Good Evening and welcome to the BBC Referendum Special. The polls are due to close in five minutes. We have journalists ready to bring you the results as they’re announced from the counts around the country along with experts to provide analysis, as only the BBC can. But first, here’s John with an overview of the Referendum Campaigns.
Thank you David.
After the Prime Minister, David Cameron, successfully won the referenda on the Voting system, Scottish Independence and the EU, he instituted a policy that controversial subjects should be put to the British public in Referenda. Today we’ve had the first of these referenda, which concerns the future of the BBC.
For a number of years, various groups have been suggesting that we no longer require a public service broadcaster funded by the license fee. That commercial companies can provide content as good, if not better, than the BBC and that more and more people are watching programmes on-line. Internet streaming and digital decoders make it easier to charge people for what they watch and provide bundles of services tailored to individual needs. It is further argued that the BBC, shorn of its public service charter, could harness its global brand to become a true international broadcasting giant. The counter argument is that without commercial pressures, the BBC is able to innovate and create programmes in a way that simply isn’t possible for a private company, as well as catering for a number of minority audiences.
So the stage was set for a referendum on the future of the BBC. The question was should it be Privatized and turned into a Commercial Company or remain a Public Service Broadcaster – abbreviated to Private and Public. The campaign group Free TV, who supported the Private option, got off to a flying start as they unveiled their Battle Bus emblazoned with the slogan “We give 150 pounds a year to the BBC. Let’s give it to Netflix instead!”
On the other side, the Our BBC campaign got off to a more rocky start. Their first big publicity stunt involved Mitch Benn re-recording his song “I’m Proud of the BBC” with a group of BBC presenters and other celebrities. Unfortunately this hit problems after a Court Injunction, brought by the Free TV group, claimed that the BBC couldn’t report the Referendum in an impartial manner if many of its staff were actively taking part in the campaign. The injunction was lifted a couple of days later and the song recorded with fewer BBC staff involved.
After this, Our BBC failed to take the initiative and remained on the defensive for the rest of the campaign. Free TV was helped by a number of newspapers reprinting stories about the BBC covering up sex scandals and allegations of BBC staff being rampant drug users, including several presenters of children’s programmes. In spite of this, opinion polls have shown that Public has kept a strong lead over Private during the whole campaign.
Thank you John. As with other referenda, we are unable to bring you results of exit polls.
In other referendum news, Nicola Sturgeon has today announced that, in the event of the BBC being privatized, Scotland would set up its own public service broadcaster. Plaid Cymru have also released a statement expressing concern that a privatized BBC would no longer produce welsh language programmes and have requested that the Government should subsidize the cost of such programmes.
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Thank you David.
After the Prime Minister, David Cameron, successfully won the referenda on the Voting system, Scottish Independence and the EU, he instituted a policy that controversial subjects should be put to the British public in Referenda. Today we’ve had the first of these referenda, which concerns the future of the BBC.
For a number of years, various groups have been suggesting that we no longer require a public service broadcaster funded by the license fee. That commercial companies can provide content as good, if not better, than the BBC and that more and more people are watching programmes on-line. Internet streaming and digital decoders make it easier to charge people for what they watch and provide bundles of services tailored to individual needs. It is further argued that the BBC, shorn of its public service charter, could harness its global brand to become a true international broadcasting giant. The counter argument is that without commercial pressures, the BBC is able to innovate and create programmes in a way that simply isn’t possible for a private company, as well as catering for a number of minority audiences.
So the stage was set for a referendum on the future of the BBC. The question was should it be Privatized and turned into a Commercial Company or remain a Public Service Broadcaster – abbreviated to Private and Public. The campaign group Free TV, who supported the Private option, got off to a flying start as they unveiled their Battle Bus emblazoned with the slogan “We give 150 pounds a year to the BBC. Let’s give it to Netflix instead!”
On the other side, the Our BBC campaign got off to a more rocky start. Their first big publicity stunt involved Mitch Benn re-recording his song “I’m Proud of the BBC” with a group of BBC presenters and other celebrities. Unfortunately this hit problems after a Court Injunction, brought by the Free TV group, claimed that the BBC couldn’t report the Referendum in an impartial manner if many of its staff were actively taking part in the campaign. The injunction was lifted a couple of days later and the song recorded with fewer BBC staff involved.
After this, Our BBC failed to take the initiative and remained on the defensive for the rest of the campaign. Free TV was helped by a number of newspapers reprinting stories about the BBC covering up sex scandals and allegations of BBC staff being rampant drug users, including several presenters of children’s programmes. In spite of this, opinion polls have shown that Public has kept a strong lead over Private during the whole campaign.
Thank you John. As with other referenda, we are unable to bring you results of exit polls.
In other referendum news, Nicola Sturgeon has today announced that, in the event of the BBC being privatized, Scotland would set up its own public service broadcaster. Plaid Cymru have also released a statement expressing concern that a privatized BBC would no longer produce welsh language programmes and have requested that the Government should subsidize the cost of such programmes.
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This clip has been brought to you by skybbc.com. To see more, please subscribe to the Sky BBC Political History Package.