The BBC’s board of governors have ordered a wide-ranging investigation into BBC One’s peak time schedules amid growing public concern about programme quality and criticism over its increasingly populist approach to scheduling.
The BBC’s annual report has today revealed that the Corporation is planning to commission an independent study to see whether its flagship entertainment channel has the right balance of commercial and public service programmes in peak hours.
Announcing the launch of the enquiry, the BBC’s recently appointed chairman, Michael Grade, said: “The BBC has constantly to renew and refresh the bonds that link us to audiences. We have to listen, learn and respond – and then go back and to it again.”
The planned study follows a decline in public perception of the BBC’s programme quality in the wake of the controversial Hutton report. The Corporation’s governors praised BBC One for investing in new comedy, but said it must support new programmes, even if ratings are disappointing at first.
The BBC’s annual report shows that the Corporation made £135 million from commercial activities last year, up by £11 million on the previous year. The BBC made additional savings of more than £29 million in support costs, but Grade insisted that more needed to be done in improving efficiency in production.
He said: “It is right that the BBC justifies its privileged position. It is important that the have the appropriate targets in place to ensure that the BBC’s programmes and services reflect what really matters – the needs and interests of our funders, the licence fee payers.”
Grade was keen to draw a line under the Hutton report, which claimed the scalps of BBC chairman Gavyn Davies and director general Greg Dyke. However, he said: “The BBC is not worth having if it’s not editorially independent. I and the other governors will defend the BBC’s right to do difficult and courageous journalism about powerful people and powerful institutions.”
Last month BBC director general, Mark Thompson, outlined his vision for how the Corporation should operate in the twenty first century. He set out a wide-ranging nine-point plan envisaging a future where everyone in the UK has access to a range of digital services that will transform the relationship between audience and broadcaster.
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