Post by Teddy Bear on Jan 25, 2008 1:12:46 GMT
Despite claims that they have to reduce output and get rid of staff because of shortfalls in their license fee revenue, the BBC have commissioned new logos for BBC3, a channel that is hardly watched, to the tune of £400,000.
If you knew nothing else about the Beeb,, this one piece of information would tell you everything.
If you knew nothing else about the Beeb,, this one piece of information would tell you everything.
£400,000 for new BBC3 logos - that's £1 for every viewer
by PAUL REVOIR - Last updated at 16:07pm on 23rd January 2008
To BBC chiefs they are exciting symbols of a world where people seamlessly move between TV, internet and mobile phone.
But to hundreds of its staff who are facing the axe, these "user friendly" images, represent a complete waste of almost £400,000.
Yesterday the corporation revealed a new set of logos for its little watched channel BBC3, costing more than a pound for every viewer.
While the channel only pulls in on average about 2 per cent of the TV audience, the corporation decided to splash the cash on a revamp.
Despite the fact politicians and senior broadcasters like John Humphrys called for BBC3 to be axed, it has just spent another £380,000.
This comes on top of the £116million it cost licence fee payers to run last year for a fraction of the viewers BBC1 and BBC2 get.
Many staff are angry that some of the 1,800 jobs being axed by the corporation, could have been saved with the money lavished on the new look.
Outcry: The swimming hippos was just one of a series of BBC advertisements which were earlier criticised for their high cost
People like Humphrys had called for corporation chiefs to pull the channel so as to save swingeing cuts to news and current affairs shows.
MPs also recently said the case for keeping the Corporation's little-watched channels "has not yet been wholly justified".
Yesterday Conservative MP Philip Davies who sits on the culture, media and sport select committee branded the logo change a complete waste of money.
He said: "I just think it is absolutely ridiculous for the BBC to be persevering with this channel anyway, without throwing good money after bad at it.
"It is quite ironic that they are finding money to spend on things like this while at the same time pleading poverty. I am sure all the people at the BBC that face losing their jobs because it does not have enough money, will be raising their eyebrows."
BBC3, aimed at younger audiences, is believed to get on average about 300,000 viewers per show.
The channel spends almost £180,000 an hour on its programmes, double what BBC1 spends. Yet it gets just a tenth of BBC1's figures.
The expensive new look comes after BBC1 spent £1.2 million on a new on-screen identity and BBC2 invested £700,000 on a new look over the last couple of years.
Controller of the channel Danny Cohen claimed that the new logos would work out at about £49 a showing.
The channel has been criticised for its lurid programme titles like F*** Off I'm a Hairy Woman and Sex Talk with Mum and Dad.
BBC bosses were heralding yesterday's launch as the "rebirth" of the channel, perhaps aimed at silencing it critics of the past.
The corporation says it is making BBC3 its first multi-platform channel, simulcasting all programmes on the internet.
Interactivity will be placed at the heart of programmes and there will be regular slots for user-generated content from viewers.
Revamped news coverage and a new emphasis on drama and entertainment were unveiled, plus big name signings such as Lily Allen.
Cohen says BBC3 will be "more than just a TV channel" to its target audience of 16 to 34-year-olds.
He said: "The thinking behind this re-brand is that we have, in effect, created a BBC3 world in which our content can move seamlessly between TV, online and mobile."
The controversial programming has not disappeared from the schedules, despite the rebrand.
A "social experiment" in which 10 single mothers and their children move into a house together is titled Pramface Mansion.
A Lost Innocence season of documentaries about young people includes My Body For Bucks, following a 19-year-old who becomes a lap dancer in order to pay her university tuition fees.
It also includes Page 3 Teens, in which a 17-year-old fulfils her ambition to become a glamour model; and Britain's Youngest Grannies.
The channel also revealed it will be showing a sitcom written by a 19-year-old university student called Tim Dawson.
by PAUL REVOIR - Last updated at 16:07pm on 23rd January 2008
To BBC chiefs they are exciting symbols of a world where people seamlessly move between TV, internet and mobile phone.
But to hundreds of its staff who are facing the axe, these "user friendly" images, represent a complete waste of almost £400,000.
Yesterday the corporation revealed a new set of logos for its little watched channel BBC3, costing more than a pound for every viewer.
While the channel only pulls in on average about 2 per cent of the TV audience, the corporation decided to splash the cash on a revamp.
Despite the fact politicians and senior broadcasters like John Humphrys called for BBC3 to be axed, it has just spent another £380,000.
This comes on top of the £116million it cost licence fee payers to run last year for a fraction of the viewers BBC1 and BBC2 get.
Many staff are angry that some of the 1,800 jobs being axed by the corporation, could have been saved with the money lavished on the new look.
Outcry: The swimming hippos was just one of a series of BBC advertisements which were earlier criticised for their high cost
People like Humphrys had called for corporation chiefs to pull the channel so as to save swingeing cuts to news and current affairs shows.
MPs also recently said the case for keeping the Corporation's little-watched channels "has not yet been wholly justified".
Yesterday Conservative MP Philip Davies who sits on the culture, media and sport select committee branded the logo change a complete waste of money.
He said: "I just think it is absolutely ridiculous for the BBC to be persevering with this channel anyway, without throwing good money after bad at it.
"It is quite ironic that they are finding money to spend on things like this while at the same time pleading poverty. I am sure all the people at the BBC that face losing their jobs because it does not have enough money, will be raising their eyebrows."
BBC3, aimed at younger audiences, is believed to get on average about 300,000 viewers per show.
The channel spends almost £180,000 an hour on its programmes, double what BBC1 spends. Yet it gets just a tenth of BBC1's figures.
The expensive new look comes after BBC1 spent £1.2 million on a new on-screen identity and BBC2 invested £700,000 on a new look over the last couple of years.
Controller of the channel Danny Cohen claimed that the new logos would work out at about £49 a showing.
The channel has been criticised for its lurid programme titles like F*** Off I'm a Hairy Woman and Sex Talk with Mum and Dad.
BBC bosses were heralding yesterday's launch as the "rebirth" of the channel, perhaps aimed at silencing it critics of the past.
The corporation says it is making BBC3 its first multi-platform channel, simulcasting all programmes on the internet.
Interactivity will be placed at the heart of programmes and there will be regular slots for user-generated content from viewers.
Revamped news coverage and a new emphasis on drama and entertainment were unveiled, plus big name signings such as Lily Allen.
Cohen says BBC3 will be "more than just a TV channel" to its target audience of 16 to 34-year-olds.
He said: "The thinking behind this re-brand is that we have, in effect, created a BBC3 world in which our content can move seamlessly between TV, online and mobile."
The controversial programming has not disappeared from the schedules, despite the rebrand.
A "social experiment" in which 10 single mothers and their children move into a house together is titled Pramface Mansion.
A Lost Innocence season of documentaries about young people includes My Body For Bucks, following a 19-year-old who becomes a lap dancer in order to pay her university tuition fees.
It also includes Page 3 Teens, in which a 17-year-old fulfils her ambition to become a glamour model; and Britain's Youngest Grannies.
The channel also revealed it will be showing a sitcom written by a 19-year-old university student called Tim Dawson.