New Channel For BBC

The BBC has announced details of a new channel that will form part of its digital television service when it launches next year.

BBC Inform is intended to enable viewers to keep up-to date with major dramas; it will also include background programme information on actors and issues that occur in programme plots, such as drug-abuse. Initially BBC Inform will be text-based, but it will be more sophisticated than Ceefax with complex graphics. Live-action clips could eventually make-up part of the package.

The channel will be free to viewers in possession of a digital set-top box or television set.

The BBC has come under fire for concentrating too much on the forth-coming digital revolution at the expense of existing terrestrial services. The accusations started to fly at a public BBC seminar organised by the governors and fronted by Sir Christopher Bland, BBC chairman.

Question Time producer, Chris Capron, said that his programme was suffering because of his budget had not increased inline with inflation. Capron echoed the concerns of many in the audience when he said that the BBC risked damaging the quality of its programming, one of its greatest strengths. He was concerned about the BBC’s £30 million annual investment in a new service with uncertain appeal.

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