RadioCentre response to BBC Trust consultation on the BBC’s new Public Purposes Background 1. The RadioCentre formed in July 2006 from the merger of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and the Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA). Its members consist of the overwhelming majority of UK Commercial Radio stations, who fund the organisation. 2. The role of the RadioCentre is to maintain and build a strong and successful Commercial Radio industry -in terms of both listening hours and revenues. As such, the RadioCentre operates in a number of areas including working with advertisers and their agencies, representing Commercial Radio companies to Government, Ofcom, copyright societies and other organisations concerned with radio, and working with stations themselves. The RadioCentre also provides a forum for industry discussion, is a source of advice to members on all aspects of radio, and includes copy clearance services for the industry through the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC). 3. As the body charged with representing and leading the Commercial Radio sector, the RadioCentre is, along with the BBC, radio’s guardian. Either itself, or through its members, it shares platforms with the BBC on RAJAR, the DRDB, the Radio Academy, the Radio Skills Development Forum (RSDF) and the Radio Industry Diversity Forum. These partnerships are excellent examples of how the BBC and Commercial Radio work together for the future of radio. However, the BBC is also a mammoth market intervention in radio, far greater than in television. Therefore, it is proper that the RadioCentre will have comment to make on the regulation of Commercial Radio’s biggest competitor for audience and therefore a significant influence in its ability to earn revenue and invest in programming, thereby contributing to the economy and to society overall. Introduction 4. We welcome this opportunity to respond to the BBC Trust’s consultation on the new Public Purpose Remits for the BBC. The RadioCentre believes that the new system of governance for the BBC, inaugurated on 1st January 2007, carries the prospect of increased certainty for both licence fee payers and non-BBC broadcasters about the kind of activity they can expect to see from the Corporation, in service of its mandate for generating public value. 5. The Trust has a substantial workload for its first year of operation, much of which was imposed on it under the terms of the 2006 Charter and Agreement. As well as responding to this consultation, we have also submitted a response to the Trust’s Service Licences consultation. It is obviously far from ideal that the consultations on the Purpose Remits and Service Licences have been held at the same time, but we recognise that, to an extent, the Trust’s hand has been forced by the timescale to which it is obliged to work. This, and the absence of the forthcoming Purpose Plans, have made it difficult to respond as effectively to these consultations as we would have liked. It would have been appropriate to consult on all three tiers of the system simultaneously, or to do so sequentially (Public Purpose Remits, then Purpose Plans, followed by Service Licences), but to consult on the first and last step in the process without the intervening link is most unsatisfactory. 6. On a purely practical level, we also believe that the sheer quantity of documents relating to these interlinked consultations has impeded our efforts to make sense of the new governance framework. Including both consultation documents, the Operating Frameworks, Purpose Remits and Service Licences, as well as the Charter and Agreement themselves, respondents have effectively been required to juggle around 30 different documents. 7. In light of this, we believe that the Trust could have done more to make the information as accessible as possible. In particular, the absence of signposting to explain the linkages between different documents, the lack of page numbers or referenced paragraphs in some instances and the decision not to pull all the salient information together into single documents, initially hindered our attempts to identify quickly the key issues for a Commercial Radio response. We suggest that the Trust might consider how to make future consultations more user-friendly. Executive Summary 8. Public Purpose principles should reverberate through every corner of the BBC. At present, we have significant concerns as to whether the layers of Purpose Remits, priorities and Purpose Plans will in fact serve to muffle the requirements of the Charter and Agreement. 9. The Public Purpose Remits are of vital importance in this process. The BBC Trust must infuse the Purpose Remits with sufficient force and specificity to allow the Public Purposes to resonate throughout the BBC’s services in the manner envisaged by the Charter. 10. In general, we believe that the Public Purpose priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement. However, there are areas where we believe they have been unnecessarily expanded or supplemented, or where they lack strength and consistency. 11. We are concerned that the inclusion within the Charter of the BBC’s longstanding mission “to inform, educate and entertain” has been inappropriately interpreted in the Public Purpose Remits, particularly in relation to entertainment: the BBC Agreement provides that entertainment (and information and education) are mechanisms by which to deliver the Public Purposes. Interestingly, information and education appear to have their own dedicated purposes, whereas entertainment does not, suggesting to us that its role should be especially carefully targeted as a means by which to deliver the Purposes rather than an objective in itself. 12. We note three concerns which are relevant to all of the priorities: 1) The Purpose Remit priorities are inconsistent in their descriptions of BBC audiences. 