A short while age I emailed BBC 7 about the number of repeats on the channel.
I did receive a very quick reply which put things into perspective. I did ask for permission to reproduce the reply here but have not received a reply to that email.
I think it unfair to publish the reply without permission. However, most of the content of the email is available from the BBC 7 site.
From BBC 7'S Website:
BBC 7 was set up as a repeat digital network on a small budget and we only have a staff of seventeen to run the network.
It takes around 3 months to research, clear copyright and digitally remaster every programme.
Therefore to make it economically viable, we buy 9 broadcast rights spread over 3 years (excluding the 24 hour repeat) which means we have to repeat most programmes 3 times in a year.
However, rather than repeat a block of programmes every 4 months, which would be the easiest option, we do try to stagger repeats, mixing the old with the new, so that there is always something fresh to listen to amongst the repeats.
Perhaps when we near the listening figures of Radio 4 we will have a similar budget but, in the meantime, we do our best within available resources.
