The BBC has set out proposals to minimise its accountability by removing the government’s power to revise and renew the charter which allows it to operate.
Ministers are currently carrying out a wide-ranging review of the BBC’s funding and governance arrangements.
Charter reforms
In its response to a consultation which will inform that review, the BBC has set out a demand that the regular, periodic, review of its charter be scrapped and the BBC gifted a perpetual charter which allows it operate in a “lighter, more growth-focused regulatory framework”.
While the BBC presents this change as securing its operational and editorial independence, such a measure could significantly weaken future governments’ ability to ensure audiences are receiving good value from the Licence Fee.
Previous charter renewals have been used to secure important changes, including boosting accountability and transparency by requiring the BBC to disclose how much it pays to presenters.
Despite being fiercely opposed by the BBC at the time, the salaries paid to top-earners has fallen significantly since the requirement was introduced.
Charter renewal was also used to secure funds for digital switchover by ‘top-slicing’ the Licence Fee, avoiding the need to pass on the cost to taxpayers.
Recent years have seen a marked decline in the number of households willing to fund the BBC, with many audience segments increasingly looking to global streaming services for their entertainment.
The BBC’s consultation response cites its belated decision to make content available on YouTube, long after competitors such as ITV and Channel 4 did so, as a sign of its willingness to adapt to the changing media landscape.
It says: “We will grow our own services, but also increase distribution of our content ‘off platform’. This is important in serving all audiences and requires an evolution of how we think about video sharing platforms, from being largely promotional, to a place where public service value is delivered.”
The BBC is also proposing that its iPlayer could be opened to other Public Service Broadcasters, allowing their content to be displayed alongside its own and played with adverts “whilst keeping BBC public service content advertising-free” and says it will “explore opening up BBC Sounds to UK third parties and creators.”
But it says such changes would only be made if it’s granted “increased regulatory flexibility”.
Reduced regulation
The desire for weaker regulations are repeated in a call for changes to how the BBC’s plans to launch new services are assessed.
At present a ‘Public Interest Test’ is applied to every proposed new service but the BBC argues that “the rise of video and audio streaming services, and the consolidation and success of commercial radio have meant that the need for such regulation is less than it was when the BBC was the dominant player in the UK broadcasting sector.”
It says “the current process is no longer proportionate to market reality” and “takes too long to complete” and therefore “limits the BBC’s ability to react nimbly to the changing environment and to develop services that audiences need and want.”
The BBC also complains that media regulator Ofcom has “gone beyond the requirements…on consulting competitors.” This complaint comes after Ofcom blocked some proposals for new BBC Radio services.
Future of BBC funding
On funding the BBC states that “94% of adults use the BBC per month yet fewer than 80% of households now contribute, down from over 90% in 2016/17.”
It assigns this fall to “a mismatch between TV licence rules – predicated on live viewing – and the growing popularity of on-demand consumption and video sharing platforms.”
The BBC argues that “restoring universal funding, with everyone contributing, is the best way to deliver” on its missions.
Senior figures have previously floated include removing the public’s right not to fund its services even if they don’t use them by replacing the Licence Fee with unavoidable levy in all council tax bills.
However the consultation response stops short of setting out a preferred new funding model.
It does however argue that a move to subscription would “not be able to achieve the same uptake or income as the licence fee, and so it would provide a much smaller offer to a much smaller audience.”
While it acknowledges that many international counterparts are funded by advertising, it says “there are, however, well founded and longstanding concerns about a full advertising model” and the impact on rivals such as ITV.
Merging UKTV and iPlayer
However the BBC already operates a portfolio of UK advertising and subscription funded channels through its wholly owned UKTV subsidiary which it describes as a “successful line of business” and argues could be “more effective if UKTV was integrated into the BBC’s iPlayer service (though still clearly distinguished from BBC-branded content and services).”
This would be a major change – at present the UKTV channels make no on-screen reference to the fact that they’re owned by the BBC.
BBC Licence Fee collection
The BBC’s outsourced Licence Fee salesforce has earned a reputation for aggressive tactics.
In its response, the BBC complains that “the changing nature of TV consumption has made enforcement significantly harder, mainly because there is now a reasonable explanation why someone has a TV and is watching TV but does not require a licence because of the content they watch.”
In light of this the BBC signals that it’s now willing to consider new ways of ensuring that only those with a valid Licence can watch the iPlayer, including using tools to “block licensable content to non-licence holders.”
But argues that “by itself iPlayer verification would only have a very marginal impact on enforcement. While around 80% of evading households use iPlayer, fewer than 5% of them only use iPlayer.”
It suggests that pop-ups signifying when content, such as live sports, requires a TV Licence could be introduced on non-BBC streaming apps.