A FUTURE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE TELEVISION CONTENT AND PLATFORMS IN A DIGITAL WORLD

The BBC
For most people, the BBC is
public service broadcasting and
its fortunes are inescapably linked
to the prospects for a thriving
television landscape in the years
to come. The intense debate that
has taken place throughout the
Charter Review process of 2015-
16 has stirred up hugely different
views about not only the future of
the corporation but also its very
purpose.
There has been a vast amount of comment
and conjecture during this period about
whether the BBC is too big, too inefficient,
too expansionist, too risk averse, too liberal,
too conservative, too popular, too elitist
or simply too precious. The government
outlined its proposals in two consultation
documents and is in the process of clarifying
its thinking ahead of a new royal charter due
to take effect from January 2017. 120 We have
framed our discussion here under the same
main four headings that the government
has used: mission, scale and scope, funding,
governance and regulation. We discuss its
performance in relation to specific genres and
its commitment to diversity in later chapters
but first, however, we look at the role the BBC
plays in the broadcasting ecology.
The BBC: by far the most
important part of the
broadcasting ecology
As we explained in Chapter 1, the mix of
broadcasting provision in the UK can be
described as an ecology, with different
organisations living alongside each other in
a state of creative tension. There can be no
doubt that the BBC is the most significant
organism within this ecology. As the original
broadcasting organisation in the UK, as the
only publicly funded broadcaster, and as
the largest in reach and scope, it is a huge
presence not just in broadcasting but in
British public life.
As well as all the drama, entertainment,
wildlife programmes, and sport, the BBC
runs the UK’s largest journalistic operation,
responsible for national, international and
regional news; it is a major patron of the arts;
and it is one of the world’s best known and
most trusted brands, an unparalleled agent of
soft power for the UK, reaching more people
through the World Service than any other
international broadcaster.
In terms of public service broadcasting, the
BBC is easily the most significant player.
Unlike the other public service broadcasters,
it is required to put the public at the heart
of everything it broadcasts or publishes.
According to its current (2007-16) royal
charter, it exists to serve the public interest
and its main object is the promotion of
its public purposes (see below); its core
activities should be the promotion of those
public purposes through information,
education and entertainment. 121
120
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), BBC Charter Review: Public Consultation, 2015 (green paper),
DCMS, A BBC for the future: a broadcaster of distinction, 2016 (white paper),
121
BBC royal charter, 2006, paragraphs 3-5.
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