THE BBC

1. THE BBC  What is the BBC’s market share? http://www.barb.co.uk/trendspotting/analysis/share-by-channel-2/ More interestingly: should it be involved in ratings wars at all? See slides on specialist programmes

2. A history of the licence feeTuesday 11 October 2005 • An annual licence fee of 10 shillings was first introduced under the Wireless Telegraphy Act in November 1923, to cover radio sets as TV was not yet invented. At the time, labourers in the south of England were earning around £2 12s a week. • If the fee had risen at the same rate as other retail prices since 1923, it would cost around £18.50 today. • By the end of 1923, 200,000 licences had been issued and by 1928 this had risen to 2.5m. • The first combined radio and TV licence, costing £2, was issued in June 1946 just after WW2. • Initially the Post Office collected the payments and in return received a slice of the revenue. The Treasury also took a cut until October 1963, when excise duty on licences was abolished. • Radio sets, including car radios, were exempted from the fee in 1971. • As a result of the Broadcasting Act 1990, theBBC was made responsible for licence administration and TV Licensing is sub-contracted to collect the fee on its behalf. • In March 2004, there were 24.5m licences in force. • Approximately 5% of televisions are currently believed to be unlicensed. • A colour TV licence currently costs £126.50 annually for each household. It is free for over-75s, and half-price for those who are registered blind. Black and white licences are £42. • A licence must be obtained for any device "installed or used" for receiving broadcasts, which potentially covers equipment such as a tuner card in a PC or a portable television. • However, televisions are exempt provided the owner can demonstrate they are not used for picking up broadcasts - as in the case of CCTV monitor

3. The licence fee is £147. • You need to be covered by a TV Licence to: • watch or record live TV programmes on any channel  • download or watch any BBC programmes on iPlayer – live, catch up or on demand. • This applies to any provider you use and any device, including a TV, desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, tablet, games console, digital box or DVD/VHS recorder. • The licence fee pays for? • The fee you pay provides a wide range of TV, radio and online content, as well as developing new ways to deliver it to you. In addition to funding BBC programmes and services, a proportion of the licence fee contributes to the costs of rolling out broadband to the UK population and funding Welsh Language TV channel S4C and local TV channels.  • The licence fee allows the BBC's UK services to remain free of advertisements and independent of shareholder and political interest.

4. Who was the first Director General of the BBC?What are the four main principles of the BBC ? 'Broadcasting represents a job of entertaining, informing and educating the nation, and should therefore be distinctly regarded as a public service. David Sarnoff. June 1922 Repeated by Lord Reith, the first Director general of the BBC, and applied as the governing maxim for the BBC

5. The BBC Trust • The BBC’s Royal Charter and Agreement set out the rules and regulations by which the BBC Trust must abide. • This royal charter is set on behalf of the licence payer by the elected government of the day. • The BBC Trust is the governing body of the BBC. It is independent from the BBC’s Executive Board, which is led by the Director-General. The BBC Trust make decisions in the best interests of licence fee payers and protect the independence of the BBC. • The Trust sets BBC’s strategy, approving how and where the licence fee is spent, and by reviewing the performance of all of the BBC’s services, both public service and commercial. • The Trust produces a report on how the BBC is governed every year in the Annual Report and Accounts, through which they are accountable to licence fee payers and the UK Parliament

6. The BBC Executive Board • The BBC Board and Management are is responsible for ensuring the BBC fulfils its mission and public purposes as set out in the Charter. • The Director-General chairs an Executive Committee which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the BBC. This is made up of directors from across the Corporation • This includes setting the strategic direction for the BBC; the creative remit; budgets for UK public services and the World Service; a framework to assess performance; standards for editorial and creative output and services; a framework for handling complaints; a policy on the distribution of UK public services; and a strategy and governance arrangements for the BBC’s commercial activities.

