ISBA Urges Government To Go Further With BBC Online Review
ISBA has called for the Government-launched review of the BBC’s online services to go further in assessing the impact of the Corporation’s £111 million internet services on the commercial market.
The wide-ranging review is currently being conducted by being former Trinity Mirror chief executive, Philip Graf, to examine how the BBC’s online services fit within its general public service obligations.
ISBA claims that BBCi, by virtue of its guaranteed licence-fee funding, distorts the market for internet services and may ultimately be impoverishing the choice and diversity in the overall online ecology.
Bob Wootton, ISBA’s director of media and advertising, said: “The online market is young and still developing. Different business models are still being tested and evolving. However, commercial publishers’ ability to compete for audiences – and thereby achieve the revenue required to maintain and enhance their own services – is likely to continue to be greatly limited as long as the BBC is allowed to exist unchecked in this market.”
He added: “An environment in which one player is allowed to dominate, limits opportunities for others and may ultimately limit choice for the very licence-fee payers that the BBC is supposed to serve.”
The BBCi services currently benefit from heavy cross-promotion by other BBC media channels and early indicators suggest this could be worth between £14 million and £85 million, representing a spend beyond the reach of almost any other player in the market.
ISBA recognises that the BBC has played an important role in developing an innovative and original online service. However, it is keen to see the Corporation’s internet activity regulated in order to balance to effects of market distortion on commercial growth.
The Government-launched review is the most comprehensive assessment of BBC Online since the service launched in 1998. It comes ahead of the wider debate surrounding the role, purpose, impact and funding of the BBC as a whole, which will take place in the run up to the Corporation’s Charter review next year (see Government Details Root And Branch Review Of BBC).
ISBA: 020 7499 7502 www.isba.org.uk
Recent Relates Stories from NewsLine Dyke Warns Against Americanisation Of British Television ISBA Urges FSA To Introduce Ad Approval System Online Measurement Distorts Campaign Effectiveness
Subscribers can access ten years of NewsLine articles by clicking the Search button to the left