…if they go mad and hire fifteen more Jonathan Rosses they’ll blow the whole wad!Exactly who believes that the leaked licence fee settlement is bad news for the BBC? Why BBC insiders, of course. Oh, and the NUJ and BECTU.
In the real world, a 3% revenue rise for the next couple of years is jam today. The government’s main measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, was running at 2.7% in November. The Bank of England’s target is still 2%. Still if they go mad and hire fifteen more Jonathan Rosses they’ll blow the whole wad!
Over at ITV they’re facing a revenue drop of 12.5% this year…Merry Xmas.
2 responses to “Off licence”
Fair comment from your usual standpoint Adrian. However, speaking as a BBC insider, I would point out that 2.7% is consumer items RPI – all items RPI is 3.9% (and all items minus mortgage interest payments 3.4) And even without Jonathan Ross, inflation in broadcasting – for all of us – tends to run ahead of RPI.
And of course the government aren’t insisting ITV or any other broadcaster relocate a substantial part of their operations to another region of the country and to bear the costs of digital switchover…
Finally, I don’t follow the logic of saying the BBC’s funding should be cut back because advertising is falling. “If commercial companies are in trouble we better drag the BBC down too”?? I prefer Victor Keegan’s argument you won’t be surprised to hear…
Richard – I’m not arguing that ITV‘s ad-related woes should be visited on the BBC. It may be less than you wanted, but surveying the media scene right now, a couple of years with guaranteed 3% revenue growth doesn’t seem like the end of the world. I wish higher education’s revenue streams looked so positive and predictable. Just don’t go spending it all on Ant and Dec!