The BBC last week launched a series of proposals for the development of partnerships with other public service broadcasters (PSBs). The wide-ranging proposals were the official response to a large-scale consultation by Ofcom into the opinions of licence fee payers on the BBC’s role in the current broadcasting market. In a survey of over 4500 people from across the United Kingdom, the final report suggested that the BBC needed to be more distinctive in its choice of programming given the enormous quantity of choice available to the modern television viewer.
In the light of that response, the BBC has announced a slew of measures designed to capitalise on their unique position within the market. Perhaps the most notable is the decision to expand and share the use of the popular iPlayer technology with other PSBs. The recent ‘Zeitgeist’ figures, published by Google, showed that ‘iPlayer’ was one of the most searched terms this year. The possibility of the technology being used by the full spread of PSBs is therefore exciting; ITV, Channel 4 and Five are all said to be considering participation. In many ways, the mooted sharing of the technology mirrors the early days of television – with each channel utilising the iPlayer in its own way, competition can be maintained on a common platform, providing more choice and more benefit to the end-user.
Other possible moves include internet services to television in partnership with ITV and BT; shared regional news footage and premises, increased cooperation between BBC Worldwide and Channel 4 and other shared research and innovation across the industry. The BBC claims that the new partnerships could generate more than £120 million per annum by 2014 to PSBs beyond the BBC.
However, critics have seen the move as an attempt to avoid having to share the licence fee with other broadcasters, or to evade the possibility of a merger between Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide – the corporation’s commercial arm. It has already been pointed out that even with the injection of funds that these proposals represent, there will still be a considerable shortfall in public service broadcasting funding.
With the BBC under continued and intensifying pressure to justify the licence fee, it remains to be seen whether these proposals will reassure the viewing public. Reaction on blogs and comment pages has been mixed, with some people unhappy over the perceived hegemony enjoyed by the corporation.
Some feel that the proposals are ironic, given that they are a response to Ofcom, which is after all a competition authority. Rather than increasing competition, critics view some of the plans as ‘perpetuating the status quo’, allowing the PSBs an easy ride without ensuring that the huge amounts of money being thrown into the pot are used efficiently and wisely. This mirrored the reaction to the original Ofcom suggestions in April by privately funded broadcasters such as BSkyB, who poured scorn on the notion that commercial broadcasters such as Channel 4 needed further public subsidy.
However, perhaps the strongest criticism of the proposals came from the chief executive of one of the PSBs involved. Andy Duncan, head of Channel 4, claimed that the plans offered no ‘tangible financial benefit for Channel 4’, other than the suggested partnership with BBC Worldwide. But even that is a bone of contention, with Channel 4 favouring a full merger – an option which the BBC will not countenance. It remains to be seen whether all parties will come to a mutually agreeable solution as further details emerge.
Tom King
Dec 15, 2008
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