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God forbid we get to keep more of our own money

Thursday, 21st August 2008

Monday.

Lord (Chris) Smith, New Labour arts and quango factotum and the voice of the liberal establishment:

Smith, now the chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority...has been convinced by Channel 4's argument that it will need assistance to the tune of more than £100m a year.
He said that if it came down to a choice between giving top-sliced licence fee money to Channel 4 to spend on public service broadcasting output, or BBC3, he would choose the former.
"If I was secretary of state and I had £100m of licence fee money to deploy, with public service broadcasting values in mind, would I spend it on BBC3, or would I spend it on helping Channel 4? I think that's a very difficult question for the BBC to answer," he said.

Smith added that in his view the funds would have to go to Channel 4 because it is "absolutely" more important than BBC3 when it comes to fulfilling the goals of public service broadcasting in the UK.
..."I believe they are a very important part of the broadcasting landscape. We must look seriously at where that help could come from."

Thursday.

From the Guardian:

Channel 4 is understood to have decided to bring back Celebrity Big Brother to its main network next year.
Discussions have been taking place with the programme's producer Endemol for some months, and Channel 4 executives have now agreed to bring the show back, MediaGuardian.co.uk has learned.

Ah yes, the fantastic public service broadcasting of Channel 4.

Don't you just love the mindset of Lord Smith? The license fee funded BBC3 is a pile of crap. Instead of drawing the appropriate conclusion - that the BBC is clearly getting too much money and wasting it on rubbish - he thinks it should go to another channel built on ratings-chasing crap.

It would never cross his or his ilk's mind that the case for funding Channel 4 is as bad as the case for funding BBC3, and the answer to the 'very difficult question' is not to take the £100m in the first place.

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David

August 21st, 2008 5:04pm

With Sky launching its second channel for the arts in October, more people should question what the heck the licence fee is for.

anthony a

August 21st, 2008 8:35pm

Is Channel 4 trying to push the issue now before the next election so that they get a sympathetic Labour minister making the decision rather than a more sceptical Tory?

Lee Jakeman

August 21st, 2008 11:44pm

It's not our money, you see. It's Their money. We should be on our knees, expressing our heartfelt thanks and gratitude that They're not keeping all of it. I mean, think about it. Where would we be without Them?