This is the text of a BBC announcement:

The Barwise Report - the public's opinion of the BBC's licence fee bid
Date: 24.04.2006

The BBC Governance Unit has today published an independent report by Professor Patrick Barwise about the public's opinion of the BBC's licence fee bid.

The report, commissioned by the Board of Governors in January, addresses three issues:

   * The likely reaction of licence fee payers to a licence fee rising to £150 (in constant prices) in 2013/14, as proposed in the BBC's bid
   * Licence fee payers' responses (as both consumers and citizens) to the new investment proposals in the BBC's bid
   * Public reactions to the Government proposal to use the licence fee to fund targeted help for vulnerable citizens during digital switchover

The Governors commissioned the research to provide themselves with the most up-to-date understanding of licence fee payers' opinions before the final stage of the licence fee settlement process.

Additionally, the Governors wanted to understand licence fee payers' reaction to the Government's plan to fund 'targeted help' via the licence fee.

Professor Barwise's report, which includes an executive summary, together with all the research he reviewed, is available in full at www.bbcgovernors.co.uk

Professor Barwise today summarised his findings in response to the three issues he was asked to address.

"There is no evidence of a sudden 'tipping point' above which willingness to pay the TV licence would drop dramatically.

"Further, the more consumers know about the BBC's proposed new services, the more positive their attitude.

"When asked to think about it, and if really forced to choose between paying the licence fee and losing the BBC's services, most licence fee payers would, if they had to, pay substantially more than the current £10 per month for existing BBC services.

"My estimate is that, if the licence fee increased to £150 per year in 2013/4 (in constant pounds), the proportion of people willing to pay for the existing services would fall from about 75-80 per cent today (as consumers and citizens, respectively) to about 65-70 per cent in 2013/4.

"This rises to 70-75 per cent in 2013/4 if the proposed new services are added.

"People are more evenly divided when asked about a licence fee supplement to pay for help for the vulnerable during digital switchover (53% support, 47% oppose).

"However, if the Government proceeds with this proposal it won't be the straw that breaks the licence fee's back."

Notes

Patrick Barwise is Professor of Management and Marketing at London Business School and coauthor (with Seán Meehan, IMD, Lausanne) of Simply Better (HBS Press, 2004: www.simply-better.biz), winner of the American Marketing Association's 2005 Berry-AMA Prize for the best recent book in marketing.

He joined London Business School in 1976, having spent his early career with IBM.

His previous publications include books on Television and its Audience, Accounting for Brands, Strategic Decisions, Predictions: Media, and Advertising in a Recession, as well as numerous papers and articles on brands, consumer and audience behaviour, marketing expenditure trends, and new media.

In 2004, he led an independent review for the UK government of the BBC's digital television services.

He is also a Fellow of the Sunningdale Institute, a government think tank and virtual academy on public service management, and a previous deputy chairman of the UK consumer organization Which?.

The report is entirely the work of Professor Patrick Barwise. His comments, conclusions and recommendations are his own and should be attributed only to him.

All the research reviewed by Professor Barwise is available online  by clicking here. The most recent research, published for the first time, was carried out by Opinion Leader Research and BMRB.

The former researched the public's reaction to the proposals within the BBC's licence fee case in March 2006; the latter surveyed public opinion, also in March 2006, about a licence fee supplement to pay for targeted help.