2) The purity of the objectives set out within the Purpose Remits does not always survive as the documents develop into practical tools. 3) The Purpose Remit priorities feature language inappropriate for inclusion within a regulatory document and which could be used to endorse excessive production of programming which is predominantly populist entertainment; or which could encourage the BBC to chase audience share; or which could encourage excessive expenditure. 13. These areas merit attention because, unless the Public Purpose priorities prompt specific requirements to be made of services, particularly those targeting key demographics, the objectives of the Purposes will be lost in the journey to audiences’ ears and eyes. 14. Throughout the Purpose Remits, there also appears to be little acknowledgement of the effect that the BBC’s activities have on rival broadcasters. Whereas the BBC’s contribution represents only a minority of total TV funding in the UK, its spending on radio accounts for over half of the sector’s income. 15. We believe that the Purpose Remits fail to set the BBC sufficient challenge because of the current weak link between them and the Service Licences. 16. We suspect that the Purpose Plans will make clear requirements of individual services’ responsibility to deliver the Public Purpose Remits. But suspicion, expectation and even hope are insufficient. Without a clear and inarguable link between the Public Purpose Remits and the Service Licences, both documents will be meaningless. 17. In relation to performance measurement, we are concerned that there could be too great a reliance on audience perceptions of the BBC’s delivery in particular areas, as opposed to quantifiable data on actual delivery. Consultation Questions 18. Below, we offer a short summary answer to each of the Trust’s questions. We then explore each individual purpose in more detail, making reference to the Trust’s questions as appropriate. 19. Our comments are focussed on the BBC’s activity in radio. Q1. Do the priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement? 20. Public Purpose principles should reverberate through every corner of the BBC. At present, we have significant concerns as to whether the layers of Purpose Remits, priorities and Purpose Plans will in fact serve to muffle the requirements of the Charter and Agreement. 21. The BBC Charter 2006 established the following principles at the heart of the BBC’s activity: 1) The BBC exists to serve the public interest. 2) The BBC’s main object is the promotion of its Public Purposes.1 22. However, the Charter and Agreement’s clear objectives currently appear to have been softened by the time they reach the draft Service Licences for radio. Where there are echoes of the overriding principles established by the Charter and Agreement in these documents, they are often faint. Crucially, they fail to materialise into the kind of concrete commitments that will inspire individual producers and presenters to seek new and creative ways to uphold the BBC’s mandate for public service. 23. The RadioCentre has also responded to the Trust’s Service Licence consultation, and in doing so we have devoted substantial attention to this issue. Yet the Public Purpose Remits are also of vital importance. The BBC Trust must infuse them with sufficient force and specificity to allow the Public Purposes to resonate throughout the BBC’s services in the manner envisaged by the Charter. 24. In general, we believe that the Public Purpose priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement. However, there are areas where we believe they have been unnecessarily expanded or supplemented, or where they lack strength and consistency. We deal with these in our individual responses to the Public Purpose Remits. To Inform, Educate or just Entertain? 25. We are concerned that the inclusion within the Charter of the BBC’s longstanding mission “to inform, educate and entertain” has been inappropriately interpreted in the Public Purpose Remits, particularly in relation to entertainment. 26. The 2006 Charter asserts “The BBC’s main activities should be the promotion of its Public Purposes through the provision of output which consists of information, education and entertainment”2. Substituting “The BBC” at the front of this sentence with “BBC Television” or “BBC Radio”, or individual services such as “BBC2” or “Radio 1Xtra”, or perhaps even individual programmes such as “the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show” or “Woman’s Hour” would, we believe, provide a useful test as to whether the BBC is holding true to this objective. It is only by assessing how individual services deliver the Charter’s objectives that the Corporation’s overall performance can be verified. 27. In light of this extract from the Charter, we understand that entertainment (and information and education) should exist within the BBC’s output as mechanisms by which to deliver the Public Purposes. Interestingly, information and education appear to have their own dedicated purposes, whereas entertainment does not, suggesting to us that its role should be especially carefully targeted as a means by which to deliver the Purposes rather than an objective in itself. 1 BBC Charter 2006, 3.1-2 2 BBC Charter 2006, 5.1 28. This is not the situation we observe in much of BBC music radio. At present, much of BBC Radios 1 and 2’s output, as well as that of 1Xtra, has entertainment as its core objective. 