BBC Olympic question

[Adrian W]

With the technology available, why are there so many commentators and paid hangers on actually there, it seems to me their all on a paid jolly at the licence payers expense and 90% of what they’re doing could be done from a studio anywhere in the world.

Are they pissing the licence payers money up the wall, or am I just a miserable git.

[spikeyhead]

You're a miserable git.

I suspect that the BBC will provide the coverage for a lot of countries.

[ewenm]

The commentators often comment on something that doesn't appear on screen. If all they were doing was commentating on the stream from the host broadcaster then they'd miss all the little nuances going on. Plus you wouldn't get any interviews with the athletes which I find very interesting.

Far better value than Eastenders IMO

[qooqiiu]

The OP is right there are too many BBC bods there!

Pissing our money up the wall, nothing new there.

[anonymous-user]

They did the same with the Euro Championships. Despite no British team being there the BBC had the biggest and most expensive studios and the highest number of personnel on location of any broadcaster other than the host nations.

It basically stems from the unique way they are funded. Because they are funded by a compulsory tax and do not have to compete like all their rivals they are free to piss away our money as they see fit. Nice work if you can get it.

[ewenm]

Bit like them sending a correspondent to every football league match every weekend of the season.

[Meeja]

unrepentant said:

They did the same with the Euro Championships. Despite no British team being there the BBC had the biggest and most expensive studios and the highest number of personnel on location of any broadcaster other than the host nations.

Not wanting to provoke an argument here, but do you have the stats to back up the comment about biggest and most expensive studios?

Possibly agree on the number of personnel, but then if you compare the quality of the output of the BBC compared to others (Other countries as well as ITV) - then you can see where the extra personnell come into things, to give a first class product.

[escargot]

unrepentant said:

They did the same with the Euro Championships. Despite no British team being there the BBC had the biggest and most expensive studios and the highest number of personnel on location of any broadcaster other than the host nations.

How do you know that?

[Meeja]

ewenm said:

Bit like them sending a correspondent to every football league match every weekend of the season.

bear in mind that some of the personnel at league games (certainly the lower leagues) are there for the local BBC station providing coverage for the local area - and the BBC double them up by using them for national reports as well.

[ewenm]

Meeja said:

ewenm said:

Bit like them sending a correspondent to every football league match every weekend of the season.

bear in mind that some of the personnel at league games (certainly the lower leagues) are there for the local BBC station providing coverage for the local area - and the BBC double them up by using them for national reports as well.

Yeah, just making the point that the BBC spend a lot of money on a lot of things. I think the benefits are worth it for the quality of programming we get, even if I don't actually like the product in some areas (Eastenders, all football, for examples).

[Adrian W]

ewenm said:

Bit like them sending a correspondent to every football league match every weekend of the season.

Should be good when they get the F1 then!







Why don't i believe that

[Meeja]

ewenm said:

Meeja said:

ewenm said:

Bit like them sending a correspondent to every football league match every weekend of the season.

bear in mind that some of the personnel at league games (certainly the lower leagues) are there for the local BBC station providing coverage for the local area - and the BBC double them up by using them for national reports as well.

Yeah, just making the point that the BBC spend a lot of money on a lot of things. I think the benefits are worth it for the quality of programming we get, even if I don't actually like the product in some areas (Eastenders, all football, for examples).

Agreed. Cannot stand EastEnders. Happy for the BBC to spend perhaps more than others on some aspects of broadcasting (and maintain a decent standard), as it means that the competition have to keep up with the quality.

[Shaw Tarse]

Adrian W said:

With the technology available, why are there so many commentators and paid hangers on actually there, it seems to me their all on a paid jolly at the licence payers expense and 90% of what they’re doing could be done from a studio anywhere in the world.

Are they pissing the licence payers money up the wall, or am I just a miserable git.

To an extent I agree,they are on a jolly.
<BBC> Would you like to go & watch the Olympics,we'll pay your travel,accommodation,tickets in to venue & then pay your wages for going! <BBC>
But you could say the same about Top Gears presenters
<BBC> We'll pay you for dicking about in cars with your mates<BBC>
Would you turn it down?

[Deva Link]

Adrian W said:

With the technology available, why are there so many commentators and paid hangers on actually there, it seems to me their all on a paid jolly at the licence payers expense and 90% of what they’re doing could be done from a studio anywhere in the world.

Are they pissing the licence payers money up the wall, or am I just a miserable git.

I must admit that it had occured to me there are a huge number of BBC people there, but I don't really care.

Someone was talking about it the other day and said there are more BBC people than British athletes, but I bet if you add all the competitors support people then that must run to thousands.

[IforB]

I'm not really surprised there are hundreds of BBC people there. I'm sure a few of the high-ups are on jumkets, but I reckon the worker bees are running around like blue ar*ed flies. When you look at the volume of coverage (and yes I know much of it is feed from the hosts) they are virtually running 24hrs a day, they need teams of people, especially when you think that events are often held hundreds of miles apart, so they can't all sit in Beijig all the time.

Anyway, bah humbug to the knockers. I think they are doing a great job and I'm glad my licence fee is going on this rather than some pish like Eastenders or celebrity dog training gone wrong.

[tubbystu]

I believe the BBC head count in China is 400.

Given tomorrow they are producing 16 hours of continous coverage and a 1 hour evening highlights package that isn't an enormous number of people.

This is day 8 of the games + 1 extra for the opening, and they have another 8 to go.

[elster]

tubbystu said:

I believe the BBC head count in China is 400.

Given tomorrow they are producing 16 hours of continous coverage and a 1 hour evening highlights package that isn't an enormous number of people.

This is day 8 of the games + 1 extra for the opening, and they have another 8 to go.

Sounds like a fair number for the scale of the event.

Much rather money spent here, than the sh!tty local radio stations, sh!tty TV programs, Doctors, Eastenders, Bargain Hunt, Cash In The Attic, Songs of Praise, My Family.

Rather money spent on this than the cricket/football/rugby

[Silver993tt]

Meeja said:

unrepentant said:

They did the same with the Euro Championships. Despite no British team being there the BBC had the biggest and most expensive studios and the highest number of personnel on location of any broadcaster other than the host nations.

Not wanting to provoke an argument here, but do you have the stats to back up the comment about biggest and most expensive studios?

Possibly agree on the number of personnel, but then if you compare the quality of the output of the BBC compared to others (Other countries as well as ITV) - then you can see where the extra personnell come into things, to give a first class product.

Do you have the stats to back up the comment about the 'quality of the output of the BBC compared to others'? No, didn't thhink so. Just because you can't understand certain foreign languages doesn't mean their output is any less quality that that of the BBC. In fact, the German media provide an excellent service which IMO leaves the BBC highly embarrased particularly since they aren't funded by a fixed tax on their citizens unlike the BBC. The BBC sqaunder the license fee on these events for example by flying all of their staff to Beijing in business/first class (£4000 - £6000 a pop) and using 5 Star accomodation. There is no incentive for the BBC to provide value for money whatsoever. Hopefully within the next 10 years they'll have to start fending for themselves just like everyone else in the industry or be disbanded completely.

[Hedders]

IforB said:

I'm glad my licence fee is going on this rather than some pish like Eastenders or celebrity dog training gone wrong.

Please don't tell me i missed 'celebrity dog training gone wrong"

I trust it is available on DVD :P

[hornetrider]

I've actually been disappointed by the production of the BBC coverage for this event. Usually they are very slick indeed but this coverage seems littered with mistakes.