On my recent and highly unsuccessful visit to the USA, I encountered Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and discovered that this is a subscription based non commercial television station based in Virginia but available throughout the continental United States.
For $5 a month you can – should you so wish – watch Downton Abbey, the Antiques Road Show and even repeats of All Creatures Great and Small!
There are also current affairs and fairly worthy documentaries that reflect the origins of PBS as an educational channel.
I fell to thinking. By common consent the BBC has lost its way. I do occasionally speak to the under twenty fives – many of whom are Labour MPs – and they confirm that the BBC is only one of the viewing platforms they access and one that is increasingly less popular with the youth dynamic.
As our national broadcaster sinks slowly but steadily into the shallows of irrelevancy so it becomes ever more top heavy with mysteriously titled but handsomely remunerated executives and a few presenters who may claim to be earning eye watering salaries but are actually just paid them.
There are few more painful sights in Portland Place than the agonies of BBC programmers and producers desperately trying to avoid giving offence to anyone and always looking over their collective shoulder to the views of their neighbours in the more salubrious sections of Islington.
As a result of this mental game of Twister they end up offending just about everyone and accelerating the ratings decline.
Yet all this nonsense is paid for by a tax on everyone in the land and you may get banged up if you refuse to pay!You have no say in the direction or policies of the Corporation and yet you are legally bound to pay for this lack of privilege.
The BBC does a few things well. Once it came up with some superb programmes but these have been swept away in a tidal wave of inoffensive mediocracy.
It does still have a considerable global reach and indeed the BBC World service is one of the few things about this country that is universally admired.
I cannot for the life of me see how the present model of power without responsibility is remotely sustainable, says Stephen Pound
Gb News
I think that there should be a national neutral broadcaster for times of emergency and national significance but I cannot for the life of me see how the present model of power without responsibility is remotely sustainable.
Adverts on commercial channels can be irritating but one of the joys of market forces is the reality that if no-one watches you then you go out of business and no channel is propped up by legally picking the nation’s pockets.
Many people tell me that the BBC is the Guardian on air and I find it hard to argue against this. So, where do we go from here?
The American model does appeal to me. A voluntary subscription for primarily a news channel is surely worth considering. Liker it or not the sands are shifting in terms of broadcasting outlet. As Sky sinks slowly in the west and Talk TV disappears from view then it will be the likes of GB News – fresh, opinionated and frequently disrespectful of the establishment – who will fill the vacuum.
Of course, there must be an element of national regulation – we’ve had enough of Russia Today and the Iranian “Press TV” – but why not trust the market on this one.
If a station is worth watching then it will get watched. If not then it doesn’t deserve the airtime and it most certainly does not deserve a legally guaranteed and enforceable subsidy.