29. This is supported by research carried out on behalf of RadioCentre predecessor body CRCA in May 20053 in which listeners (and non listeners) to Radios 1 and 2 were asked to match their understanding of the stations against ten statements, six of which were designed to correspond to what were then draft Public Purposes for the BBC, with the remaining four exploring issues of music, presentation, entertainment and cross-promotion. This research has already been supplied to the BBC Trust under separate cover, but the results are summarised below: Table 1 – cumulative first, second and third “best understanding of station” RADIO 1 RADIO 2 listeners non-listeners listeners non-listeners This station plays popular music 79 23 64 14 This station has well known presenters 55 20 55 13 This station has lots of entertaining & fun items (e.g. comedy, celebrities, competitions etc) 51 14 42 13 This station keeps me up to date with news, information and by analysing current events * 29 6 38 5 This station keeps me up to date and informed about international news & views * 16 4 15 4 This station helps me expand my knowledge about a wide range of topics * 8 4 14 6 This station is promoted on television, in the press and in adverts around the country 11 4 12 4 This station represents different regions and diverse communities around the UK * 8 4 11 3 This station stimulates my interest and participation in cultural activities * 7 2 10 3 This station has encouraged me to listen to DAB digital radio * 4 1 2 1 30. The BBC often justifies populist entertainment programmes with low Public Purpose delivery by saying that they allow it to expose audiences to subsequent Public Purpose content, much of which is delivered in small chunks (e.g. a 3 minute hourly news bulletin, a daily ‘Thought for the Day’, an occasional social action campaign). Yet the Charter clearly establishes that spearheading the “promotion of [the BBC’s] Public Purposes” should be the BBC’s main activity. Unless it is genuinely treated as such by every programme on every service, there is potentially no limit to the amount of investment in entertainment programming which the BBC could justify if it retained some Public Purpose content at off-peak times. Q2. Do the priorities need amending in any way? If so, how? (please answer with reference to specific priorities) 31. We note three concerns which are relevant to all of the priorities: 1) The Purpose Remit priorities are inconsistent in their descriptions of BBC audiences. 2) The purity of the objectives set out within the Purpose Remits does not always survive as the documents develop into practical tools. 3) The Purpose Remit priorities feature language inappropriate for inclusion within a regulatory document and which could be used to endorse excessive production of programming which is predominantly 3 Omnibus: Attitudes to BBC Radios 1 & 2, May 2005, UK weighted sample 945 adults. populist entertainment; or which could encourage the BBC to chase audience share; or which could encourage excessive expenditure. The BBC’s Audience 32. A good test of the new BBC governance framework will be whether it prompts high quality public service content to be consumed in increasing quantities by every sector of the BBC’s audience, particularly those which currently demonstrate less of a propensity for such output. Yet the Purpose Remits employ an inconsistent approach when describing the BBC’s audience. In each of the first five Purpose Remits, the priorities generally oblige the BBC to have regards for “all its audiences” 4. However, the opening reference to the BBC’s audience in the first Purpose Remit, ‘Sustaining citizenship and civil society’, references “people of all backgrounds, ages and levels of knowledge”5. A less rigorous reference still can be found in ‘Promoting education and learning’, which merely requires the BBC to engage “audiences”6. 33. We suggest that the phrase “all its audiences” should enjoy universal use throughout the Purpose Remits. In light of this, the Trust may also wish to include an overriding definition of “all its audiences” in the Operating Framework which extends to “people of all backgrounds, ages and levels of knowledge”. Consideration may also be given to including the geographical location of audiences within the definition. This will allow the Purpose Remits to connect more closely with the Service Licences and, through them, individual services. Maintaining purity of objectives 34. In addition, it is worth noting that the priorities are often defined differently when they are reiterated in Annex I and Annex II of each Purpose Remit. In many instances this creates ambiguity about how the Trust intends to ensure compliance in the promotion of the Public Purposes. This is also addressed in our answer to Question 5. 35. For example, in ‘Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence’, the BBC is required to be distinctive as part of its duty to “establish a leading reputation for creative and innovative programming”7. However, within the Purpose Remit Measurement the idea of distinctiveness has been lost, with audiences only to be asked whether the BBC has “fresh and new ideas”8, a measurement which will only establish the corporation’s innovation credentials. Similarly when this priority is explored further in Annex II9 the idea of distinctiveness is completely absent, with the focus instead entirely on creative risk taking, and producing enjoyable programming. Inappropriate Language 36. There are a number of places in the Purpose Remits where it is unclear whether the BBC Trust stands on the side of regulator or flag-waver. This ambiguity is often the product of inappropriate use of language. We believe that the Trust should avoid making value judgements or assumptions, particularly so early in its lifetime, and in addition suggest that it is careful about the way in which it introduces targets for the BBC to compete with other broadcasters. 