Government To Consider BBC Break-Up In Charter Review
The BBC could be broken up and divided into four regional divisions under radical new proposals due to be considered by the Government as part of its wide-ranging review of the Corporation.
Leaked Government papers drafted by senior civil servants propose creating separate entities for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, in a move that would bring an end to the BBC as a national organisation.
According to a report in today’s Times, the leaked document, entitled The BBC’s Constitution, suggests there could be room for national and regional autonomy for the BBC with the four home countries having distinct divisions.
It also proposes taking the BBC’s ten-strong board of governors outside the Corporation and giving the new communications regulator, Ofcom, a larger role in supervising the organisation and its various activities.
Another idea under consideration is handing a portion of the BBC’s £2.6 billion a year licence fee to rival commercial broadcasters ITV and Channel 4, which would go to help covering the cost of producing programming for their public service remit.
The emergence of the document comes just weeks after the findings of the Hutton report propelled the BBC into what was arguably the biggest crisis in its history. Both director Greg Dyke and chairman Gavyn Davies stepped down amid calls for fundamental changes to the way the BBC is governed (see Dyke’s Departure Casts Doubt Over Future Role Of BBC).
The break-up plans form part of a wider-debate on the future of the Corporation, which is facing the prospect of having every aspect of its operations examined as part of a wide-ranging Government review designed to coincide with Charter Renewal in 2006 (see Government Details Root And Branch Review Of BBC).
Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, has stressed the importance of the BBC remaining independent of Government and insists that Charter Renewal, which takes place every ten years, will have a far ‘bigger canvas’ than the Hutton report.
Contributions to the Government’s consultation on the future of the BBC have to be submitted by the end of next month. The aim is to produce a Green Paper by the beginning of next year, followed by a White Paper the year after. It is understood that legislation on the BBC will reach parliament by the start of 2006 and could be in place for the start of a new Royal Charter by the start of the following year.
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
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