Films are worse. We watched a film last night and I couldn't hear a word of it for background music, drums etc. I gave up after twenty minutes. Why do they do it?
You should write an angry letter about it to The Sunday Times,,,,along with everyone else in the country.
They no longer have room for the Routemaster Bus letters that used to clutter the TV mag.
Yes - 'it's what the viewer's want'* is the stock answer given to anyone who contacts the broadcaster. The BBC did say at one time that you would 'in the future' be able to choose to turn the 'music / sounds effects' off.
The worst examples are drums banging away on the news - siren noise on the news. Low siren /drone on 15 to 1. Ruins programs. Also, the music blares out but the speech in not so dynamic / loud. Always a problem - see no attempt to sort it out, as they don't see there is an issue. They get paid whatever.
* or some variation of that.
My tv has a 'speech' option in the audio settings and it does make a big difference. The music and sound effects are still there, but in the background and the speech is much clearer.