Are You Happy With BBC Prime?

[Payboy]

so bbc worldwide is actually taking the thai population into consideration when they plan their programming for bbc prime? arent there over 100 countries worldwide with different viewer tastes - has bbc developed 1 common package that appeals to all? now i'm even more confused....

They control their feed into Thailand. They control the programming. They only show Thai subtitles for their shows in Thailand. Otherwise the programming may be exactly the same as they show in other countries. True only broadcasts this feed. Get it yet?

i get the common control part ---- but exactly the same programming is suitable and common to the preferences of all other countries but not suitable to "ex-pats"...... as claimed in that e-mail? the ex-pats are not exactly from another planet - they must be from one of those other countries....

[robsamui]

This is one paragraph from another rply that the assistant manager of BBC Entertainment, Douglas Spitz has just sent to me:

In addition, the research we have conducted confirms our previous response than viewers of most cable and digital satellite channels DO channel hope and do not watch one channel for a prolonged period of time. If you are using the channel in this way then obviously you will find some of the programming and way in which the schedule is planned frustrating but once again the channel is not supposed to be viewed for long periods of time on a daily basis, such as the domestic channels in the UK may be used.

What a load of B******T.

My respose to him:

This is illogical. If you are spending time deliberately programming these episodes to appear in a random order, then you will be spending no more time to deliberately program them in a progressive sequence. In the first instance, the channel-hopping native population is happy but the thousands of people who are following the series are not. In the second case, the natives are just as happy but you ALSO have thousands more happy customers, too.

Rob

Edited August 15, 2007 by robsamui

[mrtoad]

Never heard such nonsense in my life. Spitz is an absolute Tool.

[Carmine6]

AHA! The original memo from Douglas Spitz - assistant customer relations manager - which was offhand and dismissive has now been followed up by another one! This is the fluffy softspeak B******T version. Compare the 2 and see how the reality and the B******T compares!

INTERNAL MEMMO TO ASSISTANT:

Ask me about this if you need to. He is obviously an ex-pat and thinks the channel should be moulded around his principles but as we know the channel is not targeted to the ex-pay community, in fact the total opposite so perhaps he needs to be told this. Remind him this is why most programmes are subtitled in Thai. He will not have a clue about the general population of Thailand! The reason we dropped Eastenders is because there was not a large audience for it, only ex-pats, again not our target audience.

Whatever you say in these circumstances he will not listen and still think us wrong so best to point out the channel is aimed at foreign nationals. If he wants more information about programme rights and the relationship between BBC Worldwide and BBC Entertainment he can go to the BBC Worldwide website.

Let him forward this on to anyone he wants, he is entirely entitled to do so. I am sure our responses are already on several web blogs, we certainly do not try to hide our intentions for the future of the channel. I think he needs to be informed ex=pats are not our target audience and therefore his expectations do not apply.

Remember to remove this before sending on and let me know if you need any help.

AND THE SAME VERSION OF THIS SENT TO ME DIRECTLY:

Thank you for your reply.

Firstly I would like to point out that if you are watching the channel in Thailand then you are watching BBC entertainment, not BBC Prime.

In your email you write that our target audience are ex-pats living overseas and I'm afraid this is simply not the case. Obviously we know who our channel is aimed. BBC Entertainment is not designed as being a channel that caters only for British ex-patriates, although naturally we regard them as an important, yet not an exclusive, part of our audience. One of the reasons a majority of our programmes are subtitled into several languages is that we hope to attract local viewers, to BBC content. BBC Entertainment is not intended to simply be a replacement for BBC1 or any of the UK channels that perhaps you may be more used too.

In addition, the research we have conducted confirms our previous response than viewers of most cable and digital satellite channels DO channel hope and do not watch one channel for a prolonged period of time. If you are using the channel in this way then obviously you will find some of the programming and way in which the schedule is planned frustrating but once again the channel is not supposed to be viewed for long periods of time on a daily basis, such as the domestic channels in the UK may be used.

We do not, and have never tried to keep our responses in a private domain and you are entirely entitled to make our comments public over the internet. We know there a several internet blogs that already contain our responses. I also wish to add that we welcome feedback from our viewers, positive and negative because it helps us stay in touch with the views and opinions of our audience and in turn make changes that we feel are necessary.

