The BBC Trust has announced that it has rejected Mark Thompson's proposal to close the digital radio station, citing the enormous public response as a factor in determining their decision.
Such an enormous public reaction, headed largely by the twitter campaign, saw the BBC bombarded with over 25,000 emails and nearly 250 letters. The BBC Trust have decided not to axe the station, and have insisted that BBC managers should work out how to increase their weekly listener ratings, instead.
Mark Thompson's original strategy had been to axe the station, after a review conducted in February 2010 revealed that less than 20% of the adult population had even heard of the station. The same review suggested that 6Music should "ensure the “musical credibility” of its presenters while improving its ratings without spending any more money.
5 months -and many angry Facebook and Twitter campaigns - later, and 6 Music has not only been saved from the chop, it also appears to have benefited from the kind of viral (and free!) marketing that the original review recommended...
The BBC Trust also stated that they do not see 6 Music as being a "significant threat to commercial radio stations". Considering that 6Music was never going to be as much of a threat to commercial stations as the all-powerful Radio1 and Radio2, Thompson's argument to the contrary seemed by many a bit of a side-step. Many irate fans viewed Thompson's reaction with scepticism, arguing that BBC should look at these stations instead.
Whilst some commercial rivals have welcomed news of BBC cuts, others are not so convinced. There are arguments that BBC's publicly-funded status allows it to serve demographics that aren't lucrative enough to attract advertisers, making them unattractive to commercial rivals. And it raises the question - if the BBC cut back their offering to the point where it is unattractive to the public, where is the benefit of that service? Surely the public would rather see their money spent on an attractive, well-informed and successful product, rather than something that no one wants?
Read more about the announcement
here or follow the reactions on
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