Customer Care?

There is much media coverage devoted today to the BBC's decision to spend over £1 million on new channel idents for BBC1 some four years after the last lot - which also caused similar furore. In terms of their overall budget, it's tiny money but I've always wondered about the relevance of entertainment brands. In the age of the channel zapper, does the customer care what channel they're watching? What reassurance does that have give to their viewing experience?