We are sorry you do not agree with us on this occasion and that the channel is not everything you would like but it is with our wider audience in mind that we make schedule decisions and we hope that we may in the future be able to look forward to your support of BBC Entertainment.

Regards,

Douglas Spitz

BBC Entertainment

This is some of the funniest stuff I've seen in a long time. I literally laughed. I wish I could tell people to go f off like this.

[Dupont]

Shadow of its former self is the old Beeb. Better Journos on CNN, al Jazeera, fox etc. The sight of the wimmin business report team cooing over the fiat cinquecenta "ooooooooooh it's just so cute isn't it!" sums up the depths they have plumbed to fill their quotas.

All that PC casting, white men bad, wimmin good, wimmin = boss, high achiever or where man is boss, wimmin must be long suffering brains of the opperation.

Can't wait for the remake of Colditz! I can see em haviing white men cast as the bad guys, but the prisoners are all gonna have to be gay, or wimmin gallently dressed as men putting right the mess that men made of the world. Mind you, they could Benny Hill it up a bit and have Jordan as a guard. It's as realistic as Billy Piper as Dr Who.

Cathrine Tate comedy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! fox me sideways! I thought it was a series of 30 minute commercials on why you should marry a Thai woman. Little Britain is as bad, as it was only there as a vehicle for the gay guy off vic and bob. Funny guy actually but out of his depth here as he is too one dimensional for this kind of outlet.

One unintended truth from this show is that the young council house schoolgirl mum he plays in it, is actually better looking than many of the sights you see in the UK these days!

Before somesone screams sexist pig! Women aren't the problem its the dregs that run the BBC that have ruined it, and a lot of them were men! PC, weasly, little, bearded ones, but men none the less! Welcome to your new BBC!

[JetsetBkk]

This is one paragraph from another rply that the assistant manager of BBC Entertainment, Douglas Spitz has just sent to me:

In addition, the research we have conducted confirms our previous response than viewers of most cable and digital satellite channels DO channel hope and do not watch one channel for a prolonged period of time. If you are using the channel in this way then obviously you will find some of the programming and way in which the schedule is planned frustrating but once again the channel is not supposed to be viewed for long periods of time on a daily basis, such as the domestic channels in the UK may be used.

What a load of B******T.

<snip>

Absolutely, Rob. I used to channel hop because of the crappy satellite system we have out here. We cannot plan what is on one month ahead, or one week ahead or even one day ahead. We can see only see the next program! I used to use the magazine, and circle in red ink the programs that might be of interest. But that was a real pain as there were so many pages, and checking what was on involved flicking through all the pages, checking the date and time etc. It was much easier to make a list.

In the end I wrote a software program to scan through the "ubcschedule.zip" file from their web site and the extract dates and times of the programs I was interested in. Here's tonight's schedule:

19:00-19:30, Ch 23 : BBC Entertainment - Absolutely Fabulous (Season 1)

19:00-19:55, Ch 22 : Star World - Eureka S1

19:00-20:00, Ch 24 : X-Zyte - Ramen Encyclopedia

19:30-20:00, Ch 23 : BBC Entertainment - Absolutely Fabulous (Season 1)

19:30-20:00, Ch 77 : BBC World - Click Online

20:00-20:50, Ch 23 : BBC Entertainment - Life On Mars (Season 1)

20:00-21:00, Ch 25 : AXN - Sports Disasters Iv

21:00-21:30, Ch 50 : Animal Planet - Big Cat Diary: Series 2 (Update)

21:30-22:00, Ch 24 : X-Zyte - Inside Edition 2006/2007

21:30-22:00, Ch 50 : Animal Planet - Meerkat Manor

21:30-23:30, Ch 66 : ESPN - Champions League Extra

22:00-22:30, Ch 22 : Star World - Seinfeld S3

22:30-00:45, Ch 32 : HBO Family - The Island [Family]

22:30-23:30, Ch 22 : Star World - Heroes : Heroes

23:05-23:55, Ch 23 : BBC Entertainment - Life On Mars (Season 1)

[November Rain]

Did you copy & paste the email, OP? If so, not only was it a load of cr@p, it was also full of spelling mistakes that you'd hope the Beeb would be above. Obviously lefties & feminists don't have spellcheck.

[robsamui]

Well, I was trying to keep all my comments and replies back to Spitz at the BBC on a purely professional level about the programming.

