has to be something major for this side of the region to get a mention. Then we have the left wing bias of the BBC news room so as far as news on the BBC is concerned it's a no from me.
The saving grace of the BBC is the radio although even that is not as good as it used to be. Radio 4 comedy used to be excellent for satire and clever comedy. Programmes such as 'I'm sorry I haven't a clue' and 'Just a Minute' were great listening but they now seem to have gone for puerile satire which is just not funny unless you are very young. Apparently the BBC wants to attract more young people to Radio 4 and have changed their content for that purpose. Do they honestly think the yoof of today are going to be switching from commercial radio or Radio 1 and 2 to go over to Radio 4? Someone at the Beeb needs their head examining.
Sorry Merv but if you have influence at the Beeb can you have a word with them?
I have no influence. Bring back "Worker's Playtime" I say.
I quite enjoyed listening to Archie Andrews and you're 'avin a Ray's a laugh ... just saying
ps ... if one has SKY then one can watch any or all of the Regional progs, Darzet's default covers Bristol mainly
Yes you can do that on Freesat. Don't even need to pay Sky a bean.
We don't often watch ours. It's called Midlands Today but is mostly Birmingham Today. The Central equivalent is just the same. Our alternative is Northwest Manchester Tonight.
I quite enjoyed listening to Archie Andrews and you're 'avin a Ray's a laugh ... just saying
ps ... if one has SKY then one can watch any or all of the Regional progs, Darzet's default covers Bristol mainly
Yes you can do that on Freesat. Don't even need to pay Sky a bean.
We don't often watch ours. It's called Midlands Today but is mostly Birmingham Today. The Central equivalent is just the same. Our alternative is Northwest Manchester Tonight.
I forgot all about those, I have a Humax Freesat Recorder hiding in a cupboard someplace pending one's axing of SKY.
I quite enjoyed listening to Archie Andrews and you're 'avin a Ray's a laugh ... just saying
ps ... if one has SKY then one can watch any or all of the Regional progs, Darzet's default covers Bristol mainly
Yes you can do that on Freesat. Don't even need to pay Sky a bean.
We don't often watch ours. It's called Midlands Today but is mostly Birmingham Today. The Central equivalent is just the same. Our alternative is Northwest Manchester Tonight.
I forgot all about those, I have a Humax Freesat Recorder hiding in a cupboard someplace pending one's axing of SKY.
We have one we bought years ago to use on our little narrowboat. When we sold the boat we brought it home and stuck a dish on the wall. Only use it normally if a power cut, fault or maintenance at the transmitter takes out Freeview.
I quite enjoyed listening to Archie Andrews and you're 'avin a Ray's a laugh ... just saying
ps ... if one has SKY then one can watch any or all of the Regional progs, Darzet's default covers Bristol mainly
Yes you can do that on Freesat. Don't even need to pay Sky a bean.
We don't often watch ours. It's called Midlands Today but is mostly Birmingham Today. The Central equivalent is just the same. Our alternative is Northwest Manchester Tonight.
If you have bought a HD TV, which most people have, then you want to watch all the programmes in HD, where possible. However if you want to watch a Beed regional programme you nearly always have to change channels to watch them. Whichever platform you are using, you will need to switch channel. However as I said earlier the Beeb manage to show old films and TV programmes which predate HD technology, on their HD channel, so how come they can't find a method to transmit the regional programmes on the HD channel. ITV have managed to switch over all their regions to their HD channel, but Merv's so called superior Beeb cannot.
I forgot all about those, I have a Humax Freesat Recorder hiding in a cupboard someplace pending one's axing of SKY.
We have one we bought years ago to use on our little narrowboat. When we sold the boat we brought it home and stuck a dish on the wall. Only use it normally if a power cut, fault or maintenance at the transmitter takes out Freeview.
We, on the other hand, have to use SKY else the Humax Box because when using an indoor aerial the HD signals are not strong enough for a quality picture on our main TV set.
ps ... it's a FOXSAT-HDR machine, have located the Op Doc but not the unit so far
I quite enjoyed listening to Archie Andrews and you're 'avin a Ray's a laugh ... just saying
ps ... if one has SKY then one can watch any or all of the Regional progs, Darzet's default covers Bristol mainly
Yes you can do that on Freesat. Don't even need to pay Sky a bean.
