"The BBC HD channel will be closed, replaced with a high definition broadcast of BBC2."It's only a proposal still, but is pretty certain to happen which is not great for those who enjoy the ocassional bit of BBC4 or even BBC3 in high def. I guess it also means probably the end of the BBC's 3D coverage of live events like Wimbledon - surely they wouldn't broadcast it in 2D on one HD channel and 3D on the other one?
And as a footnote to the demise of BBC HD: last month the head of BBC HD, Danielle Nagler, left the corporation and her role was merged into other posts.
10 comments:
This is actually really bad news, as some great BBC 4 content is sometimes also broadcast on BBC HD. For me BBC 4 has pretty much all of the last remaining good BBC content, so to lose that in HD would really be a shame.
On the plus side we would get The Great British Bake Off in HD.
"1.Continuing the shift away from legacy distribution systems to digital: with a phased reduction of broadcast Red Button services down to one stream on every platform after the Olympics;"
page 11
http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/dqf/pdf/dqf_detailedproposals.pdf
"2.1.7 Reductions in transmission spend
Red Button services, reducing the number of interactive streams to one across all platforms and exploring
the longer-term transition to IPTV technologies
page 26
http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/dqf/pdf/dqf_detailedproposals.pdf
I think the idea they have is that that BBC4 will 'feed' BBC2 (similarly to BBC3 'feeding' BBC1) so hopefully the best of BBC4 will show up on BBC2 HD.
Biggest loss for me - not seeing the acerbic Victoria Cohen on Only Connect in glorious HD.
just means that Top Gear moves over to BBC2 HD....no problem at all.
it's ok as long as BBC3 & 4 content is available to stream on iPlayer in HD
Bad news. If now we'd lose the fades and wilfred which I'm enjoying at the moment.
I haven't yet read the full consultation paper (will do so when feeling sufficiently strong). I still can't quite fathom the precise implications for BBC4 where there are messages about retaining the budget for overseas drama but clearly the degree of home produced drama starting out on BBC4 is going to fall. That means either it won't be made in HD or, more positively, that it will be shown on BBC2 (and in HD). The whole nature of 'feeder' channels is one that needs to be probed in the consultation. But on the whole the closure of BBC HD is almost certainly retrograde and will mean that some arts and factual programmes won't be available in HD (or won't be available untul they are shown on BBC2).
The whole issue of hackiing away at one of the few institutions of which we should rightly remain proud makes me unbearably depressed (although it has to be put in the context of other even more unforgiveable hacking which is going on in the name of austerity) but I could become highly political at this point which is probably best avoided on this blog!
Why do we bother with a license fee?
Many reports on the BBC changes state that no channels are being axed - the Guardian's Media Talk podcast, for example, completely failed to mention that the BBC's premiere and ground-breaking HD channel was being killed off.
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