As the UK teeters on the brink of a satellite receiver revolution, the BBC’s director-general said, he is keen to link up with the UK’s other public service broadcasters (PSBs) to drive forward digital switch-over as quickly as possible.
Speaking at the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, Mark Thompson said, the Corporation is already discussing with Sky the Government’s digital switch-over date of 2010 and is set to meet with other PSBs and equipment manufacturers, with the aim of reaching a simple and clear standard for free satellite.
As well as discussing digital switch-over, Thompson also said he is keen to see other satellite providers follow the lead of the BBC’s Freeview service when it comes to offering free satellite to consumers. He said: “I’m sure unencryption [of Freeview] was the right decision. Free-to-air public service broadcasters don’t need encryption – indeed scrambling your signal runs counter to the whole idea of free-to-air public service.
“I hope that over time the UK’s other PSBs will follow our lead. That way the idea of a real Freesat, available without a subscription to all those households who cannot receive Freeview, could become a reality.”
During the speech Thompson, praised former BBC director-general, Grey Dyke, he said: “The legacy Greg’s handed me at the BBC is in many ways a brilliant one. I’ve also inherited Greg’s two breakthroughs in digital television, Freeview, which could only have succeeded with the BBC’s leadership and support, and the decision to unencrypte on digital satellite.”
Charter Renewal
Thompson, former Channel Four chief executive, also spoke about the Corporations Charter Renewal which is due in 2006 and the challenges this puts on the BBC. He said: “Charter Renewal is the right time for the outside world to put the BBC under the microscope. It’s also the right time for the BBC itself to take a searching look at every aspect of what it does.”
Currently, right across the BBC, there’s teams looking at pretty much everything, from costs, size and shape to the way we commission and make programmes, said Thompson.
In concluding the speech, he said: “So I believe the BBC faces as much change in its programme strategy as it does in its shape and operations. That means a period of uncertainty for everyone who works with us, inside or outside the BBC. Yet it should be obvious that the BBC must change at least as quickly as the world around it.
He added: “Traditional broadcasting is changing into something else and if we remain a traditional broadcaster with the assumptions and reaction times and cost-structures of a traditional broadcaster, the future doesn’t look great. We need a leap in agility and focus. We need to find new ways and new forms of delivering our content to the public”
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