Tony Hall Addresses Creative Industries Federation

LONDON: In a speech delivered by Tony Hall to the Creative Industries Federation today, the BBC's director-general said that he wants to see the organization in the next decade "be a magnet for creativity."

Hall asserted that the BBC’s "job is to discover and invest in the best British creative content and people and connect them with an audience at home and abroad." He pointed out that the BBC is the largest single investor in British creative ideas and talent. "Each year, we invest well over £2 billion of license fee income directly into the U.K. creative sector. Around half that money is invested outside of the BBC, with £450 million in small creative businesses."

He went on to point out the value of BBC Worldwide in showcasing British content across the globe. "There are not many industries where the U.K. goes toe-to-toe with the U.S. But the creative industries do—over a sustained period we have grown much faster than the U.K. economy as a whole," Hall said.

"I want the BBC in the next decade to be a magnet for creativity—the place people come to make brilliant programs, programs of distinction," he said. "For producers, directors, writers, artists to have the creative freedom to do things they would find it harder to do elsewhere, for people to be able to take creative risks.

"That’s why, for me, reforming the BBC to be a leaner, simpler organization—a process I began in July—is so important. That’s why I also want to open the BBC to become—even more—Britain’s creative partner, to become a platform for this country’s incredible talent, cultural institutions, and to open up to our audiences in new ways.

"An open BBC for the internet age will be a BBC that is truly open to partnership," Hall declared.

He said that even though the BBC has improved as a partner organization, "we have so much more to learn and so much more we want to do working in partnership with others. I want to start that conversation with the members of the Creative Industry Federation today.

"Working with partners, the BBC will convene seminars across the U.K. with key organizations on some of our proposals to discuss how they want to use an open BBC platform to reach out to new audiences and enthusiasts."