BBC Spends £250,000 Moving Gary Lineker’s Coffee Table
THE National Audi Office tells us that the BBC spent £250,000 on its studio in Vienna for the Euro 2008 football championship because the original one did not afford a picturesque view of city.
It also had to be positioned just so to attract bolts of lightning to make the panel jolt into life. And what is sports broadcasting but long cutaway shots of buildings and blonde women in nylon tops? And what about those coffee tables. Magic stuff. But for now:
“For Euro 2008, the BBC was allocated space and facilities in the International Broadcasting Centre, some four miles from the centre of Vienna and without, in the BBC’s opinion, an editorially suitable camera shot of key buildings. The BBC therefore paid an additional £250,000 for the construction and operation of its local studio in Vienna, with a backdrop of the city skyline.”
The NAO says the BBC has “not done enough to demonstrate that its coverage provides the best possible value for money”.
And what did the BBC spend on celebrity presenters for just about every event? Dunno. But the NAO says in some things the fee for shoving a vaguely recognisable nodding head in front of the camera accounted for 20 per cent of the total coverage costs.
“[The BBC Trust] believes that in this case such aggregate disclosure, when combined with other information the Trust believes to be either in the public domain or potentially available, could constitute disclosure of talent fees for individuals, which would be in breach of the Data Protection Act.”
A BBC spokesman, sat on a panel with Will Young, Gary Lineker and Bagpuss says:
“There is no inference in the report whatsoever that the BBC has been ‘casual’ in the way that it spends licence fee money. Indeed, for the most part the BBC has delivered these events within budget and with appropriate staffing.”
It’s not casual. It was done with a lot of thought. Which is damning…
Posted: 29th, January 2010 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
