Time to unfollow them, I guess.

  • whatevercomeon@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    The UK obviously is no longer a superpower. But the BBC is the cornerstone of the UKs modern global soft power projection. Broadcasting it free projects the UK government’s voice around the world directly into homes, influencing world policy to their liking.

    Putting a paywall in the US sends a message that they feel it is not needed or not effective in the US market.

    It also mirrors what paid sport broadcasting in the UK has done. Paywall it for short term gain, at the expense of long term viewership growth. The UK is struggling.

    • Raltoid@lemmy.world
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      26 days ago

      Paywall it for short term gain, at the expense of long term viewership growth.

      Making a company worse for increased short term revenue, at the cost of customer retention, product quality, etc. causing increased turnover which further compounds all the other steps. Is a common issue among all modern companies.

      In short, there was a shift in MBA education a while back that includes a bunch of lies-by-omission and misrepresented data. Meaning that the only thing on their mind when they graduate, is to please investors at any all costs, including company longevity.

  • alexc@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    And just at a time when the US really needs a decent news service…

    I am sure this was discussed at the Starmer - Trump talks as a way to further isolate Americans from the truth.

    I guess it’s just Al-Jazeera now…

  • Obinice@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    Makes sense, we pay our licence fee for our public service, why should people abroad get for free what we have to pay for?

    I was happy with the current arrangement of adverts supporting the service use abroad, but if it has to migrate to a subscription model to meet modern demands then that’s the way it is.

    I wouldn’t go to another country and ask them to make one of their government’s national public services free for me to use, after all.

    • crapwittyname@lemm.ee
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      25 days ago

      Nah mate. Information is free the second it leaves its source. Any attempt to curtail it after then is just a cunt’s trick.

      • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        I imagine you wouldn’t be saying this if it was your work being used.

        If you went through the painstaking effort or writing a book or something, I imagine you’d be pretty unhappy if nobody wanted to reimburse you, and you were called a cunt for wanting to be paid for your labour.

          • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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            24 days ago

            That’s exactly my point.

            Presumably you’re paid for the work you do, and you shouldn’t have to do it for free, yes?

            • crapwittyname@lemm.ee
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              24 days ago

              Yes. But I’m not paid continuously for the work I’ve done in the past, and I’m not paid the actual value of my work.

              Should we still be paying Homer for his incredible work on the Iliad, do you think?

  • Humanius@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    So that sounds to me that Americans should use a VPN to pretend they are accessing the website from Europe

  • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    I know there’s rights issues and all but if they made a real BBC streaming service with their back catalog and every David Attenborough special in 4K, it’d be one thing but Americans are inundated with news and streaming services. I pay for my local newspaper’s digital site — mostly because if I don’t, who will? But even The NY Times has to have recipes and word games to keep people subscribed. Why would anyone pay more than a dollar a month or something for BBC News?

    The U.S. seems like an odd place to trial this. It’s the most competitive media market in the world and we’re all already sick of being asked to pay for 40 different services. In conclusion:🏴‍☠️