Open Letter To Andy Wilman

[Suspense]

^ Sadly it's not the artists that are in charge of permission for things like this, it's the record labels, and we all know record labels are grumpy bastards who don't give a **** about people hearing their music unless there is a significant amount of money changing hands.

[airbusA346]

I have also noticed that they edit the episodes a lot on UKTV, e.g when Hamster swears at May on the IOM when he going on about the Porsche and that it will win and when they are back in the studio at the end, they edit out most of that.

[LoneWolf]

Originally Posted by airbusA346

I have also noticed that they edit the episodes a lot on UKTV, e.g when Hamster swears at May on the IOM when he going on about the Porsche and that it will win and when they are back in the studio at the end, they edit out most of that.

In short, they completely f*** up the episodes. I wish I could shoot those guys at UKTV!

[Enzo600]

I did email the BBC shop a during the TopGear drought askin them if i could buy the TG episodes from them. This is what they sent back..

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately we cannot assist you with this query at BBC Shop. The
decision to release titles is made solely by the Commissioning Editor's
office.

If you would like more specific information regarding this title, please
write to the Commissioning Editor of the BBC, at the following address:

BBC Commissioning Editor
3rd Floor
2 Entertain Ltd
33 Foley Street
London
W1W 7TL

Please note that enquiries can only be made by post.

BBC Shop is committed to giving customers access to the complete range
of product published by BBC Worldwide and in order to view the complete
range please go to www.bbcshop.com

We suggest you periodically check on the 'new release' section of the
BBC Shop using the link below, as you will find a regularly updated list
of forthcoming BBC titles there.
http://www.bbcshop.com/icat/homenewreleases

Why not sign up to the BBC Shop email bulletin and you'll receive
exciting offers and promotions as well as information on the latest new
releases. Please go to www.bbcshop.com/emailsignup

If you have any further problems or queries please do not hesitate to
contact us for further assistance.

Kind regards,

David Spendley
Customer Services
BBC Shop - all your BBC favourites under one roof


I guess if all of us write to the commissioning editor we might have a chance!

[AstonMartin]

it's ok then. Let's flood that office with requests for the Top Gear DVDs!

agreed?

AM

[Mr-Stabby]

As for the music, it would be very expensive no doubt to pay for all the music being used in the show, BUT if anybody has ever watched 'Teachers' the drama on Channel Four which was released on DVD, that has about 3 chart topping tracks every 5 minutes in every episode. And the episodes are an hour long, just like Top Gear, the series is about 10 episodes, just like Top Gear. Plus Top Gear is 10 times more popular! If Channel Four can do it, i'm sure Top Gear can!

I'd happily buy them on DVD, the UKTV versions are awful, badly badly cut, awful music replacement and also in that awful 14:9 letterbox cack. If i have to see that bloody dog or that bloke fixing the underside of a car again i will shoot the managing director at UKTV's dog!

[Mr McKane]

I would love to see all TG episode's on DVD, although completly un-cut like the original broadcast's and with the original music, not like the UKTV versions.

And i just had an idea, if they were to keep the original music, there could be a language option which bring's up which song is being played.

[upyourego]

The people you need to get in touch with is 2|Entertain - they're responsible for ALL BBC DVDs.

I got in touch with the commissioning editor a while ago (got a contact from a friend) and asked about actual TG box sets he told me it had been discussed but that there were no plans at the moment.

He mentioned music as a large stumbling block.

[Reboot]

Originally Posted by Mr-Stabby

As for the music, it would be very expensive no doubt to pay for all the music being used in the show, BUT if anybody has ever watched 'Teachers' the drama on Channel Four which was released on DVD, that has about 3 chart topping tracks every 5 minutes in every episode. And the episodes are an hour long, just like Top Gear, the series is about 10 episodes, just like Top Gear. Plus Top Gear is 10 times more popular! If Channel Four can do it, i'm sure Top Gear can!

And I'm willing to bet that the people who make Teachers arranged the DVD music rights before they even edited the music into the broadcast version, and if they hadn't agreed a deal they would have used something else on broadcast (and probably did in many cases).

Whereas TG was made with no view to the DVD rights it seems, and so the record companies have them over a barrel, and could either refuse outright (the people who own the Beatles' recording rights, for instance, no longer allow their music to be used on DVDs - unless they can't stop them because the programme makers negotiated in-perpetuity rights before the axe came down during the 1990s. Ergo, a couple of old Doctor Who stories have had to be edited for DVD, whereas The Prisoner came out unscathed) or demand more money than BBC Worldwide/2|Entertain would be willing to pay.

[nomix]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf

Remember the BBC is, strictly speaking, a non-profit organisation.

