Jowell says BBC will remain at heart of PBS

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has said that the digital switchover timetable is "only part of the story" in the context of the British broadcasting market and Public Service Broadcasting (PSB).
In a speech delivered to the Royal Television Society yesterday, Ms Jowell told broadcasters the market was "defined by our public service broadcasting tradition - the BBC of course, but also ITV and Channels 4 and 5, S4C and Teletext."
The Culture Secretary said that the BBC would remain at "the heart of PSB" but that the future of PSB was not just about the BBC.
She said: "As a nation, our commitment to competition in broadcasting can and does sit comfortably with a commitment to public service.
"So we need strong public service broadcasters – 4, Five, ITV as well as the Corporation - as well as powerful, innovating companies like Sky, dynamic independents, and bustling new entrants like Top-Up TV.
Describing the BBC as an "intervention" in the market on a large scale, Ms Jowell said it was one that the public wanted, a BBC that was strong, independent, and with the flexibility to adapt to an uncertain future.
"So the Green paper published earlier this year set out a vision for a new BBC, whose mission – and boundaries and relationship with its pay masters – the license fee payers – are defined more clearly than ever before," Ms Jowell said.
Responses to the Green Paper are currently being considered as part of the process of drafting the White Paper to be laid before Parliament.
Turning to the BBC's production quota system, the Window of Creative Competition, Ms Jowell said that she was "encouraged by the progress that has been made" in discussions between PACT and the Corporation, but said that there were other options that should be examined in regard to quotas.
The Culture Secretary also said: "We must be equally robust to ensure the Corporation’s activities do not prevent other broadcasters from bringing high quality PSB or other programming to market.
"Channel 4 has consistently shown its ability to innovate, to take risks, and to provide competition for the BBC in quality PSB programming…
"I want that kind of programme-making to continue, irrespective of the technology that broadcasts it. I want Channel 4 to have a secure future, because I believe it is an important part of securing a healthy future for PSB in the UK."
She said the "plurality of our PSB system is one of the UK’s great strengths," and that a vital part of that plurality are ITV and Channel Five who, once digital, would "realise their ambition to become a universal service provider".
(SP/KMcA)