Would be the following scenario the instant K.O. of the unwritten PJ & Glastonbury future or not ?? Imagine not the Eavis family is calling but Bezos or his wife …
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CASH-STRAPPED BBC FEARS LOSING GLASTONBURY TV RIGHTS TO STREAMING GIANTS
to streaming giants in a bidding war over the festival’s TV future, insiders fear. YouTube and Amazon Music are poised to offer multimillion dollar bids to snatch the jewel in the BBC’s music crown, industry sources have claimed. Concerns that Glastonbury could be restricted to pay-per-view audiences on streaming platforms were raised as the BBC prepares to launch its most extensive coverage yet of the festival, which welcomed the first of 200,000 ticket-holders on Wednesday. YouTube’s interest forced the BBC to make a substantially higher bid to renew its deal for exclusive broadcast rights to Glastonbury, when the last contract was agreed in 2023 for an undisclosed fee, The i Paper understands. The BBC fears it could be blown out of the water by deep-pocketed US tech giants, who are increasing their commitment to livestreaming concerts and music festivals, when contract renegotiations begin. The BBC has been forced to make savings and cut hundreds of jobs due to a 30 per cent fall in real-terms licence fee income since 2010. The licence fee’s future will be decided during negotiations over a new BBC royal charter. Losing Glastonbury would be a huge blow for the BBC, which said its 2023 coverage reached 21.6 million people. Its Bafta-winning comprehensive livestream broadcast over the weekend is often cited when BBC executives are asked to justify the licence fee. In January, YouTube screened the all-star FireAid benefit concert in Los Angeles, starring Billie Eilish, and last year presented an exclusive livestream of a London show by The Cure. Earlier this month Amazon Music offered viewers live, multi-stage coverage of Primavera Sound – Spain’s biggest festival, headlined by Charli xcx – to Amazon Prime subscribers. Tempting the Eavis family The Eavis family, which owns the festival, could be tempted by a multi-year bid from a platform which would give Glastonbury a global audience of millions that BBC iPlayer cannot reach. An auction for the rights involving tech giants could reach $100m (£74.5m), one broadcasting insider claimed, with the BBC’s current multi-year deal believed to end in 2027. The money could future-proof Glastonbury for the next decade, allowing the organisers to keep pace with rising costs, hold ticket prices at a steady level for fans and commit more funds to charity. Discussions over the next contract are expected to begin later next year, when Glastonbury lies “fallow”, with no festival to let the Somerset farmland recover. A BBC insider said: “The bid price has already gone up and if it’s purely down to money, the BBC can’t compete with Google and Amazon. “There was a real fear YouTube could grab it last time. Glastonbury would go the way of sports rights that are just too expensive to justify.” A live music industry figure said Glastonbury should be wary of the riches promised by streaming. “Glastonbury is supposed to still have ethical principles. There would be a huge backlash if people had to pay Amazon to watch it.” However streaming platforms, which do not have to follow the BBC’s impartiality rules, could broadcast sets and statements by highly-politicised acts such as Kneecap without the controversies that surround the national broadcaster’s editorial decisions. How the BBC took on Glasto Glastonbury moved its television coverage from Channel 4 to the BBC in 1997. Sir Michael Eavis, the festival’s founder, said the BBC was better equipped to showcase the growing scale of the event through its TV, radio and then nascent online platforms. He also wanted the festival to have a greater national free-to-air reach. Read Next: Divas and angry viewers: Why Glastonbury is a 90-hour headache for the BBC The BBC figure believes the broadcaster’s role in promoting the festival across its channels, and ability to turn headline performances into national events – Sir Elton John’s 2023 “farewell” set attracted 7.6 million BBC One viewers – could influence the festival to stick with the BBC. The BBC is promising its biggest Glastonbury ever this weekend with blanket coverage across TV, BBC iPlayer, radio and BBC Sounds. “There are festivals all over the world but none of them look like Glastonbury does, in the way that the BBC shows it,” Lorna Clarke, the BBC’s director of music, told Music Week. The BBC does not disclose how much it spends on Glastonbury, which is produced by BBC Studios, the corporation’s commercial wing. It regularly sends some 400 staff, freelancers and contractors to Worthy Farm to produce the coverage. Last year, the BBC trialled livestreaming headline sets from Dua Lipa and Coldplay to international audiences on the BBC website, which shows commercial advertising to users outside of the UK. The experiment is not being repeated this weekend but could be revisited in the future, the BBC said. How Glastonbury could look on YouTube Innovations this year include Pyramid Stage performances streamed live in ultra-high definition and with British Sign Language interpretation. There will be 90 hours of livestreamed music across five stages – available on BBC Sounds throughout