Here is something I would like to share with you all. On last Friday's episode of
Feedback on Radio 4, there was an item about overseas listeners. A lot of people all over the world listen to the BBC via the internet. They are using BBC services without paying the license fee. The BBC wouldn't react on this subject in
Feedback because it still examining the issue.
I sincerely hope that the current situation will not change because I don't think it's wise to make it impossible for overseas listeners to listen to the BBC, or to let them pay a lot of money for BBC services. I agree with Charles Arthur from
The Guardian who said in last Friday's programme that it is the overseas listener who is already paying a significant part because he has to buy a computer, broadband, etc. Arthur also said that the BBC should be happy about the development because it wants to be a worldwide brand.
Unfortunately, another aspect of this issue wasn't mentioned in the programme. Because of that I wrote an e-mail to
Feedback earlier this evening. Here it is:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you very much for the interesting item about overseas listeners in last Friday's programme. The only thing I missed in the programme was the fact that some overseas listeners actually do pay the BBC for certain services.
BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and the World service are all available on cable in the part of the Netherlands were I live. That is wonderful, but all this happiness has to be paid for. I can only receive the BBC when I pay the cable company. This company can only offer me BBC services when it is willing to pay the BBC. I can listen to Radio 4 and the World service for free on my portable radio but the sound quality is poor, so I do not consider this as an alternative. I think you can also understand that as a Dutch listener, I prefer FM because I am more interested in a programme like Book of the Week than in the Daily Service.
The only programme I always listen to via the internet is the interesting new Essay programme on Radio 3. It is scheduled at eleven o'clock in the evening but when you are living in the Central European Time Zone it is already midnight when the Essay programme starts and that is a little bit too late for me. Still I think BBC Radio 3 and 4 are wonderful stations and I really enjoy listening to them.
Yours faithfully,
Pim DerksI've noticed that some people on the Radio 3 message board were surprised to read that I'm able to listen to the BBC on cable. I think that a lot of people in the UK don't know that the BBC is earning money this way. To give an example: since the last months of 2006 the BBC is asking 0,31 euro each month for BBC 1 and 2 on the analogue network. That is 0,31 euro for each subscriber. All this money is flowing to BBC Worldwide that is spreading BBC 1 - 4, Cbeebies, CBBC, BBC World and BBC Prime on a commercial base. Thats means that channels paid with British taxpayers money are being sold commercially to foreign countries. But all these channels can be seen in the Netherlands FOR FREE via the satellite!
I also wonder how much the BBC is earning with selling BBC productions to foreign television stations. Dutch television stations (both public and commercial) were always good customers of the BBC. Is the money they're paing going to the BBC or to the production companies that produce these programmes?
Another thing I want to focus on are BBC television productions that are issued on DVD. When you go into a Dutch DVD shop, you see many BBC productions on DVD (subtitled). I wonder what the BBC is earning with this.
To be honest: I think the BBC is far more richer than we think and there's certainly enough money for a decent schedule for Radio 3.
