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Glastonbury is the biggest and best festival in the U.K. It’s a must-see for music lovers every year. If you cannot attend in person then you need to watch the coverage on TV, and the BBC always delivers on that score. But does it provide value for money?
Almost everyone in Britain has a love/hate relationship with the BBC. We all hate paying the TV license – resenting giving our money so that overpaid presenters can life a life of luxury while everyone else cannot. But we all love at least some of the programming.
And the Glastonbury Festival is no exception. BBC Three is virtually given over the the festival entirely, while BBC2 has highlights. And then there is the Red Button option, enabling viewers to watch the performances of their choosing when they choose to.
As much as I love the Glastonbury coverage, there is a definite feeling of overkill about the whole thing, especially when there are dozens of presenters in attendance at the BBC’s expense that really don’t need to be there. And are really just on a jolly paid for by us, the license fee payers.
The National Audit Office recently filed a report commissioned by the BBC looking at the money the corporation spend on major events. It showed that the BBC spent £1.7 million ($3 million) covering the 2008 Glastonbury Festival.
According to NME, Amyas Morse, Head of the NAO, said:
“The BBC has not done enough to demonstrate that its coverage provides the best possible value for money. When the BBC decides that it wants to cover a major sporting or music event, it should carefully explore a range of options, and set down clear objectives against which it can measure its achievements after the event. Without that, the BBC will not convince license fee payers that their money has been well spent.”
The BBC does need to keep an eye on its budget unless or until it decides to lose the license fee and make its revenue from advertising instead. I just hope the fantastic coverage of Glastonbury and similar events doesn’t suffer in the process.
[Photo Source: Newscom]
Ya know, I hear that Glastonbury festival is a blast. Too bad, I can’t attend cuz I have to cross an ocean before I can get there. Anyway, I saw the film, “Glastonbury” and it wwas good. This TV license thing is weird. I guess Americans don’t have that becuz we have all these lame commercial segments whenever we watch TV. British TV is much better, I think. But, I don’t know if I’d want to pay a TV license fee. A British man told me a truck will park outside your house to see whether a signal is broadcasting then check to see if you paid the license fee. I guess a person could get a fine or taken to the TOWER! I would not like that.