Right-o

Here's the bit of Lord Hall's speech to the Voice of the Listener and Viewer conference in London, which refers to the creation of a Netflix of the spoken word

"One of the big challenges I have set my teams is just that: to enhance our global audio offer. The BBC makes the best radio in the world. It is one of our crown jewels, and we have an extraordinary wealth of audio riches at our disposal.

But, with the level of excellence we have, are we doing enough to push the fantastic drama, arts, comedy and entertainment we deliver on the world stage? With our world-class content, we could use our current output and the richness of our archive to create a Netflix of the spoken word."

This is all a bit odd. Exabytes of BBC audio are available on-demand in this country. But stray abroad and most of the content is 'geo-blocked'. This is usually a blanket block, because there's a risk the BBC hasn't secured international rights.

It doesn't seem to be a problem for other big beasts with international reputations. Try NPR, Minnesota Public Radio, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle - no sign of geo-blocking, at least in the UK.

If Lord Hall really wants The Archers to go worldwide, the first call is probably Equity.