Mr Whittingdale was unveiling his green paper on the future of the corporation in the House of Commons. Any attempt to change the remit of the 92-year-old public broadcaster provokes a fierce reaction in Britain, where it commands a special status through its role showing national affairs such as royal weddings, sporting events and the weather.
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However, she also added the corporation should stop “ripping off” local newspapers by not crediting them when it uses their stories. It’s a view held by numerous BBC’s commercial rivals.
“The question is, therefore, how to measure the success of programming when much depends on the BBC’s ability to deliver its public purposes through its content, and how to make sure the culture of the BBC is focused on quality and distinctiveness rather than driven by ratings”.
The minister said the government’s green paper into the national broadcaster found there were three “viable” options for the BBC’s short-term future, including a reformed licence fee, a household levy or a hybrid funding model.
But he said while this had some advantages, the technology was not yet widely available in homes.
“We believe this Green Paper would appear to herald a much diminished, less popular, BBC”. We know from a recent PWC report that the BBC is now among the most efficient public organisations in the United Kingdom – but of course its critics will swiftly step around that inconvenience. Former BBC journalist John Nicholson (SNP) said that BBC Scotland gets far less from the license fee than Scots paid in revenue. Consideration should be given to the case for a full subscription model in the longer term, he said.
The announcement comes on the back of measures aimed at making 1.5 billion pounds of savings a year by 2017 by reducing the amount of money spent on administration, property costs and sports rights. The current license fee, which has been frozen for seven years, is 145.50 pounds for a color TV. The BBC has adapted to this changing landscape, and remains much-loved by audiences, a valuable engine of growth and an worldwide benchmark for television, radio, online and journalism.
“It was seeing some of the exchanges at the Public Accounts Committee between Members and the BBC Trust that convinced us that the Trust did not work”. “It should be for the public to decide whether programs like Strictly or [Great British] Bake Off, or stations like Radio One or Two, should continue”.
Norton, who presents a Friday night chatshow on BBC1 and Saturday morning show on Radio 2, said he had suggested the “deprivation test” in a letter to BBC director general Tony Hall.
For example, the popularity of BBC News in the United Kingdom (BBC News website had an average 27 million United Kingdom weekly browsers in early 2015, and more than 65 million worldwide)27 has led to suggestions that the scale of BBC’s online offer is impeding the ability of other United Kingdom news outlets to develop profitable business models, such as paywalls and subscriptions, in existing and new markets.
Scottish Labour’s culture spokeswoman Claire Baker said: “For the first time, the Scottish Parliament has a role to play in charter renewal and it is vital the public have a clear and loud voice in the whole process”.
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Addressing the BBC’s regulation and governance measures, Mr Whittingdale said there have been occasions where the corporation has “fallen well short of the standards we expect of it”.
