Why do BBC shows have 'Producers'??

[Colly0410]

Just a thought. Is there anything like Freesat or Free-cable in USA? Or do you always have to pay a subscription? When I was in USA (Miami) 20'odd years ago I had a rabbit ears antenna on top of the TV, almost perfect pictures (apart from a bit of ghosting) on the VHF channels, all UHF ones were fuzzy..

[Penthode]

Originally Posted by Colly0410

Just a thought. Is there anything like Freesat or Free-cable in USA? Or do you always have to pay a subscription? When I was in USA (Miami) 20'odd years ago I had a rabbit ears antenna on top of the TV, almost perfect pictures (apart from a bit of ghosting) on the VHF channels, all UHF ones were fuzzy..

Nothing is free in North America except over the air. And even then the content is mostly mind numbing and is riddled with advertising. And to add to the discomfort, most North American viewers accept the model of paying a provider (satellite or cable) to allow them to watch the increased advertising dribble.

The number of minutes of advertising has progressive gone up and the quality of programming has gone down. This is because there is less advertising revenue to go around. In the old days a successful program had a 60% or more market share. Today a smash hit is anything above 5% if that. The television world has changed whereas the US revenue model has not.

That is why I believe the revenue model in the UK is still okay. OTA choice may be limited but there is still better stuff to be found to watch on the BBC and ITV channels and no advertising on the BBC.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Colly0410

Just a thought. Is there anything like Freesat or Free-cable in USA? Or do you always have to pay a subscription? When I was in USA (Miami) 20'odd years ago I had a rabbit ears antenna on top of the TV, almost perfect pictures (apart from a bit of ghosting) on the VHF channels, all UHF ones were fuzzy..

IIRC there is free to air satellite in north America, but the programming is mostly garbage that is below OTA programming quality (IIRC it's used mostly for remote broadcast links between stations and remote program trucks/facilities)....Almost no one knows it exists and even fewer actually watch it.