BBC considers scrapping festival coverage on the Red Button

the revolution will not be televised

By Scott Williams | Published: Wed 18th Nov 2015

around the festival site (7)

The BBC could close its Red Button services as part of £150m of cuts, scrapping access to coverage of festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Reading & Leeds, and T in the Park.

BBC bosses are having to make £150 million cuts as a result of what they refer to as the "iPlayer loophole", where viewers watch programmes on online without paying the licence fee as well as the broadcaster facing growing political pressure from the Conservative government.

The BBC has over the last 15 years been developing and evolving its coverage of festivals where they have been able to present extensive coverage of festivals to millions of BBC viewers. It's unknown whether their coverage would continue to be as in depth on iPlayer and Online streaming.

The Red Button which allows viewers with Freeview HD, Freesat, YouView, Virgin Media and Sky devices to have access to extra channels offering live streams from multiple stages and highlights packages.

Their on-demand services have allowed viewers to relive over 100 performances in the case of this year's Glastonbury Coverage, including exclusive backstage sessions in the BBC Music Teepee, as well as a chance to catch a first glimpse of new talent on the BBC Introducing Stage.

Funding is a key issue up for debate as part of the BBC's royal charter which is set to expire next year and is currently under Government review. The BBC Trust is having an open consultation looking at proposals for the future of the BBC’s supply arrangements for the production of the BBC’s television content, radio content and online content and services. You can comment (here).

Yesterday, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale insisted he was not on a mission to diminish the BBC. According to The Guardian (here), ahead of a green paper on the future of the BBC expected to be published in the coming weeks, the BBC are facing a financial and political onslaught from Conservative ministers.

In recent weeks, ministers have: Warned that the BBC was at risk of being closed down if it did not deal with rightwing charges of leftwing bias. Nick Robinson, the BBC’s political editor, said David Cameron had threatened during the election campaign that he would "close them down after the election".

Considered whether to insist that the BBC pay for the £700m-a-year charge of providing free television for the over-75s. Currently funded by the Treasury, the BBC governors threatened to resign the last time this was mooted in 2010.

Examined decriminalising non-payers of the £145.50-a-year licence fee, which the BBC estimates would cost it a further £200m.

Debated whether to impose a new governance structure in charter renewal negotiations in which the BBC Trust would be closed to make way for external regulation from communications regulator Ofcom or a new organisation dubbed 'Ofbeeb'. In an interview with Radio Times in April, the chancellor, George Osborne, signalled that he favoured the handover of BBC regulation from the BBC Trust to Ofcom.




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