37. For instance, when the Trust mandates the BBC to “strive to offer the best of [various] genre available”10 it is not altogether clear what it would consider success in this area. We support targets which oblige the BBC to demonstrate superior performance in areas where other broadcasters are unable to make comparable Public Purpose contributions for commercial reasons, but otherwise believe that this commitment is an anomaly. As written, it bears the hallmark of a manager’s target rather than a regulator’s. 38. We note, for example, that the ‘Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence’ Purpose Remit states “The BBC’s key role in nurturing production and performing talent across many cultural 4 eg. Sustaining citizenship and civil society, p. 2 5 Sustaining citizenship and civil society, p. 2 6 Promoting education and learning, p. 2 7 Stimulating Creativity and Cultural Excellence, p. 2 8 Stimulating Creativity and Cultural Excellence, p. 2 9 Stimulating Creativity and Cultural Excellence, p. 7-8 10 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 8 genres is widely acknowledged”11. Notwithstanding the fact that we would dispute the value of the BBC’s role in nurturing performing talent in radio (other than for the benefit of the Corporation itself), we believe that the Trust should not be evaluating performance even as it sets the framework for doing so. Instead of making time-specific value judgements, the Trust should employ neutral language and take up a position of objectivity on this issue. 39. Similarly, priority 1(a) of the Bringing the UK to the world and the UK Purpose Remit refers to “the BBC’s reputation as the most respected voice in international news broadcasting”12, a status which this priority also establishes as a target. We believe that statements such as this are unhelpful. Rather than suggesting that the regulator is already satisfied about performance in a given area, we believe that regulation be formal, precise and measured in setting expectations, allowing success to be judged impartially at different moments in time. We are also concerned that if audiences’ perceptions identified another broadcaster as “setting the standard for high quality international journalism”, this statement might be used to justify excessive additional funding being made available for BBC News in order for it to gain its regulator-imposed ‘top slot’. 40. Reading through the Charter and Agreement we can find no justification for this approach and urge the Trust to revisit this type of language wherever it appears. 41. We wonder, however, if it originates from a desire on behalf of the Trust to ensure that licence fee payers receive the best possible service as a result of the significant investment they make in the BBC. This is an understandable objective. We do not disagree that licence fee payers, and therefore the Trust, must have high expectations of the BBC. However, given the dangers we outline above, we believe that being amongst the best or a standard setter (rather than the standard setter) would be more appropriate. Q3. Are there any important priorities that have been missed? Ensuring that the BBC’s activities do not undermine those of other broadcasters 42. Throughout the Purpose Remits, there appears to be little acknowledgement of the effect that the BBC’s activities have on rival broadcasters. Whereas the BBC’s contribution represents only a minority of total TV funding in the UK, its spending on radio accounts for over half of the sector’s income. The BBC has a huge impact on Commercial Radio, taking 54% of all radio listening 13. 43. The true test of whether the BBC delivers against the Public Purposes should not be the volume or scale of services offered, rather it should be assessed on the unique contribution which, by virtue of its public funding, it is able to make to the delivery of Public Purposes. 44. We note that ‘Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities’ commits the BBC to “take care not to undermine a continuing plurality of local and regional media” and “complement rather than replicate their provision”14. We welcome this statement and believe its spirit should be extended to the other Public Purposes for example by making the maintenance of plurality a priority for national as well as local and regional services. A BBC which stifles, rather than supports, a pluralistic Public Service Content ecology, will be one which has woefully misused public funds. 45. For Commercial Radio, this means that the BBC must take care not to undermine our industry’s impressive performance in providing valued, accurate and up to date local information, reaching young people, engaging with local and ethnic communities, developing new services for communities of interest such as children and jazz music fans, offering popular entertainment and developing successful music radio. 46. We recognise that the BBC’s role should not exclusively consist of the delivery of services which meet a market failure. However, we would argue that those services for which there is a clear public demand, but which the commercial sector cannot provide are lively to provide 11 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 9 12 Bringing the UK to the world and the UK, p. 2 13 RAJAR Q4 2006 14 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 8 the greatest opportunity for delivery public value. We therefore emphasise the importance of assessing the distinctiveness of BBC services, particularly in relation to new services, as a priority for which the Trust should have regard. Q4. Do the Purpose Remits present the BBC with sufficient challenge in promoting the Public Purposes? If not, how might they be improved? (please answer with reference to specific remits and priorities) 47. We believe that the Purpose Remits fail to set the BBC sufficient challenge because of the current weak link between them and the Service Licences. The Purpose Remit Operating Framework15 and Service Licence Consultation document16 both make it clear that the Service Licences are supposed to flow out of the Purpose Remits via Purpose Plans. 48. We acknowledge the difficulties of timing faced by the Trust which have resulted in the unfortunate situation whereby both consultations are run concurrently. However, it does give us cause to question how any amendments to the Public Purpose Remits prompted by this consultation will be reflected in the Service Licences. 