BBC To Outline Future Role In Charter Review
The BBC will today outline its vision for how it should operate in the twenty first century, as it makes its submission to the charter review process in the face of growing criticism from commercial broadcasters.
Newly appointed director general, Mark Thompson, will launch the Corporation’s charter review paper in London, setting out the BBC’s responsibilities and objectives ahead of the Government’s charter review in 2006 (see Channel 4 Releases Thompson To Join BBC Early).
The submission comes at a crucial time for the BBC, which has faced heavy criticism in the wake of the damning findings of the Hutton enquiry, which claimed the scalps of director general Greg Dyke and chairman Gavyn Davies (see Dyke’s Departure Casts Doubt Over Future Role Of BBC).
However, the BBC is keen to draw a line under the events of the past few months and Mark Thompson recently announced that there would be reviews into the Corporation’s commercial businesses, production and commissioning, as well as an investigation into how efficiency and control of costs can be achieved through internal measures.
Three new boards were also to be created covering the BBC’s main activities and aiming to streamline decision making. They will oversee the Corporation’s creative, journalistic and commercial-orientated activities headed by Mark Thompson, deputy director general Mark Byford and finance director John Smith respectively (see Thompson Outlines BBC’s Future In Opening Speech).
It has also been revealed that the next BBC charter may be much shorter than the current length of ten years. Reports from several sources quote culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, as stating charter length, along with several other aspects of the BBC’s governance and financing are currently subject to the process of the review.
The latest development in the run up to charter renewal follows criticism of the BBC in several submissions to the charter review process. Earlier this year former Five chief executive David Elstein called for the BBC’s licence fee to be abolished and for rivals broadcasters allowed to bid for funding to make public service programmes (see Tory Report Calls For Reduction Of BBC Licence Fee).
The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers has used its charter review submission to call on the Government to stop the BBC using its ‘massive licence-fee funding’ to compete with commercial broadcasters. ISBA argues that the BBC’s annual £116 licence fee is ‘inequitable and unsustainable’ within the mutli-channel landscape and supports Elstein’s calls for a new public service fund for all broadcasters (see ISBA Calls For Government To Take Action Against BBC).
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
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