Beeb 2.0 – Out with New Media in with Obfuscation

New Media is gone and the new gig is “Future Media & Technology”, we need the Director General himself, Mark Thompson, to explain what is going-on here:

Let's turn to that division now. It's 'Future' because we believe that it should focus on what comes next in terms of technology and services, building on the insights and successes Ashley Highfield and his team have already given us. Much of what we call 'new media' is really present media and it belongs in the main content divisions alongside linear TV and radio. There are two big changes in the way we handle non-linear output and technology across the BBC. Responsibility and funding for non-linear content is going to go straight to the content divisions – all the funding for Children's websites, for instance, will go straight to Children's. The main focus of Ashley and his team will be on developing new ways for audiences to find and use our content with a focus on search and navigation and metadata, on demand, mobile, the whole challenge of Web 2.0 as well as overall hosting of our website. Technology is going to be key to our future so the second big change for FM&T is that we're going to pull all of our technologists around the BBC into a single team with a single technology budget. We need to be able to set strategic priorities across all our ideas for audiences and then deliver them as fast as we can by concentrating our best technology talent on them and opting, wherever possible, for common systems and standards. But we also know that technology works best in the BBC when it's really close to the business and when the technologists are sitting right next to the content people. So, once the priorities are set, we expect the technology teams to be out there in the content groups working with their colleagues as now. Ashley will have three new future media and technology controllers, one for each of the content groups, who will make sure that each group gets the talent and support it needs, and who will help make sure that our key future media technology projects work in tandem with our editorial vision and plans. Getting this balance right – between clear central direction and really effective local team-working – is tricky but really important: we're going to involve all the stakeholders over the next couple of months to make sure we get the implementation right. Technology is a great creative resource for the BBC – we need it to flourish and grow in confidence.

What a load of rubbish, I don't believe anyone believes this...

The truth is now no-one will know the true cost of the BBC’s web division, it is an integral part as much as the TV & Radio services and now every household in the UK has to pay for it whether they want it or not.

The BBC has just guaranteed its' mandatory bundle for the next 10 years.

The department, despite not having any content creation role, has a budget of a mere £250m per annum and the likelyhood of it moving away from London to Manchester has now been diminished.