BBC Three And Four Provide Poor Value For Viewers
Fledgling digital television channels BBC Three and BBC Four are providing poor value for money and are doing little to drive digital take-up, according to an independent review carried out for the Government.
A wide-ranging report conducted by the London Business School’s marketing professor Patrick Barwise, looked at the performance of BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC and pre-school children’s channel CBeebies.
The report found that the new services have all largely met their remits and had a limited impact on their commercial competitors. However, it claims that low viewing figures meant that BBC Three and BBC Four were poor value.
Barwise recommends that the youth focused BBC Three should attempt to broaden its appeal by focussing less exclusively on programmes that target 25 to 34 year-old viewers. He claims that this is a “creative straightjacket” from which the channel should be released.
He also says that special interest offering BBC Four should broaden its appeal to become a more mainstream, mixed-genre channel. It should be less selective about its programming and should reduce its reliance on arts shows, which “virtually no-one” watches.
Barwise said: “The BBC’s digital channels have many strengths – CBeebies in particular shows that a channel of substantial public value can be created at minimal cost. But there is room for improvement. BBC3 and BBC4 need to increase their impact and value for money, while retaining their public service ethos. Key to this is appealing to a wider constituency, including those thinking of adopting digital television.”
He added: “What people want from the BBC is more good programmes with broad appeal, that cover a range of genres. I recommend the BBC to stop thinking of BBC3 and BBC4 as niche channels and start treating them as mainstream channels, like BBC1 and BBC2 but smaller and more innovative.”
The findings of the report come as the BBC’s role and future are being examined as the Government decides whether to renew the Corporation’s Royal Charter, which expires at the end of 2006. A similar review into the BBC digital radio services is due at the end of next week.
Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, said: “As our major public service broadcaster, the BBC will play a pivotal role as we make the journey towards digital switchover. The quality and content of its digital channels are essential – for many they are, and will continue to be, the shop window on the all-digital future.”
Ofcom is keen to protect the role of public service broadcasting as the Government prepares to switch off the ageing analogue television signal in 2012. The media regulator recently published controversial proposals for the launch of an entirely new public service broadcaster to be run by commercial operators as a rival to the BBC, in an attempt to safeguard the quality of British television (see Ofcom Plans New Public Service Channel To Rival BBC).
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
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