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Expert panel appointed to advise on the BBC’s future funding
technologist
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Lucy Fraser KC has announced review panel to explore :
so the broadcaster can continue to provide quality news for domestic and global audiences.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/expert-panel-appointed-to-advise-on-the-bbcs-future-funding
the TOR
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bbc-funding-model-review-terms-of-reference/bbc-funding-model-review-terms-of-reference
the Panel consists of a range of people - Dame Frances Cairncross and Sir Peter Bazalagette are the strongest ..
Read the words carefully - for once it seems the questions are very appropraite ..... and in the right order!!
- The context of a rapidly-changing broadcasting and media market.
- The sustainability of the BBC’s current funding model.
- Whether the BBC should provide more services to audiences on a fully commercial basis, and what those services could be.
- The potential for the BBC to generate more commercial revenue.
- The evidence around other funding models to support BBC services and output.
- How the BBC could transition to any new funding model.
so the broadcaster can continue to provide quality news for domestic and global audiences.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/expert-panel-appointed-to-advise-on-the-bbcs-future-funding
the TOR
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bbc-funding-model-review-terms-of-reference/bbc-funding-model-review-terms-of-reference
the Panel consists of a range of people - Dame Frances Cairncross and Sir Peter Bazalagette are the strongest ..
Read the words carefully - for once it seems the questions are very appropraite ..... and in the right order!!
5
Comments
the potential to generate more commercial revenue by adding adverts to podcasts for people living abroad.
As these people don't pay anything towards the TVL/BBC I think that this is fair enough. Besides, many other service providers already do this.
As expected, the commercial operations are already beginning to squeal about this plan.
Not just adverts in between international podcasts …they are coming to Spotify and others in the UK.
But not in BBC sounds …..
but neither if them is likely to raise the say £88m a year content cost of Radio 4. …
How do you know that?
I work abroad, but still maintain my house in the UK and continue to pay my TVL. It is a constant annoyance that I am prevented from watching iPlayer whilst away from home, especially when the BBC could easily include TVL details as part of a users profile (just like Amazon or Netflix know you have paid for their service no matter where in the world you log in)
BBC sells BBC tv programmes through BBC Studios to outside of the UK which is reinvested back to the bbc.
Since 2010, BBC had to make cuts, if the UK was still in the eu, there could have been an process for the eu citizens to watch public tv broadcasters from their own eu countries. UK could do this with trade deals now but there are over 200 countries, the chances are zero
You will be part of an extreme minority.
It is a shame though that you are not able to access what you're paying for whilst abroad, but Brexit now prevents any hope of this happening.
Will this government be here when they reach thier conclusion?
The household charge is coming to replace the licence fee in the UK as an BBC subscription would hit commercial/pay tv subscriptions rivals.
Any recommendations will be ignored.
Pbs in the USA charge 60 dollars per year for access to pbs on demand
how is a household charge not just a proxy a licence fee?
Like it or not, the licence fee is a tax levied by the governemnt.
The government use the money raised to pay the BBC to produce TV, Radio and multimedia output.
The government will get tax from you one way or another.
Because in theory it should be levied on *all* households with none of the current exemptions, so those who only stream content would be subject to a household levy.
I'm no fan of the BBC but I would support a household levy providing there were *no exemptions* and it was mandated that future year increases are *below* the rate of inflation - it shouldn't be age or means tested, it should be paid by all. Too many taxes and charges are set by income / asset value etc - paying for PSB is like buying a newspaper, everyone gets charged the same price.
so it is a licence fee then
but in any case define a "household"
how are you going to cope with HMOs, Flat Shares, Resident of Care Homes, Holiday Homes, Second Homes, Empty Homes etc etc
….. those if a certain age can remember broadcasting to no one on 405 lines …
And more recently and with great relevance to funding … the ASO/DSO
Where more people than expected got digital receivers ….
So much so that the LF funded Digital help scheme had a £400 million surplus…
…..which the government grabbed back into the consolidated fund ….
