Media organisations invited to submit new PSB plans
The Government has invited media organisations to submit plans for a new public service broadcaster to rival the BBC.
Last month, Lord Carter suggested that Channel 4 should be at the heart of a separate public service broadcasting entity, outside of the BBC, in his long-awaited Digital Britain report.
However, the report does not guarantee that a tie-up between Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide would underpin this planned broadcasting body and refuses to completely dismiss the idea of top-slicing the licence fee as a means of funding it, according to reports.
The DCMS said proposals should only come from media organisations that “believe they may have a role to play in the future architecture of PSB in the UK” and that are of a “sufficient size to invest either capital or assets at a significant level”, as well as possessing proven track records in content production or broadcasting on an international scale.
The Government has asked that all proposals include three elements:
- “an outline of the resulting organisational structure and new governance arrangements required to secure the delivery of a public value remit in an accountable and transparent manner while at all times ensuring value of money”
- “an outline of how the proposal would contribute to the delivery of an updated remit likely to include a core TV channel, complemented by multiplatform (including online) capability”
- a business model with “scale, sustainability and flexibility”.
The proposals are due to be processed by a project team, which consists of DCMS and shareholder executives with The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
A steering board, chaired by Carter, will oversee the project team and will report to the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Andy Burnham.
The steering board is expected to work closely with Channel 4 and will “engage with other relevant parties as its thinking develops”.
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com