From: aurs01!aurw6b!gingell@CONCERT.NET (Mike Gingell)
Newsgroups: rec.video.satellite
Subject: It's your BBC World Service - Phone In
Date: 21 Dec 92 14:56:04 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU

On Sunday Morning there was a live phone in to BBC World Service when
people from all round the world got the opportunity to ask John Tusa,
the retirng Director of the BBCWS about the current and future state
of the WS.

At least one person in the USA must have read my message of last week
and called because his question was the same as I suggested, right down
to the bit about the finger.  Here is a summary of the Q & As about
World Service TV.

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John Schmidt from Colorado: "It appears from here that the BBC World
Service TV may be conceding its North American TV audience to Deutche
Welle TV since that service has begun broadcasting here and my question
is when are you going to get your finger out and begin World Service
TV broadcasts in North America"

John Tusa: "Ahm well, provocativly put, I can assure you that our fingers
have been waving all round the world in the course of the last 18 months
when the people who run World Service TV have managed to get agreements
for the whole of Asia, for a large part of Africa and soon I think for
Australasia and also we have an agreement with CBC in Canada where we
provide one of their new networks with some of our news so at least we
are in the North American Continent. Now, the United States, itself. It
is as you well know not just diverse market but an extremely competetive
one. In all these case we have to find a partner who says 'We want your
programmes, we will pay you for them and we think we can then recover the
costs through whatever the local form of financing may be, advertising,
sponsorship or something like that'.  At the moment, and in the middle
of a recession in your country we cannot find a partner who will pay us
the sums of money that we need.  But BBCWS TV people do spend a lot of
time negotiating in the USA, it is proving a very tough market.

.... Deutche Welle have done very well in getting there, it is a limited
service which they have decided to fund themselves. BBC WS TV is funded
differently and if we want to get into the American market, frankly we
would like to get in with a big presence, we would like to get in with a full
network as we do have in Asia and as we are getting in Africa."

Jean Mainland (from Japan): "I am wondering why the World Service
Television programming is so different in Asia, compared with that offerred
in Europe, particularly drama and light entertainment".

John Tusa: "Yes, a complicated story which I will try to make short. We
regard, and you may not like this, the format of the Asian network which
is typically, 30 mins of News in the 1st half hour and then 30 minutes
of information programmes in the second half hour, that is really the
typical format for World Service Television, slighly adapted round the
World. Now World Service In Europe is something that we picked up. It
existed as a BBC channel before World Service TV came along, we inherited
it, we manage it, we have the cash flow from it. That has a different
purpose, it goes to different audiences, and there are different rights
arangements. It all comes down to rights, that is do you have the rights
for particular programmes on a world wide basis. But the most important
thing is that we wouldn't want to have drama, comedy etc., on WS TV
because we don't think that that is how we can get round the world. We
think that news and information is the way to do that.

Jean: "I was sort of expecting that but I was wondering if there was any
chance of a *bit* more variety in the future".

John: "Yes I think there is, the program variety will come when we have
more money to do our own programmes in the second half hour. At the moment
the programmes in the second half hour are some of the best of British
documentaries and information programmes. At the same time, many of them
are very very British indeed and we would like to change them so that
they have a more international bias. And this is only the same transition
that World Service Radio itself made. The amount of domesticaly produced
programmes has been going down over the years and I think that as WSTV
earns money it will make more of its programmes and I hope give you some
of the variety which you are looking for."

Moderator to John Tusa: "You are steering away from drama and light
entertainment presubably because the BBC Enterprizes hopes to sell those
programmes to foreign broadcasters?".

John Tusa:  "That is also the case. It is one of the interesting
divergencies, World Service in English has always decided that it is
a mixed affair, a mixed network, it is popular, it works like that, but
I think that we all beleive that World Service Television will manage
to get into its markets if it is news and information, but I think
there will be more diversity in the next couple of years."

Mr. Bosa from India: " .... Do you think that the
funds that you have directed for TV viewing in India & Asia, you
should lay more stress on Radio than TV expansion in Asia"

John Tusa: "Its a very important question Mr Bosa and I am very happy to
correct it. We have not diverted any of our funding to World Service TV.
We were not permitted to and we would not have done so because we do not
have the neccessary funds to divert. World Service TV is funded separately
it has its own business plan, it is a free standing BBC Company and we
continue to put all the money that we have into our radio programmes, ..."

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The above excerpted and paraphrased without permission by:

Mike Gingell, Raleigh, NC USA  (919) 850-6444
UUCP:       ...!mcnc!aurgate!aurfs1!gingell
Internet:   gingell%aurfs1%aurgate@mcnc.org
Newsgroups: rec.video.satellite