BBC Director General Outlines Ambition

Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, yesterday said that the corporation was the only European group capable of taking on media giants Google and AOL.

He made the comments in an interview with the Financial Times where he stressed the importance of the BBC’s continuing overseas expansion, stressing that it was not being funded by the licence fee.

The BBC’s online presence will be further boosted later this year when it launches BBC.com, an advertising-supported website accessable outside the UK.

Mr Thompson’s views will probably not go down too well with the BBC’s many critics who are frustrated at the perceived advantage the licence fee gives the corporation.

A recent independent study by Independen Consulting accused the BBC of deliberately underplaying its predicted revenue growth and overplaying the cost of switching to digital (see BBC Berated For Huge Cash Claim).

The Independen report came hot on the heels of the European Media Forum report which suggested that Radio 1 and Radio 2 should be sold off because they did not fit the BBC’s public service remit (see Privatisation Call For BBC Radio Stations).

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