Accuracy in Media reports that the Bolshie Beeb, as the BBC is unaffectionately known by furious Conservatives in the UK, is now set to invade the American market. BBC evening news is already available on some PBS stations and on cable, and more is to follow soon.

Since its inauguration in 1998, the cable channel BBC America has grown such that by July 2004 it was available in 40 million U.S. homes, and it's growing further. In January 2006 the BBC announced a deal with Discovery to bring its 24—hour news channel, BBC World News, to every American home. 

The Beeb is supported by some $6.5 billon of taxpayers' money (license fees for television receivers) in the UK, and represents only the Labour Left — pretty much the equivalent of the Looney Left in the US. As a massive bureaucracy it is beyond repair, just like the CIA in the US, or the IRS.

George Orwell, who worked at one time for the Beeb, used it as a model for his "Ministry of Truth" in his great novel 1984. The Ministry of Truth of course peddled nothing but lies. On the "culture" side, the BBC is wonderful, probably without equal in the world. On the "news" side it is a Looney Left propaganda outfit.

Beebwatch used to be an excellent source of commentary on the Beeb's propaganda line. A current version is BBCEye.

For some savvy American news outfit (maybe Fox?) the Beeb's entry into the US market offers a tremendous business opportunity. Europe has no conservative — that is, mainstream, common sense — media. Everything is a bureaucracy, almost everything is owned by the socialists and the government. There is a corresponding hunger for common sense and realism — just as there was in the United States before the rise of the New Media.

Under free trade agreements, Europe is obligated to allow American news access to its domestic markets, just as the US is allowing the BBC and its ilk. What a business opening! You can expect the Eurobeaurocracies to fight tooth and nail, but the web makes it hard to block American news and commentary.

What is needed is a sophisticated version of Fox — not another tabloid channel. Call it "Fox for adults." One market indication: The spontaneous Blogoflare against the Euro Constitution — a monstrosity of bureaucratic imposition. When the Blogosphere started to tell the truth, the voters of France and Holland simply said no. (Europe will never allow another free vote if it can help it).

The audience is there, the product is here, the technology is growing more mature. How about a Rush Limbaugh channel for Europe? Let the market decide.

James Lewis   5 16 06