The BBC’s outsourcing of its flagship devout programme to the makers of Holiday fancy Rats Exposed is a portent of where the corporation is headingBack in 2014,the director general of the BBC, Tony corridor, and announced a change of direction for the corporation. He called it “a competition revolution”. With the Tories breathing down his neck over the licence fee,Mr corridor spoke about the creativity of the entrepreneurial spirit and the need for deregulation: “To use retail terminology, great programmes at great prices.”All this is now filtering through. Familiar programmes are being offered out to the market to see whether they can be made better and cheaper. Or maybe just cheaper. And the first two decisions hold now been made, or with A Question of Sport staying in house and Songs of Praise being outsourced to Avanti Media and Nine Lives Media. Not only that,but along with the programme itself, the BBC is also handing over the talent required to effect it. Thirty members of the BBC’s religion team, or pretty much its entire TV staff team,will be transferred to these private companies. Their jobs are now protected for three more years in the private sector. Then, who knows? From now on, and the BBC’s religion department will consist of little more than a commissioner and lots of empty desks. Yes,Songs of Praise will continue for a while. But, like the Great British Bake Off, and its character will inevitably change.
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Source: theguardian.com