49. These concerns are linked to the overriding observations we make in our response to the Service Licences consultation: 1) The Service Licences for BBC Radio do not adequately reflect the services as currently provided. 2) Where they do, they reflect the BBC’s existing failure to tie many of its radio services to the Public Purposes. 50. We note the absence of a set of documents which could prove crucial in linking the Public Purpose Remits and the Service Licences i.e. the Purpose Plans. Without them, we find that the two current consultations are frustrating in their lack of connection and our response is therefore compromised. 51. We suspect that their job will include making clear requirements of individual services’ responsibility to deliver the Public Purpose Remits. But suspicion, expectation and even hope are insufficient. Without a clear and inarguable link between the Public Purpose Remits and the Service Licences, both documents will be meaningless. Q5. In addition to the measures included in Annex I of each purpose remit, are there any other performance measures which the trust should use to monitor the Purpose Remits? 52. We have four comments about the way in which the BBC Trust proposes to measure BBC performance against the Purpose Remits. 53. First, we are concerned that there could be too great a reliance on audience perceptions of the BBC’s delivery in particular areas, as opposed to quantifiable data on actual delivery. Whilst we believe it is important to capture the views of licence fee payers, these must also be set within the context of actual delivery. For example, audiences might believe that the BBC is the principal provider of coverage of rugby union, but objective data analysis might reveal that another broadcaster either delivers greater quantity of output, or reaches more members of the public etc. Furthermore, the BBC’s longevity and heritage inevitably produce ingrained and favourable perceptions (the kind, incidentally, that have been inappropriately included by the Trust in many of the Public Purpose Remits). An overreliance on these perceptions could lead to complacency amongst managers who may believe that, so long as listeners and viewers are broadly content, all is well with the world. 54. Second, the first five Purpose Remits contain a commitment to “gather comparative data”17 by which to assess how audiences rate the BBC’s performance against other broadcasters. In this respect we have two major concerns: firstly, many of BBC Radio’s listeners are unique; 15 Purpose Remit Operating Framework, p. 5 16 Service Licence Consultation document, p. 4-5 17 e.g. Sustaining citizenship and civil society, p. 4 30% of listeners to BBC Network Radio consume no other radio and 21% of BBC Local Radio listeners are similarly isolated from exposure to other broadcasts18. Secondly, the proviso that the Trust will do this “where appropriate” is too loosely defined. In particular, it offers no view as to whether there are any areas in which the BBC should be expected to be appreciably better than other broadcasters, or whether the BBC should be expected to be a market leader. We believe these are important issues which need to be addressed before assessment of audience views is undertaken. 55. Third, an overriding concern is that the assessment of delivery will be across the BBC as a whole, rather than on specific services. This will make it very difficult to identify whether specific programmes and services are failing. 56. Fourth, we note the importance of ensuring there is no disconnection between the language used to describe the Public Purposes and priorities for the BBC, and that which will be used when performance is measured. Q6. How well do you think the BBC is currently delivering the Purpose Remit Priorities? 57. We outline below our detailed comments on this point. 18 RAJAR Q4 2006 Sustaining citizenship and civil society. Do the priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement? 58. We note the Trust’s assumption in priority 1 of this Purpose Remit that the BBC is “the standard setter in independent, high quality journalism”19 but can find no signal within the Agreement’s description of this Purpose which justifies this. Instead the Agreement20 requires that the BBC “gives information about, and increases understanding of, the world through accurate and impartial news …”. 59. As noted in paragraph 39, the assumption could herald dangerous investment practices in the face of a changing media landscape. 60. In other respects we believe the five ‘Sustaining citizenship and civil society’ priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement. Do the priorities need amending in any way? Force and specificity 61. At present, this Purpose Remit does not appear to require the BBC to go further than Commercial Radio is able to. Specific priority commitments requiring the BBC to go into detail or provide a “comprehensive analysis” would ensure that the BBC strives to provide a greater depth of news coverage than commercial broadcasters are able to. 62. Priority 4 of this Purpose Remit demonstrates the particular impact of the current disconnect between the Public Purposes and the Service Licences. It includes a requirement for the BBC to “help all its audiences understand how the UK is governed at a European, national, regional and local level”21. It could be argued that the young audiences served by BBC Radios 1 and 1Xtra are amongst the most disenfranchised from the democratic process, yet the relevant Service Licences contain no requirement, let alone condition, for the stations to engage their audiences in these matters. This may be particularly significant since many of those younger listeners are forsaking BBC Television, leaving BBC Radio as their only point of interface with the Corporation. In the case of Radio 1 this is a particularly acute situation as 53% of its listeners consume no other BBC Radio22. We believe that, unless the Public Purpose priorities make specific demands of those services which target key demographics, the objectives of the Purposes will be lost in the journey to audiences’ ears and eyes. Use of entertainment programming 63. We are concerned that the opening paragraph’s requirement for the BBC to be “engaging”23 may encourage managers to use excessively populist methods in order to achieve success in this area. We do not suggest that the BBC should be anything other than engaging, but neither should it be anything other than impartial, or accurate, yet neither of these is specified. An engaging broadcasting style is a tool, a means by which this and other Purposes might be delivered. It should not form part of a regulatory target. 