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BBC NEWS | Scotland | Highlands and Islands | Missing north beaches put on map

The BBC have revealed that viewers of Blue Peter are at a 50 year low, almost half of what they were over the previous 12 months. They point to the show being ‘sidelined’ by ‘The Weakest Link’. Ha. The irony. Blue Peter is now the weakest link!

Anyway, the point of this little story is surely relevancy. Firstly, is Blue Peter still relevant as a TV show targeted at 12-16 year olds, is that why viewer numbers are dropping? Are 12-16 year olds too busy on YouTube or watching on-demand content via their parent’s satellite/cable provider? Gone are the days when the BBC had a justifiable reason to charge a license fee, the days when they were the only player in town.

Secondly, children take offense at disloyalty, perhaps quicker than adults do. So when the BBC is patently disloyal to them by moving Blue Peter to a different start time (perhaps to a time when they are under parental instructions to get their homework done) can the BBC expect the children to be loyal to Blue Peter? It certainly smacks of ‘selling out’ when the BBC moves a niche TV show (broadcast for 12-16 year olds) to fit in the more mainstream ‘The Weakest Link’, a programme that nets them considerable sums of money over and above the standard TV License fee.

BBC, look to make your programming relevant to the target market, make it available at times when that target market can/wants to consume it. And for goodness sake, don’t expect loyalty from audiences you’re being disloyal to.

BBC News link

Ok, if Tesco want to sell bread and milk cheaper than Morrisons, that’s good for consumers. That’s competition and it can save consumers money.

But if the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV want to join forces and launch an on-demand video service that will allow consumers to download video content to consume when it suits them, does the fact that they’re not in competition with each other matter if consumers are getting a good service? I wouldn’t have thought so.

The Competition Commission disagrees and says that consumers would only benefit if the broadcasters are in competition with each other. So, the project has been halted. No on-demand video service for you.

As the broadcasters said in a joint statement;

“the real losers from this decision are British consumers”.

Anyone else watch the BBC iPlayer in bed on their iPhone?