Culture secretary will not rule out top-slicing licence fee

Culture secretary Andy Burnham has said he will not rule out top-slicing the licence fee to secure the future of Channel 4.

Speaking at a Voice of the Listener and Viewer event in Parliament, Burnham said that although this option is a last resort, it would not be ruled out.

“There is real potential in examining several partnership options between existing PSB broadcasters in the mid-term to help sustain what we want to see sustained for the future,” he said.

He added: “I quite clearly have the BBC in mind. It has developed assets and infrastructure over time that can put value into the rest of the broadcasting system. Lots of this stuff is being worked on at the moment.

“It’s not a new thought that the BBC can operate more as a backbone of the system and help other elements.”

Burnham also said that he agreed with the recent decision by the Digital Radio Working Group not to set a date for analogue radio switch-off.

“I asked Barry Cox [chair of DRWG] about this and he advised [around the time the DRWG’s interim report was published – June 2008] me it wasn’t right to do so as too much wasn’t known and too many questions hadn’t been answered, all of which needed more time to unfold. He has been proved right by recent events,” he said.

Voice of the Listener and Viewer: www.vlv.org.uk