Channel Four No More

[ursus arctos]

It is harder to ensure adherence with Ministry of Truth edicts when you have multiple platforms

[Gangster Octopus]

What the actual fuck?

[Lymeswold Snork]

I'm sure we doubtless have a specific thread on Government hatchets being sharpened on the Beeb, but BBC Four and CBBC get the axe:

https://twitter.com/scottygb/status/1529818733295783936

They should get rid of BBC3 again instead. Everything worth watching on it was moved when they got rid of it the first time.

[Nesta]

Anything on how long before bbc 4 goes? Think I read 3 years somewhere, but I can't retrace that and sound a long run-up.

[Lang Spoon]

BBC 4 was great for a long time, middle to highbrow like what BBC2 once wiz. Now it's as dumbed down, docudrama celeb fronted, Britain's Greatest listicles, repeats of the same fucking music docs as BBC2 had got when BbC4 started.

[Nesta]

Just thinking about the recent season of RKO pictures BBC4 has had on recently, particularly broadcasting King Kong. That's the sort of thing you could only really broadcast on a specialist arts channel, in context, with documentaries alongside. It's way too psychotically racist by modern standards to be broadcast standalone on bbc2 or something.

[Satchmo Distel]

Modern would be after 1990 in that case because I'm sure it was shown in the 80s as if it were unproblematic.* Did the Jessica Lange remake (which I've not seen) remove the racism?

*But then ITV was still showing racist Looney Tunes cartoons in kids' slots and you'd have S**bo characters in 30s films shown regularly with no cuts.

[Nesta]

Yeah, 1990 sounds about right really.

Although Live and Let Die has certainly been on since then, so who knows

[Satchmo Distel]

The radio cuts are particularly shocking: foreign languages on World Service are a vital part of the history and mission of the BBC (although also problematic re. cultural imperialism, 'civilizing')

[E10 Rifle]

The loss of CBBC is a big blow, but kids are always at the bottom of the pecking order in these things. There is truth in the fact that kids spend an awful lot more of their viewing time on screens perusing YouTube etc, but when CBBC lands a hit with something, it's still irreplaceable. In our kids' case, stuff like The Worst Witch or the Demon Headmaster really hit the spot.

And what of Newsround, which has long been the BBC's best news programme by miles, for kids or adults.

[slackster]

There was a time - say, at least 10 years ago - I would have been gutted to hear BBC4 was stopping as a terrestrial channel, as it was my go-to. But as I stream all my telly watching apart from a bit of live sports these days and the quantity of new output has dipped anyway, I'm not at all arsed if it goes iPlayer only.

[Gangster Octopus]

Channel 4 reprieve?