> The BBC is preparing to shut down its traditional television and radio broadcasts as it becomes an online-only service over the next decade, according to the director general, Tim Davie.
>
> “Imagine a world that is internet-only, where broadcast TV and radio are being switched off and choice is infinite,” he said. “A switch-off of broadcast will and should happen over time, and we should be active in planning for it.”
>
> Davie said the BBC was committed to live broadcasting but Britons should prepare for the closure of many standalone channels and radio stations by the 2030s: “Over time this will mean fewer linear broadcast services and a more tailored joined-up online offer.”
>
> The future will involve “bringing the BBC together in a single offer”, possibly in the form of one app combining everything from television programmes to local news coverage and educational material. This could ultimately see the end of distinct brands such as BBC One or BBC Radio 4, although the programmes they currently air could continue online.
They’ve already tried this with BBC3 and it worked as well as a chocolate teapot. This would be an utterly ridiculous idea to actually follow through on.
But barrelling ahead with dumb ideas despite evidence its dumb is the Tory way, so I’m not surprised that this Tory director general would do something like this.
Won’t have much right to licence fee then, so who’s paying for it?
I like a lot of what the Beeb do but yeah, I can’t see this happening even by 2030. There will still be people without broadband for whatever reason by then and I’m not sure how many people will accept broadband fault = no BBC services.
Cool, now fuck off with your license fees
What are they going to do with the 10% of the population who do not even have access to broadband, much less those who have not purchased it?
It is the national broadcaster. It has a responsibility to the public. This is not how you fulfill that responsibility.
The fck’s need to stop licence fee..
BBC are crook’s and in these hard times should freeze TV licence for all. And start to sort themselves out..
I feel like this tyrannical company is so backwards it’s 2022 and we still get bullied by them with letter of threats..
Freedom is a illusion by the powerful
I got a letter today saying I can expect a TV licence person coming around on the 6th… Of November.
The same crowd calling for the BBC to be defunded are going to be outraged by this.
So what happens to car radios if it goes online-only? Or am I misunderstanding?
It’s already bad enough that you now need to sign in to use the BBC News App.
This will be so they can charge you a license fee if you have broadband.
I don’t liek it, but I could definitely see their terrestrial output reduce down to just BBC one and radio one with everything else going the online only route.
So we won’t have to pay a TV license then?
I guess they will be eyeing up a Router and Modem license!
Probably a good move (and an excuse) to getting rid of the licencing fees and eventual privatisation.
If you read his actual quotes, he doesn’t quite say that
He says they’re preparing for that eventuality, not that it’s what they’re going to do
Since, as that article states, **the average age of a BBC One viewer is 60**, I can’t see anyone turning off the terrestrial signal for another 20 years
Anyone confused by this is missing the point. The worse the BBC do, the easier it is for the government to sell them off.
Why is he concerning himself with the next decade? Labour must clean up the mess that is the now tory BBC.
“Imagine a world that is internet-only, where broadcast TV and radio are being switched off and choice is infinite,”
So choice is infinite unless you want to watch on broadcast TV…
I am not even bothered about the plans, it probably is going end up that way eventually but why do we have so many people in this country in positions of power who say stupid contradictory sentences.
Yeah, online-only isn’t going to happen. And certainly not in 8 years time.
No more BBC stations on car radios, for example?
Just an ex-fizzy drinks salesman and Tory goon talking shite.
As someone who only watches tv online anyway… They have a fucking long way to go.
As someone who moved out of the UK – it would be amazing if the BBC went global. Trying to use a VPN and iPlayer is shit
Stupid. Putting the cart before the horse. I live in an urban area that only gets ADSL, typical range being 2mbps to 8mbps. Iplayer is decent tbf, but ITV player buffers regularly. We’re not Romania.
Fully turning off all TV and radio also sounds bad. What about in emergencies? If broadband and mobile data are inaccessible (due to infrastructure damage or interference due to the weather or other signals), it makes sense to have TV available to spread vital news. A lot of people also put the TV or radio on while browsing the internet and keep track of things that way – pretty impractical to do that all on one PC screen or on one broadband connection and people are way less likely to use the TV and radio channels if they have to log onto a website every time, instead of just pressing one button to turn on the TV/radio.