July – although the BBC has not yet confirmed whether Saturday headliner Neil Young will allow it to broadcast all, or any, of his set. The BBC justifies the cost of covering Glastonbury, said to run into several millions, by the wide audience it reaches and the broadcaster’s ability to support rising new stars. It declined to comment on the potential streamer threat but a spokesperson said it was “Glastonbury’s exclusive broadcast partner” and would bring audiences “a two-month celebration of the festival this June and July”. YouTube could show Glastonbury for free, with adverts, or offer complete access to subscribers to its premium, £10.99 a month, ad-free YouTube Music option. Amazon screens live coverage of Primavera, Japan’s Fuji Rock and other festivals on Prime Video or through its Twitch music channels. YouTube was approached for comment while Amazon Music said it was unable to provide a person to comment. The future of Glastonbury The Eavis family is making plans to preserve Glastonbury’s long-term viability. Michael, 89, handed his entire shareholding in Glastonbury Festival Events Ltd, the operational company responsible for running the festival and selling tickets, to his daughter Emily, 45, last October, Companies House filings show. Michael also transferred three quarters of the shares he owns in the separate holding company, Glastonbury Festivals Limited, to a trust. The two transfers could potentially save the Eavis family nearly £80m in inheritance tax, The Times claimed. The festival could be worth up to £400m if it was sold to a commercial music operator and given the freedom to launch international franchises, it was suggested by the newspaper. A spokesperson for Glastonbury Festival said the value of the event was “nothing like” the “highly speculative figures” being suggested. Last year, Glastonbury recorded a £6m profit with an equivalent sum given to charities. But Emily told the BBC that the festival is still recovering from losing £10m in cash reserves during the pandemic. The festival declined to comment on its future broadcast intentions but said: “For the record, Glastonbury Festival will never be sold.” Worthy Farm remains solely owned by Michael and both he and the festival “have always been, and will always be, happy to pay their due tax”. 2025-06-26T09:40:33Z
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Band not on stage at this point
This can be only a top highlight of Glastonbury 2025.
First upload 1am - 2am. Maybe more will show up via this link.
▶️ Biblical
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CASH-STRAPPED BBC FEARS LOSING GLASTONBURY TV RIGHTS TO STREAMING GIANTS
The BBC could lose Glastonbury
YouTube and Amazon Music are poised to offer multimillion dollar bids to snatch the jewel in the BBC’s music crown, industry sources have claimed.
Concerns that Glastonbury could be restricted to pay-per-view audiences on streaming platforms were raised as the BBC prepares to launch its most extensive coverage yet of the festival, which welcomed the first of 200,000 ticket-holders on Wednesday.
YouTube’s interest forced the BBC to make a substantially higher bid to renew its deal for exclusive broadcast rights to Glastonbury, when the last contract was agreed in 2023 for an undisclosed fee, The i Paper understands.
The BBC fears it could be blown out of the water by deep-pocketed US tech giants, who are increasing their commitment to livestreaming concerts and music festivals, when contract renegotiations begin.
The BBC has been forced to make savings and cut hundreds of jobs due to a 30 per cent fall in real-terms licence fee income since 2010. The licence fee’s future will be decided during negotiations over a new BBC royal charter.
Losing Glastonbury would be a huge blow for the BBC, which said its 2023 coverage reached 21.6 million people. Its Bafta-winning comprehensive livestream broadcast over the weekend is often cited when BBC executives are asked to justify the licence fee.
In January, YouTube screened the all-star FireAid benefit concert in Los Angeles, starring Billie Eilish, and last year presented an exclusive livestream of a London show by The Cure.
Earlier this month Amazon Music offered viewers live, multi-stage coverage of Primavera Sound – Spain’s biggest festival, headlined by Charli xcx – to Amazon Prime subscribers.
Tempting the Eavis family
The Eavis family, which owns the festival, could be tempted by a multi-year bid from a platform which would give Glastonbury a global audience of millions that BBC iPlayer cannot reach.
An auction for the rights involving tech giants could reach $100m (£74.5m), one broadcasting insider claimed, with the BBC’s current multi-year deal believed to end in 2027.
The money could future-proof Glastonbury for the next decade, allowing the organisers to keep pace with rising costs, hold ticket prices at a steady level for fans and commit more funds to charity.
Discussions over the next contract are expected to begin later next year, when Glastonbury lies “fallow”, with no festival to let the Somerset farmland recover.
A BBC insider said: “The bid price has already gone up and if it’s purely down to money, the BBC can’t compete with Google and Amazon.
“There was a real fear YouTube could grab it last time. Glastonbury would go the way of sports rights that are just too expensive to justify.”
