Post by Teddy Bear on Aug 19, 2008 18:13:00 GMT
Good Old Sky ;D
Sky outdoes the BBC on arts programming
Tuesday, August 19, 2008, 11:41 AM GMT [General]
Clever old Sky television seems determined to prove that it can outdo the BBC on viewer choice and even - unexpectedly enough - on what should constitute genuine public service broadcasting.
In October, it will launch a second arts channel dedicated to classical music and opera. This will be in addition to the present Sky Arts channel which was once known as Artsworld (whose founder was Jeremy Isaacs, former director of the Royal Opera House) before being bought out by Sky.
Rather disappointingly, Artsworld which had featured weekly world class opera productions, classic foreign films and uncompromisingly intelligent cultural programming, became, under Sky's ownership, a middlebrow channel whose main offering was pop concerts.
Now Sky itself is to fill the gap with a channel which will not only provide a service to established serious music fans, but will make it possible for neophytes to be exposed to opera and classical concert performances in the unintimidating surroundings of their own homes.
It is difficult to imagine a better definition of "public service broadcasting". (This is precisely the sort of role that BBC4 was originally designed to play. Whatever happened to that highminded goal? Did it get lost in the scramble for ratings?)
All of this just goes to show that it is possible for a commercial player to be more adept at niche upmarket programming than a publicly funded corporation. At this rate, there is going to be precious liittle left of the case for the BBC licence fee.
Sky outdoes the BBC on arts programming
Tuesday, August 19, 2008, 11:41 AM GMT [General]
Clever old Sky television seems determined to prove that it can outdo the BBC on viewer choice and even - unexpectedly enough - on what should constitute genuine public service broadcasting.
In October, it will launch a second arts channel dedicated to classical music and opera. This will be in addition to the present Sky Arts channel which was once known as Artsworld (whose founder was Jeremy Isaacs, former director of the Royal Opera House) before being bought out by Sky.
Rather disappointingly, Artsworld which had featured weekly world class opera productions, classic foreign films and uncompromisingly intelligent cultural programming, became, under Sky's ownership, a middlebrow channel whose main offering was pop concerts.
Now Sky itself is to fill the gap with a channel which will not only provide a service to established serious music fans, but will make it possible for neophytes to be exposed to opera and classical concert performances in the unintimidating surroundings of their own homes.
It is difficult to imagine a better definition of "public service broadcasting". (This is precisely the sort of role that BBC4 was originally designed to play. Whatever happened to that highminded goal? Did it get lost in the scramble for ratings?)
All of this just goes to show that it is possible for a commercial player to be more adept at niche upmarket programming than a publicly funded corporation. At this rate, there is going to be precious liittle left of the case for the BBC licence fee.