That short answer is because people are a bunch of selfish jerks but I fancy a rant so I am going to expand on this. Aren’t you lucky? The BBC is in the unenviable position of needing to please all of the people all of the time. Which is we all know is simply not possible. They can’t win. No matter what they do a bunch of loud licence fee payers with too much time on their hands will be at their throats demanding their heads. Forgive my mixed metaphors but I like them. Naturally these loud mouth cretins who frankly should have jobs to do or a blog to write will be egged on by commercial media.

You see if the BBC do popularist programming like shitty reality TV then they get accused of dumbing down by Guardian reading wombats. However, if they do intelligent programmes then the unwashed masses don’t watch them and they BBC get accused of being elitist by Chimps carrying copies of The Sun. It’s not like the can balance the books either because if they do then both groups complain their needs are not being fully met. This applies to politics too. Do a piece critical of the BNP they are out of touch left-wing academics but if they put the BNP on TV they are evil fascists. Anything they do gets them accused of bias by ‘the other side’. I’m also kind of fed up hearing God-botherers, like that twat Simon Mayo, whining about the declining level of Christian focused content on the BBC despite it still being vastly more than any other religious group let alone for atheists or agnostics. But see them flip out if the BBC dares show a 6 part series totalling just a handful of hours starring Richard Dawkins and his philosophy.

An interesting flip on this is that 75% of the licence paying public identify as being Christian right? So according to the BBC’s own charter they should be focusing their programming on non-Christian religious programming as there should be a large commercially viable market for Christian TV. Sadly this doesn’t work out because the Christian mentality hasn’t moved on since the 19th century so Christian TV programming consists of shite like Songs of Praise which not even Christians want to watch. Of course the God-botherers never complain about the BBC wasting money filming Christian shows that all of 12 people watch. But I have digressed into picking on the mentally infirm, back on topic.

As I said at the start people are selfish jerks. They expect the BBC to tailor their entire output to their needs/desires because they pay they happen to pay their licence fee. Doesn’t matter that the people who don’t share their views and want different things from the BBC also pay the licence fee. Everything shown should either be about their interests or pander to their own idiot biases.

Then we have the commercial media and press led by those that are part of the Murdock business empire doing their damnedest to destroy the BBC because they don’t want to compete with it. To them the BBC is unfair because they can’t buy it or drive it under like a normal business. The best they can do is wage unending propaganda war against the BBC in an attempt to turn the public against them. Which is what they are doing. Have you seen a week go by lately without their being a news story in a paper or on the TV hypercritical of something the BBC has done? Things utterly mundane like the BBC buying a long serving entertainer a bottle of Champagne for his birthday or the internet division putting on iPhone on their expenses are blown up as grievous sins against all of humanity. Naturally this involves the commercial media playing on the concerns of those who think the BBC exists only to serve them.

Politicians are not beyond getting involved in the propaganda either. Not just for easy political mileage by pandering to the selfish jerks either. The BBC tends not to pull its punches with politicians, especially the governing party. Which is good otherwise it would be accused of being in the pockets of those who give it money wouldn’t it? Unfortunately this makes the BBC somewhat of a thorn in the side of the government. One that is not as easily bribed with promises of favourable laws if it supports them. Thus politicians of all types would happily see the end of the BBC. Naturally Political parties are not beyond taking donations from commercial media companies no doubt in exchange for changes in the law that would damage the BBC either.

One of two things is going to happen to the BBC eventually. It will be commercialised and end up churning out the same turgid crap the other commercial stations do so as to make ad money. If it is expect it to be driven out of business or purchased by a large company that will do a Cadbury on it. Either that or it will marginalised and become little more than what PBS is in America. Either way wave goodbye to commercial free TV and radio and the likes of Doctor Who (it will be two expensive to justify), Misfits, Being Human, Survivors and don’t ever expect to see anything like Life on Mars ever again. Least will see the back of Songs of Praise too.