64. We note that the majority of the BBC’s output on its popular music stations fails to include ‘Sustaining citizenship and civil society’ at its core. Instead these stations focus their resources and energies on building young audience share through celebrity presenters such as recent acquisitions Russell Brand on Radio 2 and Stephen Merchant on 6Music. The core objectives behind the Chris Moyles’ breakfast show are not obviously the promotion of the Public Purposes. Does this Purpose Remit present the BBC with sufficient challenge? 65. Because the priorities are inadequately linked to individual services, as noted above, we do not believe that the BBC’s popular music services in particular are presented with sufficient 19 Sustaining citizenship and civil society, p. 2 20 BBC Agreement, July 2006, 6.1 21 Sustaining citizenship and civil society, p. 2 22 RAJAR Q4 2006 23 Sustaining citizenship and civil society, p. 2 challenge by this priority. Performance measures 66. The first priority, for the BBC to “‘Maintain and grow the BBC’s reputation as the standard- setter in independent, high quality journalism”24, could additionally be monitored against levels of upheld complaints about BBC journalism. 67. The second priority, for the BBC to “Engage a wide audience, in news, current affairs and other topical issues”25, could be measured by recording the volume, spread and scheduling of news and current affairs output across particular dayparts. This is likely to produce different results for TV and radio, as peak listening/viewing times are very different across the two media. How well is the BBC currently delivering this Purpose? 68. Overall: We believe that, in general, the BBC is currently delivering this Purpose well. However, there are some notable gaps which suggest that it is not doing so for the benefit of “all its audiences”. 69. Maintain and grow the BBC’s reputation as the standard-setter in independent, high quality journalism: The BBC performs well in this area. 70. Engage a wide audience in news, current affairs and other topical issues: We are concerned that the BBC does not necessarily engage with audiences of all “ages”26 as required by this priority. The Observer newspaper has claimed that the BBC believes it is too upmarket. Director General Mark Thompson’s far-reaching review, Household Value, has discovered that the Corporation’s serves the professional classes better than lower income families, quoting an unnamed BBC insider27. The high audiences attracted to BBC Radio’s popular music services are not benefiting as much as they might from the BBC’s strength in this area and, despite their generous funding, BBC Radio 1 and 2 are committing to lower levels of news than most Commercial Radio stations28. 71. We recognise that Radio 1 will point to Newsbeat as an example of its commitment to engaging young people in the priorities for this purpose. However, only 5.6% of Radio 1’s audience tunes into this programme on a daily basis and just 40% of the audience tunes in on a weekly basis29. We believe that if the service was genuinely committed to engaging the maximum number of listeners in its news output, it would schedule Newsbeat during its breakfast show to harness the maximum audience. 72. Encourage conversation and debate about news, current affairs and topical issues: Radios 4 and 5 are delivering this purpose particularly well as is BBC Local Radio. However, with the notable exception of the Jeremy Vine programme, we believe the BBC’s popular music networks do not achieve high performance in this area. Similarly, although Newsbeat does encourage text and email contributions, the audience figures quoted above make it clear that this does not enable the majority of Radio 1 listeners to engage with such issues, even on a weekly basis. We believe that programmes such as those hosted by Chris Moyles and Scott Mills should include some listener engagement in news and current affairs, rather than the discussions around television shows and celebrities which populate the running order. 73. The lack of listener engagement in the programmes which most successfully deliver this type of output compounds our concerns: only 7.6% of Radio 2’s audience tunes into Jeremy Vine’s programme on a daily basis, and less than half its audience tunes in to the show even once a 24 Sustaining citizenship and civil society, p. 2 25 Sustaining citizenship and civil society, p. 2 26 Sustaining citizenship and civil society, p. 2 27 James Robinson, ‘Official: BBC is too upmarket’, The Observer, 1 April 2007 28 Of the 218 stations who submitted data to CRCA’s 2004 audit of public service broadcasting, 148 broadcast more news than Radio 1 promises in its annual Statement of Programme Policy. Radio 2’s Statement of Programme Policy promises 800 hours of news and current affairs a year, of which 520 hours are accounted for by Jeremy Vine’s programme. This leaves a commitment to 323 minutes each week of news, a figure bettered by 163 of the 218 stations that participated in CRCA’s audit. 29 RAJAR Q4 2006 week. Similarly where almost 25% of Radio 1’s audience tunes into Chris Moyles on a daily basis only 5.6% engage with Newsbeat with the same regularity30. 