Pact Opposes Budget Cuts At BBC

The BBC should not be cutting its investment in digital media, said the trade body for independent producers, at a recent meeting with senior BBC Executives.
The meeting, held at the BBC, was called by Pact to allow their members who are suppliers to BBC online – who make up a significant proportion of their external spend – to air their views about the proposed budget cuts to BBC online outlined in the BBC Strategy review.
Chief Executive for Pact, John McVay said: "A 25% cut to online is a backward step. Simply cutting overall budgets does not ensure it will re-focus on key public service areas or deliver efficiencies. We will be lobbying hard on this issue as part of our full response to the review, to ensure the BBC really puts quality first."
Another key proposal Pact made to the BBC at the meeting was to introduce a Window of Creative Competition (WOCC) in addition to the existing 25% external supply quota, as recommended by the Analysis Mason report and the Perspective Associates report which were done as part of the Government’s Digital Britain review.
Pact will be talking further with BBC online as part of its full response to the BBC Strategy Review.
(BMcN/BMcC)