1. That doesn't rule it out, the Norwegian National broadcaster, NRK, is a non profit organisation too, but they still send out DVDs. After all, if the BBC went with profit, it could be used to improve programming and so on.
2. Since it's a non profit organisation, they could shift the DVDs for a reasonable prize, unlike the exagerated prizes TV-series have when they come on DVDs. If a series comes on DVD, it's not because the broadcaster didn't earn money on it, to put it politely.
3. There IS a market. 5 million viewers in the UK, unknown number of fans internationally. And anything that promotes Top Gear, even file sharing, will make broadcasters in other countries interested in buying the show. In Norway, some blokes started downloading it, then some more blokes, NRK got ahold of that, and they bought it. Illegal file sharing of a DVD will give even more fans.

[upyourego]

The way the BBC negotiates music rights is different to the way commercial broadcasters do. Music rights are negotiated for the BBC as a whole, because of it's radio stations (local and national) and TV channels.

It pays a fixed amount of money for rights to use pretty much any music available, the music is then logged and the amount the Beeb pays is re-negotiated dependent on use.

This means that, unlike commercial stations who buy rights ad hoc for TV shows, the BBC can't just use the music on a DVD - it would have to re-negotiate or change the music.

The cost of producing a DVD is suprisingly high and if you add in time to re-edit and put in alternative music then the cost goes up even further - so it would need a fairly high guaranteed local (UK) audience before it becomes viable.

The best of and specials they've started releasing could be seen as a way of testing the water - so if you brought them (I did) then you may contribute towards a decision into whether to release Top Gear Box Sets.

[otispunkmeyer]

what i want is TG UNCUT

for sure the show that eventually airs is toned down.

i would definately buy an un-cut version with the swearing and tongue in cheek jokes left in, and the gags and bloopers, and evangelisng speed to the max (notice how they're not allowed to say how fast they are goin when on public roads)

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by Mr-Stabby

As for the music, it would be very expensive no doubt to pay for all the music being used in the show, BUT if anybody has ever watched 'Teachers' the drama on Channel Four which was released on DVD, that has about 3 chart topping tracks every 5 minutes in every episode. And the episodes are an hour long, just like Top Gear, the series is about 10 episodes, just like Top Gear. Plus Top Gear is 10 times more popular! If Channel Four can do it, i'm sure Top Gear can!

I'd happily buy them on DVD, the UKTV versions are awful, badly badly cut, awful music replacement and also in that awful 14:9 letterbox cack. If i have to see that bloody dog or that bloke fixing the underside of a car again i will shoot the managing director at UKTV's dog!

ahhh well, C4 tend to be very unorthodox and alternative... they've shown alot of stuff that you simply would never see on the likes of ITV or the beeb, they probably had to do that to get people to watch.

as it happens they are viewed as alternative and rather "cool" look at their current shows, T4, holly oaks, crazy and questionable documentaries etc...their audience is primarily the young, the under 25's, emo kids etc etc. so i'd say they have a higher viewer percentage of people who will actually know about the music and artists being played and will likely be fans or will go out and buy the music.

so it makes sense for them to let C4 have the ability to feature lots of good tracks, becuase their audience is more likely to like what they hear and thus go out an buy

[Reboot]

Originally Posted by nomix

1. That doesn't rule it out, the Norwegian National broadcaster, NRK, is a non profit organisation too, but they still send out DVDs. After all, if the BBC went with profit, it could be used to improve programming and so on.
2. Since it's a non profit organisation, they could shift the DVDs for a reasonable prize, unlike the exagerated prizes TV-series have when they come on DVDs. If a series comes on DVD, it's not because the broadcaster didn't earn money on it, to put it politely.

The BBC get round it in a very simple way: They have a commercial subsidiary called BBC Worldwide (once upon a time BBC Enterprises), which can screw consumers for as much cash as they're willing to dish out quite happily. It's just a little politically sensitive - while the Beeb gets Worldwide's profits, BBCWW can't use any licence fee money for any reason.

[And a wee while back, BBCWW merged its' DVD arm with someone else's DVD arm to create 2|Entertain, who are now the ones which actually publish BBC DVDs and get logos on BBC DVDs as a result.]

[jayson]

/signed

At the least I would love to see them release a compilation set of the greatest TG shows over the past couple seasons. Like one set would have all of the challenge races - perhaps recut to an hours length for each race so there would be more footage and what not. An hour version of the toyboata would be great too!

Also, I would love to see an entire DVD worth of behind the scenes stuff, such as the camera rigs they use for filming, how they set up shoots / etc. It would be really interesting to see.

[Reboot]

Originally Posted by jayson

Also, I would love to see an entire DVD worth of behind the scenes stuff, such as the camera rigs they use for filming, how they set up shoots / etc. It would be really interesting to see.

I expect the only way that could happen would be as an extras disc on a boxset rather than a release of its' own. And, right now, the chances of a boxset look bleak...