| I cant decide if this is a good thing or not. State broadcasters like the BBC are tied to conditions not normally imposed on privately owned broadcasters. The BBC has probably the worlds best TV archive in the world, they did alot of the digitisation down at BBC Maida Vale. I wonder when looking at Britbox if this is a backdoor/stealth way for Channel 4 to access & commercialise BBC archives when the BBC cant really commercialise its archive, and once that threshhold is crossed there is no going back unlike C4 doing it. Sure the BBC sells stuff abroad like Topgear when it was good, the Clarkson, May & Hammond years but how do you get out of a tight contract without penalty other than get sacked for hitting someone and then earn massively more working for Amazon, the BBC didnt earn their true potential in commercial ventures. David Attenborough's stuff is a joint venture with US documentary channels and is now more a voice over role with an international team than a wholey complete BBC venture. But Channel 4 & Film4 have also invested in some pretty good films to rival Hollywood output, so this might be a good thing for Channel 4 & Film 4, ____if____ they are tied up together in this privitisation. Does anyone know? Even Tory Chancellor George Osbourne got a special mention in one of the Star Wars film credits, because of the tax perks the Govt gave to help lure Hollywood overseas to foreign studio's & locations, so I dont think this will be a bad thing especially with China investing heavily in the UK. |