One may also nite that Digital tv also allowed the reframing of spectrum for mobile telephony ….
Whuch was/is a great public value …. But of real cash value to the government who got lots if money,
But none of this windfall came back to broadcasters …
I imagine Radio 1 and Radio 2 being fine but Radio 3? Let’s be honest it’s much less commercial than Classic FM…Radio 4? Radio 5? BBC Local Radio merged into a National network as elsewhere?
As for competition could we see a situation where Global and Bauer merge to survive against a commercial based BBC Radio?
I remember when the BBC actually used to take 'platform neutrality' quite seriously! Seems those days are long gone.
Now I like advert free TV, but I would agree “additional services” should be subscriptions or have advertising or sponsorship. We can’t have the BBC take any income from ITV or 4/5, so it’s a difficult one.
We need an enforceable way of stopping LF evasion, probably a Card and encryption so, if you access any U.K. TV you pay for your card and TV or internet devices to unencrypt.
There was no way that free TV licences could continue to be paid for out of the benefit system, though. That just makes the BBC into the BBBC - Britiain's Biggest Benefit Claimant. Unacceptable. And plenty of other public utilities like telephone and broadband providers, for example, are obliged to provide 'social tarriffs' which recognise that organisations making billions from everyday people must be expected to give a little bit of that back in the form of helping the less fortunate. Again, difficult to see why the BBC should be exempt from that.
Household charge will not just fund the BBC but public service work by non BBC media also.
Court reporting, councils meetings reporting or long public service journalism investigations all could be funded by the household charge
- but how the BBC distributes its (PSB) content in the UK has been set down in the very publically consulted Distribution Policy
formalised six years ago where the broad princples of Distrbstion sect 3.1 and the particular use of advertising 3.22
....and the test for Incremental audience value 3.32 allseem to be consindered
https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/howwework/policiesandguidelines/pdf/bbc_distribution_policy.pdf
As I said in my first post - read the words carefully for this panel!!!
in this case i suggest starting with
The context of a rapidly-changing broadcasting and media market.
before taking
The potential for the BBC to generate more commercial revenue.
after considering
Whether the BBC should provide more services to audiences on a fully commercial basis, and what those services could be.
I have rarely seen such a well crafted TOR...
Looiking at the second point The sustainability of the BBC’s current funding model.
Decsions lie with the Goverment on what licences there are? (Like radio and car radio)
what the cost of them is? (think George Osbourne Or the current over75s)
and how they are paid for (remember the unholy row with the Treasury over in step monthly payments !!)
.... of course the Goverment could decide that they do not want the LF income and it should all go directly to the BBC -
(on the other hand as it is almost half of DCMS income .... I cannot see that a Permenant secretary would recommend that!)
https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/dcms-departmental-overview-2022-23.pdf
The problem I have is that it is a Tory government appointed panel with a Tory-set agenda when the panel itself needs to be independently appointed eg via an impartial commission with the commissioners then deciding what the priorities ought to be.
I can write the conclusions right now - slash staff, budgets and programmes, take adverts and no more licence fee.
That is effectively kicking the can up the road as it is a BBC poll tax and it will become equally as unpopular as the other poll tax. RTE were looking into this model of funding as well but they seem to be sticking with the current part-funded by the TV licence fee and part-funded by advertising income model for the time being.
RTÉ in Ireland could be where the post licence fee situation with state funding or the household charge type in the coming months
( and thus border tv did not go bust in 3 days and Thames the last itv company standing in a month)
Mrs Thatcher was not pleased ……;
I don’t see the points that Tory biased …. But it would be very interesting to know how Enders would reply to them..
But it is looking at the BBC as a whole …. And there are members who have expertise in areas of bbc operation except the Agreement.
And a vocal critic within the group …which may be a good silencing technique.
Like Peacock there is an eminent economist,Dame Frances, and broadcaster Sir Peter to give a broad view
(Would it have been better to have Diane Coyle and Lord Grade?),
Point one is very important as this is what has changed a lot since Barwise and Picard …