[opendtv] BBC's job cuts
- From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:21:43 -0700
The UK is a country of about 60 million individuals. The U.S. is a country
of 300+ million individuals.
I've previously talked here about the market-distorting forces at work
behind the fine work of the BBC.
Last night, I first heard about the impending BBC job cuts while dropping
off to sleep. 2800 jobs to be let go, mostly in news and public-affairs
programming.
And I thought, are there 2800 people working at the four U.S. tv networks?
(excluding local stations, since the BBC has about the same degree of local
programming as does a mid-size U.S. local cable-tv offering.)
I think you could 'zero-out" U.S. network tv employment, and affect fewer
than 2800 individuals. That's effectively all of U.S. terrestrial network
broadcasting, not just the principal "networks" as pertains to the Beeb.
And, the U.S. if five times the size of the U.K. (in population; the U.K is
about the size of California)
It's a very good "jobs program" to have government-owned broadcasters with
the licence fee paid by the "citizenry."
Market forces ARE at work here; news and public affairs BBC programming
doesn't have much of a off-shore market. It's just that the BBC uses
licence fees to prevent any effective competition, and they use licence fees
to discourage the development of sustainable competitive programming.
John Willkie jwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.EtherGuidesystems.com / www.OurEPG.com
Skype jmwillkie / Lab ++52 664 290-7526 / Mobile +1 619 770-5760
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