It has appeared to us mere BBC license holders this week that a new wave of globalisation is about to hit the television airwaves and it’s all from our friends at White City.
The BBC have announced that due to incredibly wonderful profits from fairly flat, yet glittering shows as “Now Strictly Come Dancing” the keen idea is to now sell the show all over the world. Why not? I hear you cry, it is just another commodity, after all. It should be exploited. We have done many a good turn over the decades with the shipping over of Benny Hill series’ to the US. So what is wrong with the slim built Japanese getting an eyeful of their very own Natasha Kaplinksy in a sequined gown and peep toe sandals? Absolutely nothing. Yet let us remember that we were here first.
There is something also very worrying about the idea of the global and highly profitable market of selling TV. We worry, just ever so slightly that there is some little country out there somewhere who is going to be a damn fine better job of what ever we have presented them with in the first place. It is not that long ago that we made the remotest mistake of selling on the unstoppable and yet physically cringe making idea of “The Office” from Messer’s Merchant and Gervais. What happened next?
The Americans took it and boy, they took it, shook it and dropped on the studio floor to see if the cleaner would sweep it up. And it worked - irritatingly. So what are we to gain from the Global TV market? Well, not only will we be able to promote Terry Wogan onto a universal platform other than the Eurovision orange box he is so used to, we can pride ourselves on reaping in a pretty £100 million profit.
However, the BBC are in a matter of crisis with staff being laid off and the ongoing matter of too many people in TV and Radio who are not even getting a wage. But that’s showbiz. Yet if we can get Heather Mills McCartney to step aside from her billion pound divorce row in the courts just for a quick twirl on the stage of “Dancing With The Stars” then viva la world! Let’s sell, sell, sell!
The BBC have announced that due to incredibly wonderful profits from fairly flat, yet glittering shows as “Now Strictly Come Dancing” the keen idea is to now sell the show all over the world. Why not? I hear you cry, it is just another commodity, after all. It should be exploited. We have done many a good turn over the decades with the shipping over of Benny Hill series’ to the US. So what is wrong with the slim built Japanese getting an eyeful of their very own Natasha Kaplinksy in a sequined gown and peep toe sandals? Absolutely nothing. Yet let us remember that we were here first.
There is something also very worrying about the idea of the global and highly profitable market of selling TV. We worry, just ever so slightly that there is some little country out there somewhere who is going to be a damn fine better job of what ever we have presented them with in the first place. It is not that long ago that we made the remotest mistake of selling on the unstoppable and yet physically cringe making idea of “The Office” from Messer’s Merchant and Gervais. What happened next?
The Americans took it and boy, they took it, shook it and dropped on the studio floor to see if the cleaner would sweep it up. And it worked - irritatingly. So what are we to gain from the Global TV market? Well, not only will we be able to promote Terry Wogan onto a universal platform other than the Eurovision orange box he is so used to, we can pride ourselves on reaping in a pretty £100 million profit.
However, the BBC are in a matter of crisis with staff being laid off and the ongoing matter of too many people in TV and Radio who are not even getting a wage. But that’s showbiz. Yet if we can get Heather Mills McCartney to step aside from her billion pound divorce row in the courts just for a quick twirl on the stage of “Dancing With The Stars” then viva la world! Let’s sell, sell, sell!
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