It was largely welcomed by BBC Director-general Tony Hall, who said: “This White Paper delivers a mandate for the strong, creative BBC the public believe in”.
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The corporation will have a new unitary board, with a majority of members independent of the Government.
A White Paper review of the BBC’s activities in the United Kingdom has led John Whittingdale, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, to say that the way in which the licence fee now operates for on-demand content should be overhauled.
Another area of contention between the BBC and Government is the question of “top-slicing” the licence fee, which would see the BBC forced to hand over a portion of the licence fee to commercial rivals in areas such as children’s television, according to The Guardian.
Tory MP Damian Green, a former TV journalist, had warned of a Tory revolt if the White Paper compromised the BBC’s independence.
“This will give the BBC the financial certainty it needs and increase its independence from government”, read an extract from the white paper released to the media ahead of its official publication.
The BBC said it will continue to talk to the government to address a number of remaining issues, including a call for the National Audit Office to be the BBC’s auditor.
The government is about to set out how it wants to change the BBC amid huge tension between the broadcaster and ministers.
The BBC struck a funding deal with the government last July, which guaranteed its funding via a license fee that taxpayers pay until 2022, which will be the broadcaster’s centenary year.
The BBC Trust will be abolished with Trust Chair Rona Fairhead taking charge of a new unitary board.
The BBC iPlayer “loophole” will be closed, with viewers now requiring a licence fee to watch programs via the catch-up service. The Government has outlined a new framework for the BBC to allow it to focus on high quality, distinctive content which informs, educates and entertains while also serving all audiences.
While the government stopped short of making specific proposals, it signaled that singing competition The Voice should maybe be among the types of popular shows that the BBC should not buy in the future.
Mr Whittingdale said: “That will involve the BBC building on its new diversity strategy, maintaining out-of-London production quotas, and ensuring that the BBC continues to provide for minority languages in its partnerships with S4C and MG Alba”.
The White Paper also forces the BBC to publish details of its own internal assessment of viewer responses, the so-called Appreciation Index or AI figures where audience opinions is rated out of 100 for individual shows. Whittingdale said it was “no longer supportable for the BBC to regulate itself”.
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“It has levels of public approval that any politician would die for, and it is the linchpin of a unique ecology of broadcasting in this country, which enables the creative industries in Britain to grow at twice the level of the rest of the economy, exporting more content and employing more people than its size would suggest possible”.
