Public Funds Needed for U.K. Commercial Nets, Report Says

LONDON: The House of Lords’ Communications Committee has released its report on public-service broadcasting in the U.K., advocating for a portion of the BBC’s license fee to be directed to support news and other types of programming on rival commercial broadcasters.

The committee calls for the introduction of "contestable funding," which broadcasters and producers could tap into for the production of news and other public-service content, such as current affairs, arts and kids’ shows. This funding would come from what’s left of the budget allocated to the digital switchover—estimated at some £130 million. The report adds that "redirecting an element of the licence fee to support public service content provision outside the BBC," should be considered.

The Committee also rejected the idea of a BBC Worldwide and Channel 4 merger, noting: "We believe that a partnership between Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide would be a quicker and less disruptive way of making extra resources available to Channel 4 than a full-scale merger. The BBC has been criticized in the past for its failure to work successfully in partnership with outside bodies. It is of the utmost importance that this partnership proposal be made to work."