by With media attention firmly focused on BSkyB’s dealings with Jeremy Hunt and Alex Salmond, the BBC has been accused of using the diversion to ‘bury bad programmes’.
In the past, the uniquely funded broadcaster has prided itself on such gems as ‘We’ll Paint Your Lounge For You’, ‘Cooking Can Be Tricky’ and 137 series of the evergreen ‘Chirpy Scamps Cockneying in a Tower Block’.
But lately, owing to an ever-tightening annual budget of just £7.5bn, the BBC has restricted itself to making just one programme a year, and hundreds of spin-off shows to promote it.
“The BBC is clearly using Sky’s troubles as a smokescreen”, claimed industry insider Nigel Cloughton.
“It’s unacceptable for a national broadcaster to produce less than an hour of original programming in a 365 day period.”
BBC and BskyB
Last year, the BBC blew it’s entire budget on two hours of ‘Sci-fi in a Phone Box’, and hundreds of accompanying cartoons, toys, guest appearances and apps for iPads.
Buoyed by the surprise success of a show that has only been popular for around 60 years, the BBC is currently focussing its output on the 38th series of ‘Sugar Picks a Bell-end’.
Cloughton believes that the BBC is being complacent. He claims that it ‘isn’t enough’ to settle for matching Sky’s ability to show re-runs of well-worn formats: it should be striving to make original output.
“I think the BBC realises this, and they’ve taken a real risk with their latest show”, claimed Cloughton. “It’s a bit like X Factor, but the chairs can turn round.”
Cloughton can be seen talking at great length about how good ‘I Sing At Chairs’ is, on tonight’s Panorama, the 10 o’clock news and the Saturday Morning Repeats and Omelettes Show.
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