UK: ITV complains about BBC

ITV, the UK’s leading commercial broadcaster, wants the activities of its publicly-funded rival, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) to be critically examined. In a report handed to the main political decision-makers of the European Union, ITV questions the transparency of the BBC’s accounting and refers to an inadequate separation between the Corporation’s commercial activities and those of its public service. While acknowledging the role played by public service broadcasting and the right of the BBC to broadcast popular programmes, Richard Eyre, ITV’s chief executive, stresses that it has also to broadcast programmes not designed with an eye on ratings. The report also calls into question the nature of the BBC’s finances: “The licence fee is central to the BBC’s position as the cornerstone of British broadcasting and its formidable reputation as the world’s leading public service broadcaster, but it must not be allowed to dilute the public service ethos.” The report comes on the eve of the publication of the UK Government’s Green Paper on the regulation of broadcasting and communications.