h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...that the BBC will axe 'The Sky at Night' programme just a year after Sir Patrick Moore's death.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/sep/24/sky-at-night-faces-bbc-axe

The wording ‘Plans for subsequent series are being discussed’ is bringing on a definite bout of deja-vu.
Having experienced the h2g2 debacle I can feel a certain foreboding as to where the ultimate fate of The Sky at Night is heading.

I can accept that Patrick Moore was S@N, and S@N was Patrick Moore, but the new incumbents seem to be making a fair job of keeping the longest running programme of its type going in keeping with its history. But to cancel what I think is the only programme of its type on current astronomical affairs, seems to just ignore amateur astronomers.

It can’t be the savings in costs as the budget must be a miniscule. No doubt it’s a bit too old fashioned for the current beeb, or maybe it doesn’t have a big enough audience, or maybe , it’s a bit too highbrow, or even, perish the thought, it ‘informs and entertains’ a bit too much.

Like many others I was inspired by this programme from way back. It actually got me out into the back garden with binoculars and telescope. I was sorry to see the old guy go and I’ll be sorry to see his programme go as well.

I agree, surely with the plethora of channels they could at least find a slot on BBC4

What a shame.

I think the new presenters are doing a top-notch job, considering how closely the programme was associated with Patrick Moore, but that's probably because a few of them were part of the Sky at Night with Patrick for a lengthy time before he died and have themselves become an intrinsic part of it. It could never be the same without Patrick because he was such a unique character but that's hardly a good reason to drop the programme. Almost every month there's an OB where they go out with amateurs and hobbyists to look at something in the sky, whether it's an event, a planet or a Moore Marathon, and there's always a good proportion of kids with telescopes, and not a few adults getting into astronomy for the first time. It'd be such a pity to lose that impetus.

There was an online petition going somewhere to protest its possible axing but I'm sure I can't remember where it is.