BBC strategic review will mean 'reduction in some kinds of programmes and content', director general Mark Thompson says


The BBC will look at cutting some of its digital television and radio services after the analogue TV signal is switched off in 2012, its director general, Mark Thompson, said today.
Thompson, revealing more about the scope of his strategic review of the BBC's operations, also said that there would be "reductions in some kinds of programmes and content" including a look at the "current scope of our website". He promised that, after the switchover, a higher proportion of the licence fee would be spent on "original British content".
He also promised a "further shift in emphasis in favour of key priority areas", including news, children's programmes and "content of every kind that builds knowledge and shares music and culture, a long-range commitment to outstanding British drama and comedy, national events that bring us together".
Thompson admitted that it may seem "slightly counter-intuitive" to be talking about cutting digital services when viewers were being encouraged to switch to digital TV.
But he said that viewers were now consuming TV in different ways via on-demand services such as the BBC iPlayer, adding that the corporation had already cut the number of interactive services it offers via the red button on digital TV.
"We'll have conclusions from the review early in 2010. Without preempting them, I can tell you something about the direction of travel," he told a Voice of the Listener and Viewer conference in central London today.
"Importantly, we'll lay out new boundaries for the BBC," he said. "Once our boundaries were obvious. They were set by medium and spectrum scarcity: the BBC offered two TV channels and a fixed number of radio stations.
"Expect to see reductions in some kinds of programmes and content – a look, for example, at the current scope of our website – and a close examination of the future of our service portfolios once switchover has been achieved."
Talking about the BBC's website, Thompson said it was important to make sure that the "many millions of pages that are up there need to be there". "Is it sufficiently up to date, is it relevant?" he asked. "It might be a slightly smaller website. It might be stronger, making sure we are playing to our strengths."
He added: "At a time when so many other broadcasters are struggling with programme budgets, the licence fee's importance as an engine of creative investment in British talent is more important than ever.
"Expect a commitment post-switchover to spend a higher proportion of the licence fee on original British content than we are able to today."
Thompson said the "high watermark of new channel launches and of new content investment was passed some years ago". "Instead the focus is on offering convenient new ways of giving the public access to existing content, rather than representing expansions into fresh content areas. The iPlayer sits in this camp," he added.
He also said that the corporation would prioritise the exploitation of its massive archive of programmes and seek out further partnerships with commercial broadcasters and other public service organisations.
But he added that specialist services serving small numbers of people, such as digital TV channel BBC Parliament, would always remain an important part of the BBC's offering.
Inevitably, Thompson's comments will focus attention on the future of its digital TV channels, including BBC3 and BBC4, and digital radio channels, including BBC 6Music and BBC7, which cost millions of pounds to run but reach a small audience compared with its mainstream channels such as BBC1, BBC2, Radio 1 and Radio 2.
The BBC's digital portfolio includes TV services BBC3, BBC4, the BBC News channel, BBC Parliament and the children's networks CBBC and CBeebies. In radio, it operates the digital stations 1Xtra, 5 Live Sports Extra, 6Music, Radio 7 and the Asian Network.
The director general suggested that the BBC would spend less money on acquiring overseas programming and that by 2012 would spend a "higher proportion of the licence fee on original British content than we are able today".
Thompson also entered the ongoing debate in media circles about charging for online content, placing the BBC firmly in the free-access camp.
"The BBC is not just a machine for investing in and delivering good content and services. It's a guarantor of public space – that public square which everyone can enter, no matter how wealthy or poor they are, and within which they can share ideas, cultures, experiences and debate the great issues of the day," he said.
"There are no pay walls in public space, no barriers between the public and the news and information they need to form their own judgment of what is going on.
Public space is independent space in which everyone should get a fair hearing. This is why the BBC strives so hard to achieve impartiality."
Thompson also said he would investigate the possibility of publishing audience "appreciation indexes", or AIs – in which viewers score a programme from 1 to 100 – to demonstrate how much BBC programmes were valued by viewers and listeners.
The review of BBC services is currently being conducted by Thompson and is due to report its findings to the BBC Trust at the beginning of next year.
Thompson said the British public wanted "creative ambition, excellence and originality" from the BBC.
But he added that in a period when "not just the licence fee, but the wider public finances and the revenues available to commercial media, are constrained, and after years of squeezing efficiencies out of the system", difficult choices lay ahead.

By John Plunkett
Source:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/26/mark-thompson-bbc-shut-digital