| The station has a slight leaning towards comedy, this is because many comedy programmes fit into nice 30 minute sections, which is how the station tends to broadcast the majority of its material. There were some Saturday Night Theatre productions which were broadcast in the early days, but they were re-edited into three 30 minute episodes and broadcast over three days.
Fortunately BBC7 has a very active user forum and the users at the time were able to persuade the powers that be that they had the intelligence and stamina to take a full 90 minute drama. This resulted in 90 minute dramas being broadcast on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
The other major problem the Station has faced is a phenomenon known as “rights issues”, this means that that although the BBC have plays and dramas in their archive, their contract with the author and other artists prevents them from broadcasting them. This has been a particular problem for Saturday Night Theatre recordings.
While it was understood that there were always going to be repeats on BBC7, the “right issue” significantly reduces the amount of available broadcasts. This has led to the same programme being re-broadcast only months after it was first broadcast on BBC7.
These problems notwithstanding BBC7 is a welcome addition to the digital airwaves and it is hoped they will go from strength to strength.
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