Ofcom says BBC comedy ‘in danger’ for fourth yr

Friday ninth December 2022, 10:23am

• Ofcom has criticised the BBC‘s lack of deal with comedy for the fifth yr
• The style has been deemed particularly “in danger” for a fourth yr working, as a consequence of low funding
• It solely assumed oversight of the broadcaster 5 years in the past

BBC Comedy

Broadcast and communications regulator Ofcom has once more branded the comedy style to be “in danger” on the BBC.

It’s the fourth successive yr through which the organisation has flagged the Company’s tv comedy output in such phrases – having solely assumed duty of oversight over the BBC 5 years in the past.

Relating particularly to tv, ‘comedy’ consists of the scripted commissions from the BBC Comedy division – sitcoms, sketch exhibits and a small variety of comedy dramas and archive documentaries. It doesn’t cowl panel or stand-up codecs reminiscent of Have I Got News For You and Live At The Apollo, that are nearly solely commissioned by the Leisure division.

The primary such report into Britain’s nationwide broadcaster coated the monetary yr starting April 2017 and highlighted a drop of 38% in tv comedy since 2010, nonetheless because the second annual report the regulator has used the specific “in danger” time period.

Alongside various different genres together with arts and kids’s, comedy is deemed as “in danger” as a consequence of repeatedly declining hours of authentic content material broadcast and cash invested, its significance to each the tv and nationwide cultural panorama, and the BBC‘s obligations beneath its constitution.

The fifth annual report, which was revealed final week and covers April 2021 to March 2022, repeats the alarm for comedy, calling for continued funding within the style.

In complete, Ofcom counted 108 hours of authentic UK comedy throughout BBC tv channels in 2021-2, down from 225 in 2010 (when each BBC Three and BBC Four broadcast comedy), however up by six hours on 2020-1.

The next chart breaks down what number of hours of latest comedy commissions have been broadcast, UK-wide, throughout the 4 BBC tv channels between the monetary years beginning 2010 and 2021.