I tried so hard to avoid (and succeeded) making comments about just what a dismissive, arrogant, complacent and RACIST git he was ("the natives can only channel hop so it doesn't matter what the programming is" - to paraphrase) - OR how he might at very least have used a spell-checker before he sent it out. Or even bothered to read it through first. One small satisfaction is the realisation that the B*****d is too small to have a secretary assigned to him!

It seems that the whole of South Africa (DSTV) is now considering dropping BBC Prime for exactly the same reasons - and one of them being (quote from the program controller of CSTV) that there is never any compromise or satisfaction to be had from the negotiations with BBC Prime.

WRITE TO THEM AND COMPLAIN! (AND THANKS TO MAIPENRAI@GMAIL!!)

WHINGE TO:

"Douggie Spits" <[email protected]>

OR "Dickie Spitz" <[email protected]>

OR "Duckie Spits" <[email protected]>

That should jigger his Horlicks a bit!

R

[popshirt]

I think their programming is awful too and I find the news segments effect me the same as popping a valium.

But I don't complain because we only pay 200 baht a month for cable (we are part of a "co-operative") and I wouldn't want the cable mafia to nail me.

[robsamui]

Simple answer. The local maffia's not programming for the BBC.

So complain to the BBC at "BBC Entertainment TV Channel Feedback" <[email protected]>

and not to your local supermarket.

Problem solved.

R

[Camelot]

Popshirt is complaining about the "news segments" which sounds more like BBC World than BBC Entertainment. There is no news on BBC Entertainment (or Prime) so it would be a tad pointless to complain to them about a sister channel.

The BBC World website gives full contact information.

[Digger]

Considering the BBC have the rights to heaps of stuff, I am really surprised they seem to be at a loss for the choice of what they programme. If they are aiming at the channel at an "international" audience, with subtitles, how would they expect anyone to understand the humour of many of the comedies they show. Lets face it, if you could get the humour as a spoken word, you would not need subtitles.

Having said all that, I really want it to be good as some of the drama they show is excellent - its just that the programming dept really dont understand who or what they are appealing to and so they just chuck it together without a strategy to appeal to anyone, let alone everyone. One good thing though is that at least I have had the chance of seeing the episode of Red cap featuring the guy overdosing on LSD in the water bottle, 5 times already. Funny enough though - have never seen another espisode - always just seems to be that one they keep showing.

[JimsKnight]

It is institutionally left wing and anti British, its programming is controlled by feminists and champagne socialists and has its own agenda.

See what Sir Patrick Moore their longest serving employee thinks of the BBC

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1760061.ece

Absolutely agree with you, the establishment warned that the BBC was going this way in the 1960s but no-one listened. Well now we have the freaky idiots crawling all over the BBC!

Shocking email from them as well. They might as well have a hammer and sickle hung on the BBC building now!

I fcking hate the channel, the way they have been carrying on with their scams and dodgy documentarys. I dislike ITV but at least they try and tell it like it is and are pro-Britain/England. They do not deserve to collect our TV license fee.

[JuniorExPat]

I know I shouldn't, but I will:

www.tv-links.co.uk

You have just witnessed the beginning of the end for Turdvisions.

Excellent link, thank you Sanpatong.

JxP

[pnustedt]

So cancel the subscription then.

Or at the very least, go back to 'gold'.

You're right of course. I've also got the Dynasat system (the missus uses it for Thai TV while I watch Eng. lang TV) and we had it serviced y'day. I'll check out that we can get Eng. Soccer etc. over the weekend before I cancel UBC.

[lazeeboy]

So cancel the subscription then.

Or at the very least, go back to 'gold'.

You're right of course. I've also got the Dynasat system (the missus uses it for Thai TV while I watch Eng. lang TV) and we had it serviced y'day. I'll check out that we can get Eng. Soccer etc. over the weekend before I cancel UBC.

bbc prime great when it came out ,now boring repeats over and over

[JetsetBkk]

bbc prime great when it came out ,now boring repeats over and over

Some of the 'classic' stuff is OK to see again - "Only Fools and Horses", "Absolutely Fabulous", etc - but some of the new stuff is rubbish.

Even the much advertised "Life On Mars" has turned out to be just another 1970's cops program (à la "Sweeney"), with 2% sci-fi thrown in. Hopeless!