The BBC will be regulated by an external organisation for the first time in its 90-year history, the Culture Secretary has confirmed.
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And he said the BBC had “an honest disagreement” with ministers over the appointments process for the new BBC board and would continue to seek changes, insisting that it was “vital for the future of the BBC that its independence is fully preserved”.
THE BBC is to serve Scottish audiences better and will be subjected to greater scrutiny by Holyrood, UK culture secretary John Whittingdale said yesterday.
Speculation has also been rife about whether or not Mr Whittingdale will force the BBC to publish how much it pays top talent earning more than £450,000.
“As viewing habits shift away from linear television, viewers paying for a television licence to watch or record any television as it is being shown will increasingly foot the bill for public service content that many enjoy without any payment”, the report said.
She said: “On governance, it is simply unacceptable for the majority of the unitary board which will have major influence over output, and therefore editorial decisions, to be appointed by the Government”. The current Chair of the BBC Trust will continue as Chair of the BBC through to the end of their current term to ensure a smooth transition.
The biggest surprise of the Government’s much-awaited white paper on the BBC is that it didn’t really contain any surprises at all.
The BBC charter cycle will now run for 11 years, instead of 10, taking it out of the political cycle.
The BBC would have a new mission statement: “To act in the public interest, serving all audiences with impartial, high-quality, and distinctive media content and services that inform, educate and entertain”. Whittingdale also hinted on BBC content becoming “portable” so licence fee payers can see BBC content overseas.
Lord Waheed Ali, who founded the Great BBC campaign, is critical of Whittingdale’s proposals, claiming that he had shown that he was “ideologically committed to undermining the BBC”.
Regulation of the BBC will transfer to Ofcom.
The licence fee would be allowed to rise in line with inflation.
Whittingdale said it is a “strong regulator to match a strong BBC”.
The BBC is funded through an annual licence fee of £145.50 that all British households have to pay to watch live television. A BBC that will be good for the creative industries – and most importantly of all, for Britain.
Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky has followed up his Bafta speech with a strong condemnation of the government’s plans for the future of the BBC.
Tory MP Damian Green, a former TV journalist, had warned of a Tory revolt if the White Paper compromised the BBC’s independence. I believe there is plenty of time to get this right; everyone wants to get to the right answer.
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The BBC’s current Royal Charter comes to an end in December, causing a public consultation into its future to be launched a year ago.