A live music industry figure said Glastonbury should be wary of the riches promised by streaming. “Glastonbury is supposed to still have ethical principles. There would be a huge backlash if people had to pay Amazon to watch it.”
However streaming platforms, which do not have to follow the BBC’s impartiality rules, could broadcast sets and statements by highly-politicised acts such as Kneecap without the controversies that surround the national broadcaster’s editorial decisions.
How the BBC took on Glasto
Glastonbury moved its television coverage from Channel 4 to the BBC in 1997.
Sir Michael Eavis, the festival’s founder, said the BBC was better equipped to showcase the growing scale of the event through its TV, radio and then nascent online platforms. He also wanted the festival to have a greater national free-to-air reach.
Read Next: Divas and angry viewers: Why Glastonbury is a 90-hour headache for the BBC
The BBC figure believes the broadcaster’s role in promoting the festival across its channels, and ability to turn headline performances into national events – Sir Elton John’s 2023 “farewell” set attracted 7.6 million BBC One viewers – could influence the festival to stick with the BBC.
The BBC is promising its biggest Glastonbury ever this weekend with blanket coverage across TV, BBC iPlayer, radio and BBC Sounds.
“There are festivals all over the world but none of them look like Glastonbury does, in the way that the BBC shows it,” Lorna Clarke, the BBC’s director of music, told Music Week.
The BBC does not disclose how much it spends on Glastonbury, which is produced by BBC Studios, the corporation’s commercial wing. It regularly sends some 400 staff, freelancers and contractors to Worthy Farm to produce the coverage.
Last year, the BBC trialled livestreaming headline sets from Dua Lipa and Coldplay to international audiences on the BBC website, which shows commercial advertising to users outside of the UK.
The experiment is not being repeated this weekend but could be revisited in the future, the BBC said.
How Glastonbury could look on YouTube
Innovations this year include Pyramid Stage performances streamed live in ultra-high definition and with British Sign Language interpretation.
There will be 90 hours of livestreamed music across five stages – available on BBC Sounds throughout July – although the BBC has not yet confirmed whether Saturday headliner Neil Young will allow it to broadcast all, or any, of his set.
The BBC justifies the cost of covering Glastonbury, said to run into several millions, by the wide audience it reaches and the broadcaster’s ability to support rising new stars.
It declined to comment on the potential streamer threat but a spokesperson said it was “Glastonbury’s exclusive broadcast partner” and would bring audiences “a two-month celebration of the festival this June and July”.
YouTube could show Glastonbury for free, with adverts, or offer complete access to subscribers to its premium, £10.99 a month, ad-free YouTube Music option.
Amazon screens live coverage of Primavera, Japan’s Fuji Rock and other festivals on Prime Video or through its Twitch music channels.
YouTube was approached for comment while Amazon Music said it was unable to provide a person to comment.
The future of Glastonbury
The Eavis family is making plans to preserve Glastonbury’s long-term viability.
Michael, 89, handed his entire shareholding in Glastonbury Festival Events Ltd, the operational company responsible for running the festival and selling tickets, to his daughter Emily, 45, last October, Companies House filings show.
Michael also transferred three quarters of the shares he owns in the separate holding company, Glastonbury Festivals Limited, to a trust.
The two transfers could potentially save the Eavis family nearly £80m in inheritance tax, The Times claimed.
The festival could be worth up to £400m if it was sold to a commercial music operator and given the freedom to launch international franchises, it was suggested by the newspaper.
A spokesperson for Glastonbury Festival said the value of the event was “nothing like” the “highly speculative figures” being suggested.
Last year, Glastonbury recorded a £6m profit with an equivalent sum given to charities.
But Emily told the BBC that the festival is still recovering from losing £10m in cash reserves during the pandemic.
The festival declined to comment on its future broadcast intentions but said: “For the record, Glastonbury Festival will never be sold.”
Worthy Farm remains solely owned by Michael and both he and the festival “have always been, and will always be, happy to pay their due tax”.
2025-06-26T09:40:33Z
2012 Missoula (9/30) 2013 Chicago (7/19) Pittsburgh (10/11) Buffalo (10/12) Baltimore (10/27) Dallas (11/15)
2014 Austin (10/12) Memphis (10/14) St. Paul (10/19) Milwaukee (10/20) Denver (10/22)
2016 Ft. Lauderdale (4/8) Miami (4/9) Hampton (4/18) Philly (4/28,4/29) NY (5/1,5/2) 2018 Seattle (8/10) Missoula (8/13) 2022 Nashville (9/16)
E.V. - 2008 Berkeley (4/8) 2012 Austin (11/9,11/12)
Temple of the Dog - 2016 Upper Darby
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..