74. Build greater understanding of the parliamentary process and political institutions governing the UK: Although we believe the BBC is delivering this priority well on BBC Radios 4 and Five Live, we are concerned that, as stations which target arguably the most politically disenfranchised section of the population, Radios 1 and 1Xtra do not make any Service Licence commitment in this area. This is not just absent on paper but on air: on the day of the last General Election, Radio 1’s lead news story was about Formula One racing. We further note a general lack of economic and political analysis on young people’s services. 75. Enable audiences to access, understand and interact with different types of media: We believe the BBC delivers this priority well. Promoting education and learning Do the priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement? 76. In general we believe that the priorities for this Public Purpose adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement. 77. We are, however, somewhat puzzled by priority 2 in the Public Purpose Remit, which says the BBC should “engage audiences in activities targeted to achieve specific outcomes that benefit society”31. We cannot trace the root of this aspect of the Remit. 78. We note that, while the Agreement requires the BBC’s educational content to be “accessible”32 (meaning ‘easily understood or appreciated’33), the draft Public Purpose Remit translates this to “engaging”34 (meaning ‘charming and attractive’). We believe these are quite different directions in which to take such content and believe that “engaging” has the potential of weakening the potency of the content in a way which accessible does not. Do the priorities need amending in any way? Force and specificity 79. As written, the priorities for this Purpose Remit do very little to ensure that BBC Radio’s popular music stations (Radio 1, Radio 2, 1Xtra and 6Music) make any significant contribution to the promotion of education and learning. As with the BBC’s mandate for ‘Sustaining citizenship and civil society’, this failing is particularly stark in light of the number of young people captured in the audiences for these services. 80. There is a welcome assertion of the importance of including an educational requirement at the point of commissioning, and not sacrificing challenging material for wide audience appeal35, but we are concerned that these provisos are difficult to apply to radio. For instance, the word “sacrificed”36 suggests that the Trust is primarily concerned about existing content being axed, but most listeners to the BBC’s popular music stations would probably struggle to think of any “challenging material” on these services. Secondly there is not normally an accountable commissioning service on these stations such as exists on television. Use of entertainment programming 81. Annex II contains a worrying admission that in order to “Stimulate informal learning across a full range of subjects and issues for all audiences” (priority 1), it will again “often be appropriate to use entertainment techniques”37. We fail to see how the techniques to be employed by producers are worthy of mention within a regulatory document. 30 RAJAR Q4 2006 31 Promoting education and learning, p. 2 32 BBC Agreement, July 2006, 7.a 33 Concise Oxford English Dictionary 34 Promoting education and learning, p. 2 35 Promoting education and learning, p. 7 36 Promoting education and learning, p. 7 37 Promoting education and learning, p. 7 82. Although we accept that some content may “not necessarily have to have the promotion of learning as its primary purpose”38, we believe that the Trust must ensure that the BBC does also promote learning across all its services through content which has this as its primary objective. 83. For key services like Radio 1 and Radio 2, this kind of wording seems to set the requirements so low as to make it almost impossible to prove failure against this Public Purpose. It would be unreasonable to expect every entertainment programme to have the promotion of education and learning as its primary purpose. Yet the word “content” (see above) is vague. Success in this area could presumably be achieved by simply including a one-off entertainment feature which promoted education and learning as a minor objective. We believe this is unacceptable, given the Charter and Agreement’s requirement that the promotion of the Public Purposes is the BBC’s primary purpose. Does this Purpose Remit present the BBC with sufficient challenge? 84. For the reasons outlined above, we believe the challenge is insufficient. Challenging the BBC, without challenging all of its services, is meaningless and will lead to a confused and unaccountable system of regulation. It may be interested to note that, in the Commercial Radio sector, the sector as a whole is not charged with delivering any objectives, and neither are individual companies. Instead, the responsibility for the delivery of public purposes falls squarely on the shoulders of individual stations via their Formats. Performance measures 85. Our concerns in this area relate back to the use of entertainment programming to promote education and learning. Whilst agreeing that the Trust should measure the outcome of the BBC’s activity in this area (“enabling [audiences] to learn different things”), we believe that it is irrelevant and inappropriate to measure the BBC’s success in “keeping them entertained” whilst doing so39. How well is the BBC currently delivering this Purpose? 86. Overall: We believe the BBC generally delivers this Purpose well. However, we have shared the concerns of other members of the British Internet Publishers Alliance (BIPA) about the dominance of BBC Jam. We were therefore pleased to note the withdrawal of this service pending a new management proposal and Public Value Test. The BBC is an important provider of support to the nation’s education, but it should not be the sole or even the principal one. 87. Stimulate informal learning across a full range of subjects and issues for all audiences: We believe that the BBC does generally stimulate informal learning well. We question whether, in radio, it does so across a full range of subjects for all audiences. For example, the popular music networks predominantly focus on educating listeners about music. 