It also means all radio will require monthly payments, whereas now it’s a one-time cost to buy a radio. If someone’s a builder and listens to the radio, maybe they use machinery that has a signal that interferes with wifi (eg bluetooth). Not an engineer so idk if machinery signals can interfere with 4/5G or vice versa.
And what about car radios? Most cars don’t have the internet built in and even if you start mandating it for new cars, the old cars won’t be replaced for decades.
And what about old radios? Throw them on a scrapheap?
Oh good! Does that mean full fibre will be rolled out to the rest of the country not yet having it then?
Thought not.
[deleted]
Hopefully subscription based so I don’t have to buy it.
As long as the BBC still exists, there will always be an ’emergency’ transponder for freesat and freeview. It would be insane otherwise. It may not have a regional version of your local news and it may be SD only or perhaps HD only, but it will still be there. And i can’t see traditional radio being completley turned off either.
Will the Beeb stop sending me threatening letters by then?
Nobody wants to pay the licence fee for their shit content so now they want an enforced tax on broadband.
Fuck off.
If it moves it to a paid model rather than a tax, then it is a good thing.
The news went the way of Sky News, and the programs went the way of the lazy Mrs Browns Boys and the dancing competition and the likes, so there is nothing of any quality to save anymore
And if they can remove ICE cars for sale in a decade, then making the BBC online is a walk in the park
And they will add it to your broadband bill no doubt so you have no choice to pay it
As ever it seems the Beeb has no clue as online only is a terrible idea. I support IPTV and having an online option but to make it the only avenue is the worst thing. The internet is prone to more blackouts than standard DVB-T2 and Satellite ever was. And then you have quality issues, random lags, nothing will be as good standard TV.
The national broadcaster will not be *checks notes* broadcasting?
>“Imagine a world that is internet-only, where broadcast TV and radio are being switched off and choice is infinite,”
Sounds like literally the opposite of having a choice?
33 comments
> The BBC is preparing to shut down its traditional television and radio broadcasts as it becomes an online-only service over the next decade, according to the director general, Tim Davie.
>
> “Imagine a world that is internet-only, where broadcast TV and radio are being switched off and choice is infinite,” he said. “A switch-off of broadcast will and should happen over time, and we should be active in planning for it.”
>
> Davie said the BBC was committed to live broadcasting but Britons should prepare for the closure of many standalone channels and radio stations by the 2030s: “Over time this will mean fewer linear broadcast services and a more tailored joined-up online offer.”
>
> The future will involve “bringing the BBC together in a single offer”, possibly in the form of one app combining everything from television programmes to local news coverage and educational material. This could ultimately see the end of distinct brands such as BBC One or BBC Radio 4, although the programmes they currently air could continue online.
They’ve already tried this with BBC3 and it worked as well as a chocolate teapot. This would be an utterly ridiculous idea to actually follow through on.
But barrelling ahead with dumb ideas despite evidence its dumb is the Tory way, so I’m not surprised that this Tory director general would do something like this.
Won’t have much right to licence fee then, so who’s paying for it?
I like a lot of what the Beeb do but yeah, I can’t see this happening even by 2030. There will still be people without broadband for whatever reason by then and I’m not sure how many people will accept broadband fault = no BBC services.
Cool, now fuck off with your license fees
What are they going to do with the 10% of the population who do not even have access to broadband, much less those who have not purchased it?
It is the national broadcaster. It has a responsibility to the public. This is not how you fulfill that responsibility.
The fck’s need to stop licence fee..
BBC are crook’s and in these hard times should freeze TV licence for all. And start to sort themselves out..
I feel like this tyrannical company is so backwards it’s 2022 and we still get bullied by them with letter of threats..
Freedom is a illusion by the powerful
I got a letter today saying I can expect a TV licence person coming around on the 6th… Of November.
The same crowd calling for the BBC to be defunded are going to be outraged by this.
So what happens to car radios if it goes online-only? Or am I misunderstanding?
