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| Media,
Graham Bower,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F2
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The BBC is the quitessential British institution. Funded entirely by a tax on TV sets which everyone in the United Kingdom must pay, regardless of whether they watch BBC programmes. This system was unfair ten years ago, but seems ludicrous now, with multi-channel digital TV, and streaming content over the internet. Where once, the BBC was a big fish in a small pond, it is now a medium sized fish in a huge pond. The media is becoming increasingly globalised and integrated, a trend that the BBC has recognised with developments like bbc.co.uk and now BBC World on QuicktimeTV.
In order not to compromise it's public service obligations (the BBC does not carry advertising on its British TV and radio stations), the BBC's web offering has been divided into bbc.co.uk, which carries news, weather and programme information; and beeb.com, which is allowed to develop third-party deals.
The design of bbc.co.uk has the austere, graphics light feel of a monolithic state owned monopolist (no suprises there!) The stories are presented in a sobre manner, regardless of content - the design of the Telly Tubbies page would not look out of place on a financial services site! Let's just hope they don't ask us to pay an internet tax to fund it!
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