During his key note speech at the Edinburgh Television Festival in 2009, James Murdoch launched his first stinging attack on the BBC.  He accused it of dominating the British media industry, and having too much money to play with.  He has not been silenced since, regularly informing audiences at large conferences across the globe of his bizarre belief that a state owned broadcaster without an underlying political motive should not be trusted, whilst a commercial, biased and politically slanted broadcaster (…Fox News?) should.  Well, I say “bizarre belief”, but it’s not bizarre.  In fact, it’s probably not even a belief.  If I was Chairman of the biggest commercial broadcaster in the UK, I’d be pretty hacked off at the BBC.  I mean, everyday it offers accurate news and quality entertainment, without interrupting it with ad breaks and lies.  Additionally, it doesn’t charge for this priviledge past the license fee.  I’m not denying that the license fee is controversial, but it isn’t half as controversial as the proposal of Britain’s national broadcaster playing out adverts would be.  Anyway, ignore my pointless ranting- back to the matter in hand.  James Murdoch was right to say the BBC dominates the media in Britain.  I would never deny this fact.  It relaxes me to know that I can trust and rely on the biggest broadcaster in my country.  However, for Murdoch to accuse the BBC of having too much money to play with, whilst heading up Sky is, if possible, the largest demonstration of hypocrisy by the junior media mogul.  I know there have been a fair few nominations for the “Most Hypocritical Moment at News Corporation” award, but this will undoubtedly make the shortlist.  Let me explain why…

Sky have attempted to buy every successful programme on television in the past two decades.  But, instead of buying out shows when they are initially offered, they wait for other channels to show them for their first few seasons.  At which point, should the show in question be a success, they use the ludicrous amount of money they have access to and outbid the broadcaster who first bought its rights.  This dirty method, unfortunately, guarantees Sky more customers and more viewers.  In case you don’t believe me, I’ll run by you a fraction of the programmes Sky Television have bought via these methods:

  • 24 (from the BBC)
  • Entourage (from ITV)
  • ER (from Channel 4)
  • Flight of the Conchords (from the BBC)
  • Friends (from Channel 4)
  • Glee (from Channel 4)
  • Grey’s Anatomy (from Channel 4)
  • House (from Channel 5)
  • Lost (from Channel 4)
  • Mad Men (from the BBC)
  • Prison Break (from Channel 5)
  • The Simpsons (from the BBC)

The broadcaster has the same approach to its sports coverage.  When the England Cricket Team won The Ashes in 2005, Channel 4 also won millions of viewers in the process.  Little did the network know that Sky was ready to cash in on the newly-found popularity of the sport, and stole the rights from 4 only a few months later.  ITV enjoyed its most viewed coverage ever of Champions League Football in 2008.  Shortly after this, Sky decided to buy more matches in the tournament, which left ITV with barely a handful.  In 2003, the England Rugby Union Team became champions of the world, after winning the Rugby World Cup live on terrestrial televison.  Only a few weeks later, the BBC’s coverage of Rugby Union was snatched up by Sky in a ten year deal.  I would like to remind you that James Murdoch accuses the BBC of having too much money floating around and being too dominant.  Sky clearly have access to all the money they could possibly need, and are becoming increasingly dominant.

You might think this outburst against Sky is just me jumping on the bandwagon, with no apparent reason or trigger, but you’re wrong.  This morning, it was announced that Sky have outbid the BBC for full coverage of Formula One.  The deal will last for six years, starting from next season, and leaves the BBC with only half the races of each season.  I cannot imagine the frustration felt by the team behind the Beeb’s F1 coverage right now.  They have done a fantastic job, and brought in millions more viewers and fans to the sport.  Yet, it is because of their hard work and effort that Sky have seized this new addition for their portfolio of stolen rights.

Now is not the time to question broadcasting dominance within the British Isles.  There is no doubt about the BBC being the largest and most powerful media network in theUK.  However, with the BSkyB empire throbbing ever larger, and the BBC downsizing after a license fee freeze, now is definitely the time to question which broadcaster you would rather dominate Britain.  Would we prefer honesty and integrity from the BBC, or corruption and greed from Sky?  I wonder…