It’s already bad enough that you now need to sign in to use the BBC News App.
This will be so they can charge you a license fee if you have broadband.
I don’t liek it, but I could definitely see their terrestrial output reduce down to just BBC one and radio one with everything else going the online only route.
So we won’t have to pay a TV license then?
I guess they will be eyeing up a Router and Modem license!
Probably a good move (and an excuse) to getting rid of the licencing fees and eventual privatisation.
If you read his actual quotes, he doesn’t quite say that
He says they’re preparing for that eventuality, not that it’s what they’re going to do
Since, as that article states, **the average age of a BBC One viewer is 60**, I can’t see anyone turning off the terrestrial signal for another 20 years
Anyone confused by this is missing the point. The worse the BBC do, the easier it is for the government to sell them off.
Why is he concerning himself with the next decade? Labour must clean up the mess that is the now tory BBC.
“Imagine a world that is internet-only, where broadcast TV and radio are being switched off and choice is infinite,”
So choice is infinite unless you want to watch on broadcast TV…
I am not even bothered about the plans, it probably is going end up that way eventually but why do we have so many people in this country in positions of power who say stupid contradictory sentences.
Yeah, online-only isn’t going to happen. And certainly not in 8 years time.
No more BBC stations on car radios, for example?
Just an ex-fizzy drinks salesman and Tory goon talking shite.
As someone who only watches tv online anyway… They have a fucking long way to go.
As someone who moved out of the UK – it would be amazing if the BBC went global. Trying to use a VPN and iPlayer is shit
Stupid. Putting the cart before the horse. I live in an urban area that only gets ADSL, typical range being 2mbps to 8mbps. Iplayer is decent tbf, but ITV player buffers regularly. We’re not Romania.
Fully turning off all TV and radio also sounds bad. What about in emergencies? If broadband and mobile data are inaccessible (due to infrastructure damage or interference due to the weather or other signals), it makes sense to have TV available to spread vital news. A lot of people also put the TV or radio on while browsing the internet and keep track of things that way – pretty impractical to do that all on one PC screen or on one broadband connection and people are way less likely to use the TV and radio channels if they have to log onto a website every time, instead of just pressing one button to turn on the TV/radio.
It also means all radio will require monthly payments, whereas now it’s a one-time cost to buy a radio. If someone’s a builder and listens to the radio, maybe they use machinery that has a signal that interferes with wifi (eg bluetooth). Not an engineer so idk if machinery signals can interfere with 4/5G or vice versa.
And what about car radios? Most cars don’t have the internet built in and even if you start mandating it for new cars, the old cars won’t be replaced for decades.
And what about old radios? Throw them on a scrapheap?
Oh good! Does that mean full fibre will be rolled out to the rest of the country not yet having it then?
Thought not.
[deleted]
Hopefully subscription based so I don’t have to buy it.
As long as the BBC still exists, there will always be an ’emergency’ transponder for freesat and freeview. It would be insane otherwise. It may not have a regional version of your local news and it may be SD only or perhaps HD only, but it will still be there. And i can’t see traditional radio being completley turned off either.
Will the Beeb stop sending me threatening letters by then?
Nobody wants to pay the licence fee for their shit content so now they want an enforced tax on broadband.
Fuck off.
If it moves it to a paid model rather than a tax, then it is a good thing.
The news went the way of Sky News, and the programs went the way of the lazy Mrs Browns Boys and the dancing competition and the likes, so there is nothing of any quality to save anymore
And if they can remove ICE cars for sale in a decade, then making the BBC online is a walk in the park
And they will add it to your broadband bill no doubt so you have no choice to pay it
As ever it seems the Beeb has no clue as online only is a terrible idea. I support IPTV and having an online option but to make it the only avenue is the worst thing. The internet is prone to more blackouts than standard DVB-T2 and Satellite ever was. And then you have quality issues, random lags, nothing will be as good standard TV.
The national broadcaster will not be *checks notes* broadcasting?
>“Imagine a world that is internet-only, where broadcast TV and radio are being switched off and choice is infinite,”
Sounds like literally the opposite of having a choice?