116 Staff + 303 contractors and freelancers at Turnberry

Sky attacks BBC Open staffing level

'Even an American broadcaster would not use more than 200'

FROM THE HERALD SPORTS WEBSITE
http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport
By SARAH MORRISON
The BBC has again been forced to justify its use of licence fee payers' money after broadcast rival Sky said it could cover the Open golf championships with half the number of staff.
Just days after the BBC was criticised for taking more than 300 staff to cover the T in the Park music festival at Balado, the broadcaster has come under fresh scrutiny over plans to send an even larger number to the Open golf championship taking place at Turnberry in Ayrshire this week.
Out of the 419 personnel that the BBC is sending to the Open, 116 are BBC staff and 303 contractors and freelancers. Included in the BBC staff total are 35 Radio Five Live employees and 21 staff from BBC Radio Scotland. The 303 contractors include technical cameramen, riggers, graphics specialists, vision editors, sound staff, electricians and security.
While the BBC defended its decision to send such a large number of people to the four-day sporting event, Sky Sports said the number was "abnormally high."
A Sky Sports spokesman said that when it covered major events like the Ryder Cup or the US Open, less than half that number of staff were usually needed.
"Even an American broadcaster would not use more than 200 staff all together in a TV compound," the spokesman said. "For a major golf event, there are usually 150 production staff and 50 presentation staff needed to cover the tournament."
He added: "The more production staff, the more this all costs. It is a lot easier to manage if you keep it lean. Four hundred people is a lot to be in charge of - and it might be hard to do the job to the best ability with that many people on the ground."
A BBC spokesman, however, said the broadcaster offered "extensive, high-quality coverage" of the golfing event, providing 70 hours of TV and online coverage.
He said: "The logistics involved in providing coverage for a golf broadcast like the Open, which at Turnberry this year will be played out across 7,204 yards, are immense, with cameras required around the course to ensure that viewers in Britain and around the world get to see all the action.
"Every member of the team has a clear and accountable role and staff on-site work incredibly hard and very long hours to offer unparalleled coverage."
For Scottish Conservative media and culture spokesman, Ted Brocklebank, the figures reveal the absence of competition in broadcasting.
"The BBC is becoming more bloated and it has to look to the staffing levels that it uses," he said.
"They are facing up to real problems of cuts in funding and by putting too many staff on events they are playing into the hands of those who want to top-slice the BBC license fee. Especially when it seems that others could cover events with a vastly cut number of staff."
David Cairns, Labour MP and chair of the all-party group on Scottish broadcasting, said that he was glad more events were being broadcast from Scotland, but concerned that no money should be wasted.
"Obviously the BBC must not waste license payers' money. I don't know whether these productions could be done with fewer staff and they shouldn't send more than are needed. But at long last people across the UK are getting to see more BBC programmes being broadcast from Scotland."
*Scottishgolfview.com has the permission of The Herald Newspaper sports editor to publish the above article.