Home cinema - BBC in France

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- - BBC in France (http://www.homecinemabanter.com/showthread.php?t=21962)

T. Fink wrote:

Ah, OK, I am quite new to this group so I don't know the "internal
policies" here ;)

CU

Torsten

Ah, allow me to elucidate.

The last time we had this discussion was when the BBC went FTA. There was a
great wailing and gnashing of teeth because, ?of course?, the whole of
continental Europe was going to rush off to their local satellite shop and
spend a fortune in order to watch the BBC for free. Jonny foreigner was
going to get the Beeb at the expense of us Brits.

The reason for this is ?of course? that Jonny Foreigner is just desperate to
watch telly in a foreign language. I suppose, if they don't understand,
they can always turn up the volume so it sounds like it's being shouted
(everybody knows if you shout at them loud enough in English they'll
understand).

The reality is that a handful of ex-pats (the few that didn't already had
Sky) and a tiny number of enthusiasts have installed dishes.

I know this because i am one of the handful of ex-pats. I have lived in
France for many years and I know a lot of French people who speak English,
some of them very well ? not a single one watches the BBC.

"Simon Gardner" [dot]co[dot]uk wrote in message
...
I note (to my surprise) that the French satellite comic - Tele-satellite -
now publishes weekly BBC schedules (inc CBBC etc) for all their French
readers who (we are told) aren't interested in watching the BBC on their
dishes that can't (we are told) get it [cf the nonsensical Jomtien's Catch
Pi].

[I tend to buy a copy of this cracking good read whenever I'm in France.]

Well, this subject kind of makes me laugh.

As an expat, I've been denied good BBC programming for too long. Sure, there
are licensing issues with regard to films and localisation and that's mainly
because of the reach of the English language.

It's strange indeed that a cultural success - how far the English language
is understoon - then becomes a barrier to broadcasting.

Personally, I see money spent on limiting the reach of the programming as a
waste of resources. I don't see why British taxpayers should a) finance
technology that limits the viewing of the BBC and b) would in any way object
to British culture being broadcast all over Europe. The way that I see it is
that the corporations have made it difficult to allow English broadcasting
to flourish through their "geographic" thinking. Anywhere else, broadcasting
is all too keen to reach the ears and eyes of more people - it's a criteria
for success. Sure tv that's free of advertizing and is supported only by
taxpayers doesn't benefit in terms of economics but that shouldn't be taxed
further by the forced use of encryption technologies and reduced footprints.
Time for the legislators to come in in Brussels and give these guys an
exemption for "national broadcasting" that forfeits geographic reach for
non-subscription and advertizing based TV channels.

Taking a completely different perspective, we've got the supposed success of
British broadcasting becoming a barrier to entry in Europe. There's a whole
lot of good to be said about British TV and culture and broadcasting it
across Europe would be a very good thing and allow our neighbours to learn
to understand us much more.

Ah well, silly me - if the big media corporations won't allow it I guess
they really know best... Especially when it comes to music eh? Can't they
figure out that people aren't buying their music because it simply isn't any
good any more?

cb