BBC Thinking of Canceling Sky At Night 171
Smivs writes "A year after veteran presenter Sir Patrick Moore died, the BBC are discussing pulling this iconic program. This has unleashed a torrent of criticism from fans of the monthly science-based astronomy show. There is an on-line petition for those who want to have their say."
Re:Nooo!!! (Score:5, Informative)
It costs very little to produce Sky at Night. I worked on the show doing computer graphics over a decade ago; there's an old joke about the official BBC tartan being "small checks" and I can attest to that. The schedule was one 15-minute show a month involving a two-man talking-heads format in a tiny cubbyhole studio plus an annual "spectacular" with Sir Patrick making a visit to, say, Meteor Crater or a famous observatory like Siding Springs. Each studio program took a day to record, maybe three days production, scripting etc. There wasn't much else the BBC produced that cost as little per show.
Re:Nooo!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Yep. The BBC isn't supposed to be chasing ratings, it was created to inform/educate* the public so this is exactly the sort of program the they're supposed to be producing. The low on budget, high on imagination approach has brought some truly great TV to the world. It also attracts people like Patrick Moore and David Attenborough who are in it for the passion, not the paycheck.
[*] Yes, those are the exact words used in the BBC charter: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/about/how_we_govern/charter.pdf [bbc.co.uk]
(nb. For the Americans: there's no adverts on the BBC so audience figures don't translate into profits).
Re:Nooo!!! (Score:3, Informative)
Since the BBC makes its money from the license fee, not from advertising, it has no concept of "return" for a particular program. And, while viewer figures are not totally ignored, it is regarded as having some mandate to put on programs for minority groups not well catered for by commercial TV - such as, for example, amateur astronomers. On the other hand, TFA gives no idea what viewer figures actually are. If everybody has stopped watching after Moore died, it makes sense to drop the program. If viewer figures are holding up, it makes no more sense to drop it now than at any time over the past decades.