BBC Trust service review: terms of reference
BBC nations’ radio & news on TV and online
Background
The BBC Trust is the governing body of the BBC. We are here to get the best out of the BBC for licence fee payers and one of the ways we do this is by carrying out an in-depth review of each of the BBC’s services at least once every five years.
This review is looking at BBC Nations’ radio as well as news and current affairs on television and online. It will cover BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, BBC Alba and news and current affairs on television, and BBC nations’ news online.
This is the second time that the Trust has looked at BBC Nations’ radio, but the first time we have looked at the whole of the BBC’s nations’ news and current affairs output together. It is also the first time reviewing BBC Alba within the service licence regime. Please see http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our_work/services/radio/service_reviews.html for our previous review of BBC nations’ radio.
Scope of the review
The review will consider the BBC’s local news and current affairs output overall, as well as how well each area is performing against commitments set out in service licences, the future strategic direction of the services, and whether any changes to the service licences are required. We will also consider whether, in the context of an evolving UK, each nation is receiving the best service of international, UK and nations news from the BBC.
The remits of the six services under review are set out in published service licences:
BBC Radio Scotland: a speech-led service for listeners seeking programmes about the life, culture and affairs of Scotland. In addition to local and national concerns, output should also address matters of UK and international significance from a Scottish perspective. BBC Radio Scotland should offer some highly targeted local programming and support for BBC community stations.
BBC Radio nan Gàidheal: a comprehensive speech and music service for listeners seeking programmes in Gaelic about the life, culture and affairs of Scotland.
BBC Alba: offers a mix of genres, including television news and weather. It should aim to serve Gaelic speakers, those learning the language, those that might wish to learn, and those interested in the language and culture. It should aim to reflect and support Gaelic culture, identity and heritage.
BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle: a speech-led service for listeners seeking programmes about the life, culture and affairs of Northern Ireland. Its programming should combine extensive
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coverage of local issues, interests and events with coverage of national and international developments.
BBC Radio Wales: an English language speech-led service for listeners seeking programmes about the life, culture and affairs of Wales. Programmes should focus on local and national concerns but also address matters of UK and international significance.
BBC Radio Cymru: a comprehensive speech and music radio service for listeners seeking programmes in Welsh about the life, culture and affairs of Wales. Programmes should focus on local and national concerns but also address matters of UK and international significance.
Further commitments to nations’ news and current affairs are set out in the BBC One and BBC Online and Red Button service licences, as shown in the following extracts:
Extract from the BBC One Service Licence:
BBC One should make an important contribution to the nations, regions and communities purpose amongst its audience and it should offer opt-out programmes and news bulletins for the nations and English regions
Extracts from the BBC Online and Red Button Service Licence:
BBC Online may have sites for 53 local areas across the UK…and may aggregate content from these sites to ensure greater local relevance to users. These should cover news, weather and travel and may include some local interests, such as sport, heritage and events.
Nations and local sites should aim to work effectively with other providers of local information, sourcing or sharing content and providing clear links from each BBC site to other local media and information providers.
The Service should…[provide]…content for licence fee payers in the different nations and local communities across the UK. The core of the offering should be news, sports, weather and travel, alongside content in other areas which reflects the particular characteristics of each nation or locality and supports broader BBC initiatives, programmes and services.
It should offer provision in Welsh, Gaelic, Irish and Ulster Scots and other languages used by licence fee payers where appropriate.
The BBC may build and support non-geographic communities of users where these clearly support the BBC’s contribution to its public purposes.
Further information is set out in the published service licences, available at: www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our_work/services
Aims of the review
The review will consider the following questions:
1. How well does the BBC serve audiences with radio, news and current affairs programmes made specifically for audiences in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales?
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How well does the BBC serve audiences across television, radio and online with news, current affairs and information made for each nation? How well does the BBC’s overall provision of news and current affairs perform in each nation? How are new technologies changing the way the BBC should serve audiences in each nation with news and information? How does the BBC’s output in each nation fit with programmes available from other national and local media?
2. How well are these programmes performing against commitments set out their services licences?
Are the services delivering high quality and distinctive content? Do the services together reach a wide audience? Are the services making an effective contribution to delivering the BBC’s public purposes? Are the services delivering good value for money?
3. Are these services well-positioned to deliver their service licence commitments in the future as viewing and listening patterns change and technology evolves?
Do their strategies and funding allow them to meet their objectives? Are the services responding effectively to changing audience expectations and consumption habits, primarily in response to technological shifts?
4. Should the service licences be changed to update existing commitments or add new ones?
Scope limitations
We intend to treat the following areas as out of scope for this review. Setting these out here is intended to clarify the areas of focus of our review for anyone who intends to become involved via our public consultation or any other activity.
Service reviews inform the Trust in carrying out its performance assessment duty and do not include a market impact assessment. We will however undertake some general market context analysis to understand consumption of BBC local news in the broader context. If the review concluded that changes were required to any of the services under review, then the Trust may be required to undertake a regulatory assessment and this would include consideration of market impact. News and current affairs output made for and broadcast in the English regions: this is being considered in a separate review, due to publish in early 2016. Editorial standards: service reviews do not consider editorial standards or give an assessment of accuracy and impartiality. However, as high editorial standards are a key component of high-quality speech and news services, we will consider any issues around compliance with editorial standards through this review. Programme supply: BBC radio’s programme supply has been reviewed separately by a Trust review of BBC content supply. Talent costs: these were considered as part of a separate Trust review. Distribution issues: the Trust has a separate framework setting out its governance of distribution of BBC services and this is not covered here. BBC programming on S4C: BBC Wales provides S4C with 10 hours a week of programming in Welsh by statute. This includes one of the longest-running soap operas, sport, and for the purpose of this review, newyddion (news) and a substantial contribution to current affairs. This programming is branded as the BBC's and is subject to annual review by the Trust. We will
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consider the results of this alongside this review, but we will not undertake any new analysis of this output.
Approach and timing
We will engage with licence fee payers and organisations on the key questions raised by the review through public consultation. We will also consult with the BBC Executive and take advice from our audience councils in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
We will analyse performance using industry-standard audience measurement data and existing BBC audience research. If necessary, we will also carry out bespoke audience research and/or content analysis to supplement evidence on audiences available from other sources.
Further information about our approach to service reviews can be found on our website.
Date Activity 9 November Review begins – public consultation launches November - January Trust gathers evidence from the public consultation, audience research, performance analysis and other sources 31 January Public consultation closes February – April Trust Unit analyses data and prepares report May/June 2016 Publication
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