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ES Views: Main challenge for the BBC is finding new audiences

Chris Evans leaves a central London office after presenting his Radio 2 Breakfast show on the morning his pay packet was revealed: Getty
Chris Evans leaves a central London office after presenting his Radio 2 Breakfast show on the morning his pay packet was revealed: Getty

Your editorial [July 19] made some pertinent comments about the BBC facing competition from Netflix et al but missed the crucial point that it is not content but the medium that is the challenge.

Neither my daughter nor nephews watch mainstream television: they only consider streaming services for their copious consumption of dramas and documentaries.

The BBC has produced the most fantastic range of content over the past two or three years, such as Poldark, Peaky Blinders and The Last Kingdom, which is sold around the world at a profit. Not being available via Amazon or Netflix has probably meant whole swathes of younger viewers have not watched them. To this end, the BBC has announced significant investment in a new streaming service for children’s content, which will then create a new generation of BBC consumers.

The licence fee seems to be very reasonable, given the brilliant radio, TV and online content available. At least it is better than paying a penny to Rupert Murdoch’s Sky empire.

Laura Field

There has clearly been much gnashing of teeth over the presenters’ and actors’ salaries disclosed by the BBC. In particular, various female employees have been quoted as being “beyond madness” and “incandescent with rage”.

I’m in full agreement with gender equality in all areas of life, and it’s clear that the female broadcasters have drawn the short straw. But we should all be incandescent with rage at the obscene amounts of money that any of this motley crew of overpaid, overblown, self-important clowns gets paid, especially in light of the current “austerity” environment.

It’s no surprise that the highest earners — namely Chris Evans, Gary Lineker and Graham Norton — seemed so blissfully happy broadcasting when only they knew how much they were being paid. Now that we do, we are not amused or entertained.
Gerry Brown


While we as taxpayers want transparency, fairness and proper governance, forcing the BBC to reveal the salaries of its top talent and to suffer the media headlines it has generated has not been fair and obscures the truth.

The fact that white male talent (as always) is paid more than non-white and female talent is nothing new — just run the same analysis of any other organisation and you will undoubtedly find a similarly uneven situation.

As the BBC has been forced to reveal top salaries and names, maybe we should insist on having a level playing field and ensure that all other public services and government departments reveal the names with highest salaries.
Dowshan Humzah


Battersea project is a huge housing loss

Last week Tory-led Wandsworth Council voted to allow the Battersea Power Station developers to cut 250 affordable homes from their iconic riverside site. This project was only providing 15 per cent affordable housing in the first place. Now it’s nine per cent.

Londoners are sadly getting used to situations like this, where large projects promise affordable homes which then never materialise. There’s nothing inherently wrong with review mechanisms (the legal devices used to revise these promises), but, tacking them onto large projects midway through is dangerous. It offers developers too many ways to move costs around and get out of earlier commitments.

But Councils must share the blame. This development has projected profits of £1.8 billion, but, instead of standing up for local residents, Wandsworth’s Council decided to back the developers. The costs of these 250 homes account for only 1-2 per cent of total costs. This was never going to be deal breaker. Wandsworth Council could have refused their application and this project would still have gone ahead.

The housing crisis is one of the most serious issues facing our country and London in particular. The cost of rent keeps going up while whole generations are frozen out of the property market. This situation is unsustainable and the Conservative government are doing nothing to address it.

Battersea Power Station is one of London’s most celebrated landmarks. It could also have been a bold attempt to deal with the housing crisis. Instead it’s a huge missed opportunity, which has just been made worse.
Marsha De Cordova, MP for Battersea

Mrs May's curious view of democracy

About a third of the electorate voted for Theresa May in the election yet she lost her majority. But by agreeing to give £1billion to the DUP to gain the majority she needed, she is now again in charge of the Brexit negotiations.

She says it is “the will of the people” to leave the EU so there is no turning back. She refuses to countenance a final vote in Parliament on the terms of Brexit. As things stand, the UK could leave the EU simply because the Tory party is in hock to a group of Right- wingers. This seems to be what we call democracy nowadays.
Nick Dekker


From day one, obstacles have been placed in the way of Theresa May, a democratically elected Prime Minister, to try to slow down or alter the will of the majority.

As a country we should be behind the Government, not trying to change the result of a vote that, whether we agree with it or not, was a clear signal to leave the EU as soon as possible.
Nick Smith

Southern Rail chaos is just intolerable

I am disappointed to see the Southern Rail saga go off the news radar. This company cannot operate without its drivers working overtime so dozens of services have been cancelled.

Streatham Common, the sixth- busiest station on the Southern network, has had four trains cancelled between 6pm-7pm. Passengers are fainting on overcrowded trains, while Southern fails to acknowledge that its plans to operate driver-only trains will penalise disabled passengers.
Claire Michaela

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