We don't often watch ours. It's called Midlands Today but is mostly Birmingham Today. The Central equivalent is just the same. Our alternative is Northwest Manchester Tonight.
If you have bought a HD TV, which most people have, then you want to watch all the programmes in HD, where possible. However if you want to watch a Beed regional programme you nearly always have to change channels to watch them. Whichever platform you are using, you will need to switch channel. However as I said earlier the Beeb manage to show old films and TV programmes which predate HD technology, on their HD channel, so how come they can't find a method to transmit the regional programmes on the HD channel. ITV have managed to switch over all their regions to their HD channel, but Merv's so called superior Beeb cannot.
I did say I can't answer that. And I've never claimed the BBC is superior. Just said that in general I like much of what it does and have attempted to debunk some of the Daily Mail nonsense that gets spread around. If you disagree fine by me. Choice is king. But you must watch an awful lot of it to be so concerned about whether its regional news is in HD or not!
I forgot all about those, I have a Humax Freesat Recorder hiding in a cupboard someplace pending one's axing of SKY.
We have one we bought years ago to use on our little narrowboat. When we sold the boat we brought it home and stuck a dish on the wall. Only use it normally if a power cut, fault or maintenance at the transmitter takes out Freeview.
We, on the other hand, have to use SKY else the Humax Box because when using an indoor aerial the HD signals are not strong enough for a quality picture on our main TV set.
ps ... it's a FOXSAT-HDR machine, have located the Op Doc but not the unit so far
We usually have no signal problem. We get our Freeview on an outside aerial from a local relay transmitter. When we had to replace the aerial the bloke doing the job tried to upsell us to a more expensive model in case the signal wasn't strong enough. I told him he wouldn't need his fancy meter to check. If he got up his ladder he would be able to see the transmitter!
If you have bought a HD TV, which most people have, then you want to watch all the programmes in HD, where possible. However if you want to watch a Beed regional programme you nearly always have to change channels to watch them. Whichever platform you are using, you will need to switch channel. However as I said earlier the Beeb manage to show old films and TV programmes which predate HD technology, on their HD channel, so how come they can't find a method to transmit the regional programmes on the HD channel. ITV have managed to switch over all their regions to their HD channel, but Merv's so called superior Beeb cannot.
One can actually watch BBC Regional News for Wales, Scotland, N Ireland plus London in HD using SKY / Freesat ... have you thought of moving ?
ps ... I was told by a BBC employee, not that one, that the production of Films in HD started as far back as 1978
pps ... On modern quality TVs non HD is upscaled to HD so there's very little difference between the two.
ppps ... could you possibly tell Merv that we are not allowed to have an outside aerial .
Last edited by Manoverboard on 03 Jul 2020, 14:28, edited 3 times in total.
If you have bought a HD TV, which most people have, then you want to watch all the programmes in HD, where possible. However if you want to watch a Beed regional programme you nearly always have to change channels to watch them. Whichever platform you are using, you will need to switch channel. However as I said earlier the Beeb manage to show old films and TV programmes which predate HD technology, on their HD channel, so how come they can't find a method to transmit the regional programmes on the HD channel. ITV have managed to switch over all their regions to their HD channel, but Merv's so called superior Beeb cannot.
One can actually watch BBC Regional News for Wales, Scotland, N Ireland plus London in HD using SKY / Freesat ... have you thought of moving ? I imagine you can ptobably get them on Freeview in HD for the above regions, but I have no intention of moving so still want Look North Leeds as my regional news, although they are as left wing as the national news mob.
ps ... I was told by a BBC employee, not that one, that the production of Films in HD started as far back as 1978 Maybe so but I dont think the old footie matches were in HD
pps ... On modern quality TVs non HD is upscaled to HD so there's very little difference between the two. Oh yes there is, according to my son who is a self professed expert. But anyway you still need to change channel to get the regional programme.
ppps ... could you possibly tell Merv that we are not allowed to have an outside aerial .