7. Innovation part 1 technology • The BBC has today launched a new campaign celebrating over 90 years of innovation, telling the story of broadcasting, engineering and technological progress since 1922. • Innovation is central to the BBC’s remit to inform, educate and entertain in new ways, and to bring new technology and services to everyone in the UK now and in the future. • http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/bbc-innovation.html

8. Innovation part 2 programminghttp://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/whoweare/publicpurposes/creativity.html Public purposes: Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence • Establish a leading reputation for creative and innovative programming. • Ensure enrichment for all audiences by covering a wide range of cultural activities. • Encourage active participation in cultural activities. • Provide a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining content. • Foster creativity and nurture and support UK talent across a wide range of genres.

9. Niche programming http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25457001For Jason Wilkinson, a 41-year-old expatriate Briton, those boats and the industry that has grown up around them represented an ideal business opportunity.In 2010, he established Nautical Television Europe (NTVE), an internet-based television station aimed at the yachting set and those who look after them.It is an example of a growing trend in the digital age - the niche broadcaster. There’s a new word in the lexicon of media bullshit: it is “distinctiveness”. A report, commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and published last week, argues that “greater distinctiveness” in the BBC’s output will allow its commercial rivals to make an extra £115m a year. That seems pretty great, doesn’t it? The BBC’s output gets massively more “distinctive”, which sounds like absolutely unanswerably superb news, and at the same time commercial broadcasters make millions of extra pounds. How hugely splendid all round. Hooray. By “distinctiveness”, the report means that the BBC should deliberately target smaller and more niche audiences, in order to allow the commercial sector to take the bigger ones https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/06/bbc-report-niche-distinctiveness-david-mitchell

10. Minority interesthttps://www.opendemocracy.net/ourbeeb/jamie-mackay/from-special-interest-to-public-interest-minority-programming-and-bbc’s-democra From 'special interest' to public interest: minority programming and the BBC’s democratic mandate JAMIE MACKAY15 June 2012 By any criteria the BBC produces TV and Radio of great integrity for special audiences, that may even be unequalled in the English speaking media. The diversity and depth of its Storyville documentaries, the gonzo adventures of Louis Theroux and the stylized political histories of Adam Curtis all stand out as groundbreaking examples in their respective genres. For technophiles there is Click and for science geeks, Horizon. Radio 3 caters for an eclectic range of music lovers while the middle-England Anglicanism of Songs of Praise is balanced out - with a respect surpassing mere ‘tolerance’ - by the multi-faith Thought for the Day. After that positive start he goes on to point out some shortcomings

11. Multiculturalism • DhirenKatwa: ‘Current BBC Asian Network model promotes segregation’ • February 5th, 2010Posted by Marc Johnson in Broadcasting, Events, Job losses • DhirenKatwa, senior news editor at Asian Voice, spoke at the Coventry Conversations series on Thursday about the possibility of the BBC’s Asian Network being scrapped in the face of strategic cuts. He said Vijay Sharma, head of the Asian Network, has been “in hiding” over the current situation. • The Asian Network’s audience fell by 15 per cent to 357,000 in the third quarter of last year, and is expected to struggle for survival after director-general Mark Thompson’s forthcoming strategic review of BBC programming. • Katwa, a member of the Equality Council of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), said he thought it would be a shame for the Asian Network to go, but added that he didn’t believe the BBC should be specifically broadcasting to minority groups. He told the audience that “with the Asian Network working within a silo, it’s promoting or contributing to segregation rather than integration”. He said that the solution is to embed minority targeted elements of the BBC more firmly within the corporation. • When asked about the network’s fall in ratings, Katwa said commercial competitors such as Sunrise Radio had contributed to the network’s struggle to reach it’s young target audience, but put its current problems largely down to “a lot of internal issues”. • Caroline Thomson, the BBC’s chief operating officer, told the House of Lords Communications Committee on Wednesday that the idea of one network serving the UK’s entire Asian community wasn’t the right way to represent such a large and diverse audience. • Katwa echoed her assessment in his talk, and suggested that “the BBC Asian Network needs to be embedded within the BBC as a corporation with more faces from black and Asian backgrounds.” • Sharing Katwa’s view, broadcast journalism lecturer and founder of Coventry Conversations John Mair added: “There is no role for something separate or segregated, it should just be part of the mainstream. Not ‘now Radio Four’s Asian hour’, every hour should be Asian hour”. • Katwa said at the talk that his opinions were his own and did not necessarily reflect the views of Asian Voice.

