http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030824/325/e6ri9.html EDINBURGH (Reuters) - BSkyB boss Tony Ball has launched a broadside against the BBC, proposing "radical surgery" on the publicly supported broadcaster.
The chief executive of Britain's largest pay-TV service, which is part of Rupert Murdoch's global media empire, said the BBC should be banned from buying the rights to U.S. and other foreign programming, and forced to sell the rights to some of its shows to commercial broadcasterssnip
The BBC, funded by a mandatory licence fee, has been under increased scrutiny due to an ongoing fight with the government over a BBC report which questioned the case for war in Iraq. The BBC's charter, which sets its level of funding, is up for review at the end of the year.
Under Ball's proposal, the BBC would auction off several "established" programmes to its commercial counterparts, with the proceeds rolled back into developing new shows. Each BBC channel would also have a specific remit and specific programming guidelines.I know this sounds like a spat between 2 huge media outlets, but I have a problem with any Murdoch entity attacking one of the last bastions of truth in the world of news reporting. If the BBC is gutted in any way by reforms that reduce its income flow, then news will inevitably suffer, and the BBC will be just another outlet for Hollywood dross in the futile race for viewers.
The BBC is publicly funded so that it can provide real Fair and Balanced reporting to the world. Maybe they should have trademarked the term first. The fact that Fox did is truly of Goebbels standard.
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