Is the Grand Prix deal the shape of things to come at the BBC?
Raymond Snoddy: The seven-year Grand Prix deal may be messy and less than ideal but it is the clearest indication so far of what a 20% cut in revenues will mean in reality for the BBC.…
Disgruntled petrol heads were quick to work through the implications that from next year the BBC will be showing only half the schedule of F1 races live with Sky showing the lot.
What next? The BBC showing only the first week of Wimbledon live? Or how about 20 minute editions of Newsnight. Think how much money could be saved if you just sat Paxman down to do a single interview and ditched the rest.
In comedy the process clearly started a long time ago, as we can see with Miranda. She may have a considerable screen presence but there is still only one of her. In the good old days the BBC could afford Two Ronnies and Morecambe as well as Wise.
The seven-year Grand Prix deal may be messy and less than ideal but it is the clearest indication so far of what a 20% cut in revenues will mean in reality for the BBC.
In terms of the overall future of the Corporation, and its sports coverage in particular, the deal agreed with Bernie Ecclestone is actually a smart one, which probably saves around £30 million.
For the first time, half of the Grand Prix races will disappear from free-to-air television and disappear behind a pay wall.
The real threat was that all of the races could have gone the same way, or that the BBC could have jettisoned another embarrassing £50 million commitment.
Those with long memories will recall that when the original deal was struck the BBC thought it was bidding against ITV for the rights. Lord Grade had actually withdrawn ITV from the battle naturally without informing its rivals.
Almost certainly cunning old Bernie has managed to maintain his £50 million with the help from Sky while giving some of the main races, including the British and Monaco contests, the oxygen of free-to-air television.
Sport is one of the BBC’s five future priorities but the plan is to concentrate on events that bring communities and nations together. Not even the fiercest fan of motor sport could claim it does that. Motor racing divides people as effectively as Marmite.
Supporters who don’t want to pay have been arguing that the Grand Prix should join the FA Cup final and Wimbledon as a protected event.
Despite very healthy ratings – a seven million peak for the Abu Dhabi event – motor sport hardly attracts the general public, those who are not usually interested in the sport.
The recent strikes by the National Union of Journalists at the BBC are another sign of growing tension at the Corporation as the drive for cost savings accelerates.
This life member of the NUJ who was even a branch chairman a long time ago is not in favour of journalists losing their jobs.
But it is still exasperating to see journalists outside Bush House holding a banner saying: BBC Kills World Service.
The World Service has not been killed. If anyone is responsible for killing anything at the service it is the Government which crudely cut its grant and closed down a number of language services.
Alas giving the BBC responsibility for the World Service, a real gain in terms of editorial independence, will mean further job losses once the World Service is integrated with BBC News.
By all means put pressure on the BBC to find as many of the redundant people as possible jobs elsewhere in the Corporation. In the current circumstances it seems unrealistic to campaign for no compulsory redundancies.
The management was equally slippery in claiming that “six out of seven” staff turned out for work on the strike day and that no services had been lost. No services maybe but plenty of programmes and who exactly was included in the definition of “staff.”
But at least the BBC director general Mark Thompson has at last called a halt to some of the wilder plans and rumours which were probably given a fair wind to terrify staff.
There will be no closures of local radio stations and no full or partial merger of the local stations and Radio 5 Live. BBC Parliament will stay on Freeview thereby avoiding a pitched battle with MPs and BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the Corporation, will not be privatised.
The BBC DG added that while service closures cannot yet be ruled out “the work so far suggests there’s a smarter way of making savings”.
Either way the BBC management will get a kicking. If there are “smarter” ways of making 20% savings than closing down services then how come they weren’t discovered years before.
The BBC Trust has promised that viewers and listeners will be consulted on the changes before they are implemented. It is doubtful whether the audience will be given any real say in what happens.
The proposals will be published probably next month or in October and unless there is something in there that could provoke a march on Broadcasting House that will probably be that.
Asked recently what he would do if he were appointed director general of the BBC, Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, said he believed it would be easy to make 20% savings.
Sir Martin would make sure the BBC operated as one organisation, getting rid of the separate silos – something that has of course been an aspiration for years.
In common with many politicians, Sir Martin notes how many teams from different parts of the Corporation come to interview him.
The WPP chief executive would stop all that sort of thing – which would of course mean even more journalists losing their jobs.
On balance BBC staff would be wise to stick to good old Mark Thompson even if it does mean 50% of Grand Prix races disappearing off BBC screens apart from highlights.