12. News values and Balance http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/journalism/values Impartiality lies at the heart of public service and is the core of our commitment to our audiences. It applies to all our output and services - television, radio, online, and in our international services and commercial magazines. We must be inclusive, considering the broad perspective and ensuring the existence of a range of views is appropriately reflected.

13. The BBC and Diversity A view or two https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/may/04/the-bbcs-diversity-strategy-is-not-good-enough http://www.bbc.co.uk/responsibility/tvpoverty-conference/programmes A more diverse BBC The targets we have set ourselves to reach by 2020 are among the most ambitious and stretching of any organisation. We know there’s plenty more to do - and no room for complacency Tony Hall, Director-General Diversity is vital to a modern BBC. We’re there for everyone - so we need to reflect and represent the whole of the UK. The Government also demands that we take a lead on diversity - it’s written into our Charter. http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/a-more-diverse-bbc

14. PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM (2008)Robin Foster and Kip Meekhttp://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/Publication-Public-Service-Broadcasting-in-the-United-Kingdom-A-Longer-Term-View.pdf THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING (PSB) IN THE UK. • We are in the midst of a rapid transition to digital technology and are at the same time seeing the growth of many different platforms over which broadcast-type products can be received not just television and radio, but also computers and mobiles. • With these changes come new opportunities – for example, the opportunity for greater interactivity, sharing and participation. • The digital world has increased the convergence of both content and technology. • This in turn creates the possibility of more effective delivery of content, including public service content, participation and the ability to share and connect so the quality of programmes will go down and original UK content (which is local as opposed to global) • This brings the danger of monopoly and the search for the widest possible audience, the loss of niche programmes, specialist programmes and the loss of local/cultural variations. • It could also lead, in the end, to the fragmentation of audiences and of funding. • There is also the danger that there will be an establishment of a digital divide where groups of people are excluded from new (and costly) digital services and technologies.

15. Public service broadcasting in the 21st century: renaissance or retreat?Inaugural BBC speech by Lord Patten of Barnes, Chairman of the BBC Trusthttp://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/speeches/2013/prix_italia The 21st century has seen the rise of new technologies and new competitors. The comfortable past on which public service ideas were founded are a fading memory. Politicians and other broadcasters look on publicly funded broadcasters with greedy eyes. The questionof the licence fee, which finances the BBCis: Why, in a world in which there is so much media choice, is there any longer a need for public service broadcasters funded by licence fees or taxation?

16. How does it try to satisfy every licence payer and therefore member of the audience?http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/whoweare/publicpurposes/communities.html • Increase network TV programming from around the UK • Strengthen on-demand provision for local communities • Enhancing the BBC's support for indigenous languages • Develop new ways of reflecting religious and other beliefs • 1 Represent the different nations, regions and communities to the rest of the UK • 2 Cater for the different nations, regions and communities of the UK Not all communities are geographically based. The BBC is in a strong position to support the passions and interests and needs of different groups, as the UK becomes an increasingly diverse, multicultural society. The Asian Network will address the needs and interests of a wide range of Asian communities in the UK; Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra will unite sports fans wherever they happen to be; and the music-based radio stations will provide opportunities for music lovers to debate music-related issues and share experiences. Radio 3 and BBC Four will continue to record and broadcast performance from across the nations and regions of the UK, including less mainstream genres such as jazz. • 3 Bring people together for shared experiences • 4 Encourage interest in, and conversation about local communities • 5 Reflect the different religious and other beliefs in the UK • 6 Provide output in minority languages

17. And to sum up - this is an essay question How does the BBC’s responsibilities affect the programmes it broadcasts? It is a summing up of the information in these slides. There is much to write about as the BBC is much loved, much hated, much derided and lots of people have an opinion/axe to grind. Beware the ‘money’ arguments dress up as cultural pieces.