If all the BBC’s programming over the years could be stored on celluloid, like in the old movies, and put end to end, like they say, then you could tie a pretty bow around Jupiter and still have enough film to make a roller-coaster back to earth. If all their radio broadcasts could be sewn together into one big long bank holiday Monday ‘best of’ with Jamie Theakston drafted in to front the show whilst all the real dj’s went on holiday, then the broadcast would last longer than time itself. And you would get pretty bored long before that. In other-words it’s a treasure trove of material that documents the history of Great Britain and has material to teach generations. The cultural legacy of a nation, and its all under the watchful eye of the greatest broadcasting corporation the world has ever known and is ever likely to know. Which means that it will probably get lost, deleted, forgotten about or get accidentally left on a train.

Which is kind of what happened when the archives were opened up on the BBC iplayer, an Internet tool on the flagship website that allows viewers to watch programs online or download them onto a storage device and watch them at a later date. Obviously with such a vast array of material and parties involved in the making of said material, when the BBC devised the iplayer idea they had to adhere to and implement strict copyright procedures in order to protect the art. They did. And it can be breached in 12 minutes by any amateur computer hacker in the land.

Program after program is downloaded off the website and put onto peer to peer and torrent websites all around the world, minus the DRM (digital rights management) system that only allows playback for 30 days before the files self corrupt themselves. With no DRM there is no copyright protection and the programs watched on the iplayer can no longer be tracked by the BBC. Oops.

In the scheme of things I suppose that 36 million is not a great deal of money. A small bonus to a wealthy banker, an average footballer. You probably couldn’t get hold of a decent powerboat for that so for the BBC to go 36 million pounds over budget isn’t such a big deal is it? On a website? Yes, www.bbc.co.uk cost a staggering £110 in the 2007/8 financial year. Not bad going. Only they were apparently not strictly meant to spend that much cash. The budget was only £72 million with a buffer, if you like, of the base plus 10 percentiles, giving a lottery busting £81.6 million. So where did the extra wongar get blown? And who is responsible for such gargantuan over spending?

Maybe it got spent on some quality broadcasting on the television? You know, TV, what the BBC used to do so well before they sold Neighbours to Channel 5. On a thorough inspection of the TV listings, its still just a pile of crap with the odd token quality program slipped in. They channels still stop broadcasting at 11pm as unemployed people don’t watch the BBC. It still shows contemptible American trash through the day, boring antique and local news shows in early evening, reality drivel late evenings and 13 year old Hollywood “blockbusters at night. So no, the extra money didn’t get spent there.

Taketheblame couldn’t find the story on the BBC website, the extra 36 million obviously doesn’t accommodate news that close to home. Don’t shit where you eat or something. All we could find was some quality journalism/research on biscuits and how different varieties can influence the outcome of a business meeting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7432092.stm

But still no money.  The BBC trust which carried out the report and found the over spend came out and said that the extra money was infact.

“was not overspend, but the misallocation of £24.9 million in overheads and costs to other budgets within the BBC, representing poor financial accountability”;

Hmm.. so poor accountability? But who do we hold accountable? Have they been fired, reprimanded, sent to prison? Someone must have done the accounts? Maybe they just gave it all to Jonathan Ross? Who knows. Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster said, on hearing of the report,

“This report is a damning indictment of the management of bbc.co.uk. Future investment will only take place if accountability is increased. Not only has the BBC lost track of a phenomenal sum of money, but this mismanagement will now directly impact on the future development of this popular service.”

So we all agree? So who is to blame? Anyone? TaketheBlame will shoulder this heavy financial burden, it is obviously us who are to blame. Its probably under the cushions on the sofa.