The BBC has come under pressure to reduce it's website activities by the government, saying it's not what the licence fee is for and it's unfair on other internet content providers.

I completly disagree BTW. Sounds as if the government are living in the 1950's.

zz9 | June 27, 14:00 CET

Wow. That was one of the--if not *the*--first Buffy sites I frequented.

And of course it makes perfect sense to cut the second best-rated section of your website (as mentioned in the link).

Niels | June 27, 14:23 CET

It is one of my first, and favorite, sites as well. It seems amazing to me that saying that their most popular site, the one with the most visitors, "is not what the license fee is for" is very short sighted. Are they only interested in keeping unpopular sites going? Seems to me that the Government would rejoice that they were reaching so many people. At any rate, I am very sad to see it go, it was a beautiful site with many intersting things (usually the only site with Tony Head's interviews posted).

embers | June 27, 14:46 CET

See here for details.

I thought the BBC was supposed to "Educate, entertain and inform". I guess the internet isn't the place for that stuff. < /sarcasm>

zz9 | June 27, 15:00 CET

Some things are going away, but there are also new online initiatives being presented by the BBC. BBC Backstage being one of them.

It's not access to people and shows but rather a chance to use their feeds and some of their code to build new online applications. I wonder if the govt hadn't shaken things up a year ago if this would have happened at all.

herb | June 27, 15:25 CET

I've been a big fan of the bbc site since '99 or so (when they started showing Buffy I suppose) and I've just been rewatching some of the old interviews (and in fact finding some I'd missed 1st time around). This is pretty sad news as far as I'm concerned - I remember when it was announced that I was far from impressed. That said I don't read the cult site anywhere near as much as I used to. Oh well, yet another reason to resent paying the licence fee (though at least with Doctor Who they now make something I want to watch) and I know this isn't their fault...

Paul_Rocks | June 27, 15:51 CET

Thats a really big shame. Genuinley that site was consistently brillaint.

Apocalypse | June 27, 15:56 CET

At least we're getting some warning of its imminent departure.

Also, GRRRR! ARRRG!

Craig Oxbrow | June 27, 16:20 CET

We need to ask the internet-archive (wayback machine) to do a final scan of everything for us! There are some real treasures on there...

TaraLivesOn | June 27, 16:37 CET

I'm really sad at that. There's so much being lost, not just Buffy.

But having said that...



Phew!

TheDivineGoat | June 27, 16:38 CET

Does this mean Amber Benson's "Ghosts of Albion" will go away too?!?!
Please tell me England has a "april fools" on a different day and this is all a big joke!?

TaraLivesOn | June 27, 18:50 CET

Sadly not, though I'm hoping that since Ghosts of Albion is original content made by the bbc that they'll keep it somewhere like the're keeping the Doctor Who site.

Paul_Rocks | June 27, 19:09 CET

Guess I'd better start saving all the episode guides and interviews. :(

The annoying thing is that, while I understand that the Cult site isn't important to everyone, there are less deserving parts of the website, and many other examples of how the license fee is being wasted. When was the last time you actually watched an entire night of good TV on the BBC? The only thing I watch now is Neighbours, ever since Buffy and The Simpsons aren't shown anymore.

Not to mention BBC3 and BBC4. I've never watched them before. I enjoyed watching Glastonbury on BBC1 but that was marred by them continuing the band on BBC3 and then repeating it on BBC1 again. Why not just show the whole show at once?

It's not just the BBC, really it's TV in general, but I'm sick of seeing DIY shows or "reality" programs or DIY reality programs or cynical and depressing soaps such as Eastenders. They should get rid of them before they mess with the Cult website.

[ edited by Razor on 2005-06-27 18:25 ]

Razor | June 27, 20:23 CET

Don't know if it will help, but here's a place to complain:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

[ edited by twiggy on 2005-06-27 18:31 ]

twiggy | June 27, 20:30 CET

I wonder just how big the "cult" part is in megabytes?
I have a friend that is a high level tech at a large ISP with huge datapipes
and they could basically do a WGET for me ;-)

TaraLivesOn | June 27, 20:33 CET

We knew it was coming, but it's still saddens me to see this wonderful site close down. And not only the BBC, but many other BtVS sites as well. When Buffy and Angel ended, I'd realized the time would come when my favorite sites would become static and start to close. Didn't realize how painful it would be to watch that process occur.

Fortunately, there's always you fine people of Whedonesque to brighten any day and stay on course. Yep, I see several projects of Joss on the horizon that should keep us chatting our heads off for years to come. My glass is always half-full.

Madhatter | June 27, 20:36 CET

Too bad the videos are not downloadable. Well, I guess we have to hope that the actors become big stars that have lots of interviews on TV.

NealM | June 27, 21:22 CET

Evidently, the videos are sort of downloadable, NealM. The trick is in learning how. I haven't the foggiest idea of where to begin but I'd love to know. I put up a plaintive plea for tutelage on flickr. Some great advice has already come in. Check it out.

[ edited by phlebotinin on 2005-06-27 19:28 ]

phlebotinin | June 27, 21:27 CET

How do I download those episodes. email me nm_a10@yahoo.com

charisma | June 27, 23:06 CET

Thanks for the heads up. I've spent the better part of the morning saving all of the information I can find to disk. (And, in fact, still am.)

You can save the video files. Finding out isn't too hard – one quick Google search should tell you all you need to know.

Jet Wolf | June 28, 00:19 CET

Not really, Jet Wolf. Could be the extent of my lack of internet expertise, because I tried a Google search. Would you mind terribly posting a hint or two in Flickr? I'd love to save the info to disk but without some help it ain't gonna happen.

phlebotinin | June 28, 00:28 CET

Done. If it doesn't make sense, let me know.

Jet Wolf | June 28, 03:35 CET

I never spent much time looking at the site, to be fair, but now that it is going away, I hope that we don't lose any valuable information.

Ocular | June 28, 05:05 CET

I'm so sad! That was my very first BuffY site I visited. It is always my quick episode guide if I needed some information. UGH! This makes me so, so sad.

Harmalicious | June 28, 05:50 CET

I'm heartbroken! I LOVED that site!!!

Emma Frost | June 28, 11:10 CET

I can no longer even see the video links, are they already gone?!

inbetween | June 28, 22:20 CET