BBC Proposes “Practical Partnerships” with Rivals

LONDON, June 23: In its
response to Ofcom’s consultation on the future of public-service broadcasting
(PSB) in the U.K., the BBC has rejected the idea of sharing the license fee
with its competitors, proposing instead “practical partnerships” to help boost
the industry.

Ofcom had floated the idea
of the BBC’s license fee being shared with its competitors, who have said they
are in danger of not being able to fulfill their PSB mandates due to funding
shortfalls. “The BBC believes that there are a number of reasons why the use of
the license fee to fund programming on other broadcasters would risk
significant damage to both the BBC and public-service broadcasting in general,”
the submission states. “It would end the unique link between the license-fee
payer and the BBC; require new accountability mechanisms to be put in place for
any new recipients; risk further upward pressure on the license fee by giving
scope for powerful and continuing lobbying in future, in turn risking the
continual erosion of funding available to the BBC; reduce, if given to commercial
broadcasters, the total amount of money spent on PSB: by running the risk of
subsidizing programs that might have been made anyway and by wasting money on
new mechanisms; [and] mix advertising revenue and public funding at a U.K.
level for the first time, potentially weakening commercial incentives and
advantaging some commercially funded broadcasters over others.”

Ofcom has also proposed
granting Channel 4 a stake in BBC Worldwide, so that it can benefit from the
pubcaster’s commercial operations. This, too, has been rejected by the BBC. “BBC
Worldwide exists to exploit the intellectual property the BBC has created to
the benefit of license-fee payers—generating profits that reduce the call
on the license fee and maximize value for money. While preserving the unitary
receipt of the license fee by the BBC, the proposal to share BBC Worldwide
assets would still not increase the overall amount of public money being
invested into programs and would potentially involve costly and bureaucratic
systems of governance and accountability. It is likely that there are more
productive ways of using the global reach of BBC Worldwide for the benefit of
all PSBs, and the BBC is actively exploring these.”

The BBC further notes:
“Given the wide range of plausible future scenarios, this is not the time to
design a radical new system requiring new infrastructure, funding and
processes. Rather, the focus should be on improving further the quality, range
and impact of PSB content across media and on preparing for the digital
future.”

Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director-general, has proposed “practical partnerships”
with PSBs and others that could make a significant contribution to the industry
and benefit audiences. This includes sharing the BBC's knowledge and expertise
in digital production technology and research and innovation; and working with
other parties to develop an open standard for IPTV.

—By Mansha Daswani