Championing Excellence and Diversity in Broadcasting Spring 2020 Bulletin 127 BBC SEARCHES FOR NEW DG VLV’s 37th ANNUAL AS VLV ANALYSIS SHOWS SPRING CONFERENCE 30% BUDGET CUT SINCE 2010 Thursday 30 April 2020 The BBC is looking for a new director-general to replace Tony Hall amid mounting political pressure from the government over the licence fee. The BBC is also bracing itself for negative publicity as it gears up to restrict the number of over 75 households that can receive free TV licences. The unprecedented strain on the corporation is laid bare in an analysis by the VLV that shows the BBC’s budget for UK services has been slashed by 30% in real terms over the past decade. VLV believes that the gathering threats to the BBC Patrick Barwise and Peter York, the authors of a could lead to its demise in its current form because they forthcoming book about the BBC, are to speak at the point to a full review of whether the BBC should remain VLV Spring Conference on 30 April. They will be a universal service. What happens will depend on the addressing the multiple threats facing the BBC, a theme government, despite there having been no commitment likely to dominate the conference. Their book, The War to review the BBC’s funding model in the 2019 Against the BBC, will be published in the summer. The Conservative manifesto. conference will include the VLV Awards for Excellence in Broadcasting 2019 – for more details about the This crisis has hit the BBC when it is already having to awards, see page 8. make major savings, such as the 450 job cuts recently announced at the news division, and it finds itself on the back foot on a number of issues from free licences for the over 75s to equal pay claims. Lord Hall’s decision to CHANGE AT THE TOP FOR DCMS, step down in the summer means the BBC is hunting for a new leader at a time of existential peril. OFCOM AND SELECT COMMITTEE The main focus of the political debate is the TV licence Oliver Dowden was appointed as culture secretary in fee. Since 2010 the cost of the TV licence has risen the February cabinet reshuffle. His elevation came the from £145.50 to £154.50 in 2019 (and to £157.50 in day after Ofcom appointed a new chief executive and April) but a six-year freeze, combined with government said its chairman would be leaving early. In another raids, have meant 30% less public funding available for change to the key personnel influencing the future of UK services. See page 6 for more detail. British broadcasting, Julian Knight has been elected to chair the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media Until now the BBC has successfully maintained the and Sport select committee. quality of its output, but in the context of constantly increasing competition from video on demand and Dowden becomes the ninth culture secretary since the online services, it is unclear how it will be able maintain Conservatives came to power in 2010. One of his its current reach. BBC chairman Sir David Clementi predecessors, John Whittingdale, has returned to the made it clear in February that if further cuts are made, DCMS as a minister of state for media and data. crucial public services will have to be scrapped. Ofcom’s new chief executive is the senior civil servant Since the election, it has become clear that reviewing Dame Melanie Dawes. The government has said it the size, scope and remit of the BBC is on the plans to give Ofcom new powers under her leadership government’s agenda. The government would like the to regulate ‘online harms’. In light of this, Lord Burns BBC to fund free TV licences for all households has agreed to step down as Ofcom’s chairman later in containing someone over 75 (a benefit that cost £655m the year. Although his term was to have run until the in 2019); it is consulting on whether to decriminalise non end of 2021, the government wanted a new chair in -payment of the TV licence fee; and recent briefings place to oversee the expansion of the regulator’s role. from government sources have suggested that the licence fee should be replaced by a subscription Knight, a former BBC journalist, secured the system. chairmanship of the DCMS committee by defeating the incumbent, fellow Tory MP Damian Collins, by 283 See also Chairman’s letter, page 2 votes to 274 in a secret ballot of MPs. Bulletin Spring 2020 FROM THE CHAIRMAN, COLIN BROWNE Any illusions that the BBC might have faced a period of Championing Excellence and Diversity relative stability, when it was given an 11-year Charter in Broadcasting in 2016, have now been well and truly shattered. As you will read elsewhere in this Bulletin, the VLV Patrons challenges to the corporation are coming thick and fast. Ms Helen Boaden The