BBC Trust: online and red button services should merge

A new BBC Trust service review, published today, states that it would be “sensible” to bring its online and ‘red button’ services together under a single service licence.

According to the Trust, merging the red button with its online offering would help them to complement each other in future, especially as technology advances and the red button increasingly becomes a gateway to access BBC online content.

BBC Online reaches 22 million people on a weekly basis, however, consumers have said that they would like to see improvements in areas such as navigation across the different parts of BBC Online and improved links and consistency of design.

Other areas for consideration include providing better local news, the re-launch of Knowledge and Learning sites, and opportunities to personalise the site according to user preference.

The BBC’s red button service, which serves over 17 million people every week, offers day-to-day provision of news and sport headlines, weather and other information, as well as providing extended coverage of major events – including the Olympics last summer.

However, due to a limited capacity on some digital TV platforms, the red button may struggle to meet audience expectations of providing extended events coverage in future, the Trust concludes.

Despite worries about connectivity in some homes, the Trust says that it will continue to support the development of a connected red button, which is already available to some Virgin Media users.

“In the five years since we first reviewed BBC Online, the digital world has advanced rapidly and people’s expectations of online services have changed,” said BBC Trustee Suzanna Taverne, who also led the review.

According to the BBC, expectations have changed as a result of growing ownership and use of smartphones and tablets. The BBC’s four-screen strategy aims to ensure that audiences can access BBC content across computers, mobiles, tablets and televisions, and has been ‘highly successful’, according to the Trust.

The BBC Trust and the Executive say they will work closely together to improve user experiences and “develop a future vision for a truly digital BBC.”