If you have bought a HD TV, which most people have, then you want to watch all the programmes in HD, where possible. However if you want to watch a Beed regional programme you nearly always have to change channels to watch them. Whichever platform you are using, you will need to switch channel. However as I said earlier the Beeb manage to show old films and TV programmes which predate HD technology, on their HD channel, so how come they can't find a method to transmit the regional programmes on the HD channel. ITV have managed to switch over all their regions to their HD channel, but Merv's so called superior Beeb cannot.
One can actually watch BBC Regional News for Wales, Scotland, N Ireland plus London in HD using SKY / Freesat ... have you thought of moving ?
ps ... I was told by a BBC employee, not that one, that the production of Films in HD started as far back as 1978
pps ... On modern quality TVs non HD is upscaled to HD so there's very little difference between the two.
ppps ... could you possibly tell Merv that we are not allowed to have an outside aerial .
If you have bought a HD TV, which most people have, then you want to watch all the programmes in HD, where possible. However if you want to watch a Beed regional programme you nearly always have to change channels to watch them. Whichever platform you are using, you will need to switch channel. However as I said earlier the Beeb manage to show old films and TV programmes which predate HD technology, on their HD channel, so how come they can't find a method to transmit the regional programmes on the HD channel. ITV have managed to switch over all their regions to their HD channel, but Merv's so called superior Beeb cannot.
One can actually watch BBC Regional News for Wales, Scotland, N Ireland plus London in HD using SKY / Freesat ... have you thought of moving ? I imagine you can ptobably get them on Freeview in HD for the above regions, but I have no intention of moving so still want Look North Leeds as my regional news, although they are as left wing as the national news mob.
ps ... I was told by a BBC employee, not that one, that the production of Films in HD started as far back as 1978 Maybe so but I dont think the old footie matches were in HD
pps ... On modern quality TVs non HD is upscaled to HD so there's very little difference between the two. Oh yes there is, according to my son who is a self professed expert. But anyway you still need to change channel to get the regional programme.
ppps ... could you possibly tell Merv that we are not allowed to have an outside aerial .
Such things are determined by the Council and they say that one cannot have an outside aerial for many different reasons, I guess the most common reason would relate to folks who live in a conservation area. The rules were written pre satellite so there's a gaping loop hole from which we were able to benefit.
We do have an ' outside ' toilet albeit it's fixed to the top of the chimney stack.
ps .. would you kindly pass on my thanks to Towny for passing on my message to you.
pps ... there are many many thatched properties in Darzet but ours isn't one of them
.
Last edited by Manoverboard on 03 Jul 2020, 14:57, edited 1 time in total.
Such things are determined by the Council and they say that one cannot have an outside aerial for many different reasons, I guess the most common reason would relate to folks who live in a conservation area. The rules were written pre satellite so there's a gaping loop hole from which we were able to benefit.
We do have an ' outside ' toilet albeit it's fixed to the top of the chimney stack.
ps .. would you kindly pass on my thanks to Towny for passing on my message to you.
pps ... there are many many thatched properties in Darzet but ours isn't one of them
pps ... On modern quality TVs non HD is upscaled to HD so there's very little difference between the two.
Oh yes there is, according to my son who is a self professed expert
Now that is really interesting because I did wonder who the hell that was who was sitting in my chair watching our telly. Well bugger me, it certainly is a small world
Would add that I cannot watch ' Laurel and Hardy ' in HD colour but I assumed it was the fault of the BBC. .
pps ... On modern quality TVs non HD is upscaled to HD so there's very little difference between the two.
Oh yes there is, according to my son who is a self professed expert
Now that is really interesting because I did wonder who the hell that was who was sitting in my chair watching our telly. Well bug*er me, it certainly is a small world
Would add that I cannot watch ' Laurel and Hardy ' in HD colour but I assumed it was the fault of the BBC. .
Merv will you tell Moby that my son will be happy to educate his eyesight to spot the difference, however he would require a 3 bedroom holiday let as part of his payment.
Merv will you tell Moby that my son will be happy to educate his eyesight to spot the difference, however he would require a 3 bedroom holiday let as part of his payment.
He'd best start with your telly then
Last edited by Manoverboard on 03 Jul 2020, 16:30, edited 1 time in total.
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