BBC publishes response to Government Green Paper on Charter Review

The BBC has unveiled its response to the Government's Green Paper on the Corporation's future, published last March, saying it was positive about the paper and welcomed many of the proposals.
However it also said that the Green Paper underestimates how emerging digital technologies will transform the relationship between audiences and the media and presents significant challenges.
In a speech at the Westminster Media Forum, BBC Chairman Michael Grade, speaking on behalf of the BBC, outlined the main responses while Director-General Mark Thompson spoke of the radical change needed to fulfil the BBC's pivotal role in creating public value in a fully digital, on-demand world.
Mr Grade said that the BBC Board of Governors accepted the set of clear and measurable purposes outlined in the Green Paper and welcomed the decision to grant a new Charter for ten years with continued licence fee funding.
Given the extensive debate about the BBC's role during this Charter Review he urged the Government to wait until digital switchover before embarking on the next funding review and expressed the BBC's fundamental opposition to the idea of top slicing the licence fee.
He warned that it would pose a threat to the political independence of the BBC and weaken its ability to invest in public service content.
He said the Board accepted governance changes to a Trust model, recognising that it would increase public confidence by creating a clear separation from management and maintain the BBC's independence on behalf of licence fee payers, not the institution itself.
He said trustees should be chosen for skills and expertise rather than representing special interest groups, the exception being a trustee representing each devolved nation.
On scale and scope, the BBC accepted the Green Paper proposal for increased flexibility when it comes to adding or removing services, subject to a public value test, in response to changing audience expectations and technologies, said Mr Grade.
The Governors, who have yet to consider the detailed plans from management to deliver the 'window of creative competition', are confident overall that it presents the best way to open up BBC commissioning and the licence fee to independent producers, while maintaining a sustainable in-house production and training base.
But he stressed that this system would only work if there is a level playing field between in-house and independent commissioning.
"The Governors – and the Trust – will police this rigorously, by which I mean zero tolerance."
"In the near future the Board will consider detailed plans from management designed to ensure meritocracy and transparency in the way the BBC commissions all output.
"The Board will want to ensure that the BBC is fair to all the stakeholders and that the needs and interests of licence fee-payers are paramount."
Director-General Mark Thompson told the Westminster Media Forum that the radical increase in consumer choice and power in the next phase of digital presented enormous creative challenges for the BBC.
Mr Thompson said that, to deliver the Government Green Paper's vision, the BBC had to change and squeeze every drop of value out of the licence fee.
"It will not be possible to deliver the BBC we've talked about without quite radical change. In the end, our first duty is to secure a strong and independent BBC in the very different, digital environment of the future.
"It's not easy, especially since it must be done in a way which protects and enhances, rather than damages, quality."
"The BBC's unique status and licence-fee funding means that we can do it, not just for early adopters or subscribers or any other privileged group, but for everyone."
He said that the age of digital media is particularly well suited to licence-fee funding to ensure a concentration of investment to ensure high quality, British content.
"This is the era of free-to-view, free to share and adapt media, downloaded, stored, exchanged.
"That's why we believe the licence fee will be an effective vehicle for delivering the BBC's public purposes through and beyond the next Charter," he said.
(GB)