It's always a conundrum figuring out what to spend money on during tough economic times - not only for us, but also for TV networks trying to publicize their shows. If we don't pay our mortgage, we lose the house. If the networks don't spend money on their shows, they risk going down the tube. The BBC is getting slammed for spending too much money on the launch party for Merlin, a TV series that delves into the early life of the legendary sorcerer. I have a couple of thoughts on this. The first is that the amount they spent, $70,000, doesn't seem like that much for a launch party. In fact, it seems downright reasonable.
While I realize that the BBC has started pink-slipping their employees, the fact of the matter is that if they don't publicize their shows, they won't have any to publicize and, therefore, won't need any employees anyway. Like any marketing, the products don't go out there and sell themselves. You have to spend money to get the word out.
And the BBC's chief operating officer, Caroline Thomson, agrees with me, so there. She says, "We choose the programs we are going to launch at parties very carefully. Yes, it is a lot of money, and we have to be very careful how we spend that money, but sometimes it does cost a lot of money to do these things properly."
My second thought is that shows like Merlin perform a valuable service in helping us to escape from the dismal economy. TV is one thing that most people will continue to have in their homes, even during the tough times. It helps us to soldier through, especially shows like Merlin that take us out of our lives and into a fantasy world of castles and sorcerers. The show was recently sold to 110 territories, including the U.S., where NBC bought the series.
Any thoughts on this? Are launch party expenses justified in difficult economic times?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-21-2008 @ 4:40PM
Anita said...
Well, in Hollywood standards 70k probably doesn't seem like a lot, but based on my extensive knowledge of British media based primarily on listening to BBC TV DVD commentary ;) things seem a bit more skint. However, it seems people are criticizing the 'launch party' and not the marketing itself. The launch party isn't exactly something the public (outside the media) would have access to, and perhaps they could've shaved the bill down to 50k even. But, from a personal perspective, I do agree with you ;)
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12-21-2008 @ 7:31PM
Anthony said...
The BBC is funded by the U.K. taxpayer. Everyone who owns a tv display must pay a yearly tax for the continued use of it. Those taxes go on to make all the (commercial free over there) programs (programmes) they watch. So essentially, this is a matter of government employees wasting money throwing a party for themselves. And yes, from what I hear, 70k is a lot of money in BBC production terms.
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12-21-2008 @ 8:39PM
kanada said...
Your exactly right Anthony, I think the public outcry is because it is taxpayer money being spent on a lavish party for an elite few. Add to that loads of people being made redundant throughout the industry (in the UK anyway), the economic situation in general and the recent controversies about the BBC lately (Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross, Strictly Come Dancing, and the fake competitions) it's no surprise people are pissed off about it.
12-21-2008 @ 8:40PM
Ashley Boyd said...
Yeah as Anthony said its not a case that BBC had earnt this money and have chosen to spend it (so if this were Channel Four, an independently funded channel (or to us an American equivilant Fox for example) there would not be such a fuss).
I can see why people will complain. They make you spend £130 on the tv license every year (well, thats a lie, it goes up a few quid every year) and then spend it on the likes of this...and hell the likes of rubbish shows such as Merlin.
One of the reasons I'm not bothering with a tv license this year (the others being im a broke student and I have a wall of DVDs). I can live without broadcasted television.
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12-22-2008 @ 9:08AM
jm tuffley said...
While I do understand the fuss in light of recent BBC troubles- the Merlin launch party was held before the show's UK launch earlier this year, and I think it was paid for by Wolrdwide, which is the commercial arm of the Beeb (which is responsible for selling the show to those 110 markets-including NBC, which bought the series early on).
Worldwide's fundage comes from abroad sales (mostly Doctor Who, Brit coms, and Format Sales) and NOT the license fees.
IF the party was paid on Worldwide's dime, I'm not really sure what the British Taxpayers Ire on this really is.
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12-23-2008 @ 2:39PM
Brent McKee said...
I suppose the answer is that while people "in the know" like us can differentiate between the funding sources of BBC proper and BBC Worldwide, the average man on the street sees a BBC show getting a "lavish" launch party and immediately thinks his license fee is going to pay for it.
12-26-2008 @ 12:43PM
mellonmarshall said...
hey why are we having parties as far as I can tell from the press and that is British tv guys don't as a rule, have parties to say what on in the season ahead (all 4 of them)
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