Government has announced a consultation on Rt Revd Lord Eames OM Ms Claire Enders whether non-payment of the licence fee should be Sir Francis Graham-Smith FRS decriminalised. Various Government figures have Lord Inglewood DL questioned the principle of a compulsory licence fee in Lord Phillips of Sudbury OBE the age of proliferating services and platforms. The Lord Puttnam CBE Lady Solti current licence fee settlement lasts until 31 March 2022, although the Ms Sarah Thane CBE JP principle of the licence fee is embodied in the Charter. The new chair of the Sir John Tusa Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, who is a long-term critic Mr Will Wyatt CBE of the BBC, has announced that his committee will be undertaking a root VLV Trustees and branch review of the BBC and its funding; and Ofcom will be launching Mr Alan Barlow its statutory review of public service broadcasting. Add to that that the BBC Professor Robert Beveridge will soon be implementing its new policy on free licences for the over 75s, Mr Colin Browne (Chairman) which will limit the concession to those who need it most, and we can see Ms Sophie Chalk Ms Mary Dixon (Secretary) that the corporation is facing something of a perfect storm. The BBC also Mr Peter Gordon (Treasurer) needs to find a new director-general, as Lord Hall has announced that he Professor Sarita Malik will be stepping down in the summer, after seven years in the role. Dr Maria Michalis Professor Jeanette Steemers The first issue is that of decriminalisation, the Government having Professor Bob Usherwood announced a relatively short consultation, with responses due by 1 April. Mr Anthony Wills The case for and against decriminalisation was thoroughly examined in VLV Office 2015, in a review commissioned by then secretary of state John The Old Rectory Business Centre Whittingdale. It concluded that decriminalisation would not be appropriate. Springhead Road It would encourage avoidance, which would be unfair to the vast majority Northfleet who do pay; it could actually lead to greater fines for non-payers under civil Kent DA11 8HN law, and it is estimated that decriminalisation would lead to a loss of at least £200m in annual revenues to the BBC. Tel: 01474 338716 e-mail: [email protected] The cost to the BBC of implementing even the more limited concession for over 75s is estimated at about £250m per year. And these costs come after a period of years when the BBC’s revenues have been steadily undermined Sarah Stapylton-Smith Administrator Website www.vlv.org.uk by various Government initiatives. New research by the VLV shows that the BBC has lost, in real terms, the equivalent of about £1bn or 30% of its @vlvuk public funding for UK services in the last decade. The latest impact of these cuts can be seen in the announcement that BBC news is cutting 450 posts as part of an £80m savings drive. Of course the BBC sometimes gets things wrong. There are always efficiencies to be made and waste to be eliminated. We pay for the BBC and it is right that it is subject to constant scrutiny and challenge. However, VLV represents citizen and consumer no organisation can withstand a constant chipping away of its finances on interests in broadcasting and champions this scale without suffering significant damage and it is listeners and excellence and diversity in broadcasting. VLV viewers who will suffer. is free from political, sectarian and commercial affiliations. VLV is concerned with the issues, The VLV believes that the mixed ecology of public service broadcasting in structures, institutions and regulation that underpin the British broadcasting system and the UK, with the commercially funded ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and in particular to maintain the principles of public the publicly funded BBC, has served the nation and its citizens well. It is service broadcasting. admired around the world. The plethora of new services made possible by technology and providing greater choice are to be welcomed. But they do not undermine the case for public service broadcasting providing British- Registered Address: The Old Rectory Business Centre, Springhead Road, Northfleet, made programming tailored to UK audiences, developing UK talent and, Kent DA11 8HN. most importantly, offering trusted and regulated news and current affairs in The Bulletin is edited by Chris Tryhorn and published by the Voice of the Listener & Viewer Ltd, a charitable company an era of misinformation. limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales No 4407712. Charity No:1152136 The BBC is the cornerstone of PSB in the UK. It plays a vital role in our civil Views expressed in the bulletin are those society.