What role should the BBC fulfil in the future broadcast environment?

Jim Marshall wonders what the Royal Charter review will have in store for the BBC, when it is able to flex as much muscle as ever? It would be good if it could maintain the same high standards but not at the potential expense of the commercial sector…

It doesn’t seem that long ago that James Murdoch was giving the keynote speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival – giving the BBC a hard time. Now James Murdoch has resigned his chairmanship of BSkyB and returned to the US – if not in disgrace, at least very much with ‘his tail between his legs’.

In contrast, Mark Thompson, the current BBC Director General, has announced his departure this coming autumn and he can look forward to an array of accolades for a generally successful tenure and probably a decent honour or two. Sir Mark Thompson has a nice ring about it.

Thompson’s time at the BBC has also witnessed a number of successful series, such as Strictly Come Dancing and Frozen Planet. And of course most recently The Voice, which, if not because it is directly scheduled against the latest ITV series of Britain’s got Talent, is still a little too close for comfort and maintains the battle for the Saturday viewer in search of rather ‘mind-numbing’ entertainment. So very much normal business between the two longest standing free to air ‘mega broadcasters’ in the UK.

There is of course much speculation as to who will replace Thompson at the Beeb – but I feel it is more interesting to speculate on the prospects for the BBC in the upcoming review of its Charter. The current BBC Royal Charter expires in 2016.

Clearly at the heart of this debate is the question of maintaining the license fee. In fairness to the BBC (and ITV), the old two tiered system of funding British TV, invented in the mid 20th century – namely public funding through the licence fee for the BBC and private funding through advertising sales for ITV – is still working today in the 21st century, over 50 years later.

But can it continue to work going forward? I would hazard a guess that the BBC will say a categorical yes – but I also suspect that it’s going to have a tougher time than ever convincing both the government and the population in general. I also suspect that Mark Thompson probably didn’t feel he had the energy for the argument/ battle.

ITV’s challenge is somewhat different, in that advertising funding is quite clearly going to become less and less reliable in the digital/connected TV world. In spite of its recent strong performance and an indisputable wealth of content, ITV has so far failed to develop new revenue streams from subscription or pay TV. But that is a different story!

The BBC’s ability to maintain its licence fee arrangement will probably come down to a number of issues. Firstly on an ’emotional’ front it will have a strong argument. Not only is there universal love and admiration for the BBC but it is also arguably the nation’s most respected brand, still delivering programmes that ‘inform, educate and entertain’ – and all without the irritating interruption of advertising.

Secondly, politically the BBC is able to flex as much muscle as ever. Politicians are always going to wary of ‘falling out’ with the BBC and, on a larger scale, no Prime Minster will want to be remembered for heading up the Government that in any way detrimentally changed the BBC for the future.

Thirdly, the financial arguments against also have their impetus – in a pay/subscription TV environment, the BBC’s licence fee looks like pretty good value and the argument that it should carry even just some advertising has all but totally disappeared.

So far so good, but the final key issue is where its case starts to unravel. What role should the BBC fulfil in the future broadcast environment? Or more specifically, what can it and should it deliver, which is either unique in comparison with the commercial sector and/or complementary, for which it can then justify its public subsidy?

A schedule without advertising breaks might be one argument but it doesn’t go very far, particularly with the younger generations who have grown up to become much more commercially savvy.

Its Reithian mantra ‘to inform, educate and entertain’ is all well and good (and as already mentioned, it still does all three very well) but it’s hardly a unique positioning in a time when there are dedicated news and documentary channels – and programmes like Strictly and The Voice could have been made or commissioned by any number of the commercial channels (and arguably are!).

And then you start to move into even more treacherous areas for the BBC such as Radio One and Radio Two and local/regional radio services, all of which should be covered by the commercial sector but often aren’t, not least because of the competition from the BBC.

The problem comes down to the definition of Public Sector Broadcasting, who should deliver it and how it should be managed. The answers used to be (and largely still are): the BBC should define its own PSB remit, the BBC should deliver it and the BBC should manage it, including its own accountability through the BBC Trust (which used to be the BBC Board of Governors). Today, that is fudge.

For the renewed BBC Charter (I would argue that it shouldn’t be renewed) there needs to be a full and vigorous appraisal of where the BBC should sit in the UK broadcasting ecology for the future, what its mission should be (within a clearly defined Public Service Broadcasting remit) and how it should interface with the commercial sector across all platforms – free to air TV, radio and online.

It also needs to be considerably more accountable for the quality, content and scheduling of its output and, in this regard, I would have thought that Ofcom could and should have a full role to play in order to ensure that there is a proper balance between the interests of the public, the commercial broadcasters and the BBC.

So, all in all, a rather more controlled and accountable ‘Auntie’, which would still be able to maintain the same high standards, but not at the potential expense of the commercial sector.

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