To think the BBC must be saving a fortune

[JamesAnderson]

I'm making the assumption that they pay the expenses of people who go into the studio on programs like breakfast, the one show etc.

Most of these people now are on the show via video link so the expense budget should be a lot smaller now.

The organisation I work for (not the BBC) have saved loads on venue hire, expenses, catering etc since the pandemic. I think it's mostly been ploughed into tech infrastructure to let us work from home properly and making some of our products cheaper and therefore more attractive to customers.

Yeah, travel costs and similar will have come down. Tech costs will have increased (and they often have to send the right kit / lighting out to the contributors). Budgets have been reduced accordingly. They’ll bloody keep ‘em down for years to bloody come. Annoyingly.

possibly, though lots of talking heads-types on News, Breakfast etc won't have been paid (have done it myself, years ago!)

Aah, so expenses may have gone down but tech has probably gone up.
That makes sense

Last summer they’d lost about £125 million - must be a lot more that that now. Olympics set up and cancelled, expensive dramas put on ice, much slower shooting than normal for what they can keep going. Budgets and hours have been slashed. It’s grim times I can tell you...

Didn't they spend a fortune on social distancing bracelets or something? Things which beep if you get too close to another person. Presumably they still have to pay an appearance fee, even if they don't have to cover travel costs.

I'm not sure Robert peston has been sent the right lighting kit, he always looks like he's lit by a kid's torch.

@Macncheeseballs

I'm not sure Robert peston has been sent the right lighting kit, he always looks like he's lit by a kid's torch.

He's my secret embarrassing crush. He always looks like he got drunk on a works night out, slept in his clothes on a park bench and went into work the next day like that.

Production costs have risen due to social distancing rules, so it may net off.

Must be saving a fortune given they don't have to go looking for news stories any more, government just tells them what to say!

@partyatthepalace

Last summer they’d lost about £125 million - must be a lot more that that now. Olympics set up and cancelled, expensive dramas put on ice, much slower shooting than normal for what they can keep going. Budgets and hours have been slashed. It’s grim times I can tell you...

I skim read this and thought they'd put dramas on ice-skates!

I am amazed that there is any new output really it must be a nightmare to film.

It really is. And costs for protecting against Covid have gone through the roof. Stand-by crews / paying for isolation periods prior to filming etc etc. It’s why so little new content is being made and why so many of the industry are unemployed. Hundreds of thousand ousands of freelancers without a job or a penny from the government

Grim times indeed.