88. Engage audiences in activities targeted to achieve specific outcomes that benefit society: The BBC delivers this well, although, as noted earlier, we cannot source the root of this priority’s inclusion within the Remit. 89. Promote and support formal educational goals for children and teenagers and support adult education, especially related to basic skills development: We believe the BBC is generally delivering this priority well. We note BBC Radio’s commitment to supporting young people at exam and university entrance time. However, we believe it is important for the Trust and BBC managers to recognise that Commercial Radio also makes a considerable contribution in this area and that its ability to continue to do so will depend on the maintenance of a plurality of PSC providers. 38 Promoting education and learning, p. 7 39 Promoting education and learning, p. 3 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence Do the priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement? 90. We believe that, in several respects, the priorities devised by the Trust in support of this Public Purpose do not reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement. We believe the BBC’s role and remit has been enhanced and expanded in ways not signalled by the Charter. 91. The opening paragraph within the Public Purpose Remit contains the baffling statement “the BBC will also support your own creative and sporting activities”. Unless the licence fee payer is now entitled to apply to the BBC to pay their gym membership, or to drive them to their dance class, we fail to see how such personal support can be offered. This seems an excessive ambition for a broadcaster to assume. The Agreement asks only that the BBC “promotes interest, engagement and participation in cultural activity” and indeed does so only in the context of “new audiences”40. Promoting is very different from supporting, and we therefore recommend the removal of this sentence. Alternatively, it might be redrafted to read “The BBC will also encourage you to participate in new creative and sporting opportunities”. 92. As hinted in our comments above, we do not believe it is the BBC’s role to “enable” participation in cultural activities, as currently suggested in the Trust’s third priority against this Public Purpose41. We support the idea that it should “encourage” such participation, but enabling (‘giving someone the ability or means to do something’42) requires a practical assistance that should not be the task of the publicly funded broadcaster. 93. We strongly object to the inclusion of the Trust’s fourth priority against this Public Purpose. There is no licence within the Public Purposes as set out in the Agreement for the BBC to “provide a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining programming”43. As noted earlier, the Charter requires that “the BBC’s main activities should be the promotion of its Public Purposes through the provision of output which consists of information, education and entertainment …”44. It does not set up the provision of entertainment as a Public Purpose in itself (although, interestingly, it does establish that information and education are worthy of their own public purposes). We therefore believe it is imperative that, in order to avoid BBC managers using this aspect of this Public Purpose as an excuse to programme output which does not deliver Public Purposes but which instead purely focuses on entertainment, this fourth priority of the Public Purpose Remit must be eradicated. 94. We are further concerned by the fifth priority of this Public Purpose Remit. It extends the Agreement’s requirement for the BBC to “foster and nurture”45 talent into a requirement for the BBC to “employ the best of the UK’s writers and performers”46. We outline some of the dangers of this policy in paragraph 111, but for now, comment that this extension of remit is neither signalled by the Agreement nor appropriate. We also note that it fundamentally changes the spirit of the intention. Fostering and nurturing suggests a level of support, engagement and coaching of, in the main, new and developing talent, which is totally lost in the concept of employing those at the top of their profession. Do the priorities need amending in any way? Force and specificity 95. This is a key Public Purpose which brings the BBC into contact with a number of other organisations, not only broadcasters. Yet as with other Public Purposes, its Purpose Remit suffers from inadequate definition. The first priority requirement for BBC output to “Establish a leading reputation for creative and innovative programming” by being “distinctive” is a useful one, but it is not clear how this will be measured against commercial broadcasters’ 40 BBC Agreement, July 2006, 8.1.c 41 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 42 Concise Oxford English Dictionary 43 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 44 BBC Charter 2006, 5.1 45 BBC Agreement, July 2006, 8.1.b 46 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 activity47. 96. As written, it would be impossible to prove poor performance against the first priority’s requirement that the BBC should “regularly” break new ground, set trends and take creative risks48. Since “regularly” means ‘occurring at fixed intervals’, rather than defining a level of frequency, we wonder what success in this regard would look like. We hope the Trust will correct this anomaly in its final draft. 97. In Annex II, the first priority is further elaborated through a commitment that the BBC should take “creative risks”49. The example of new comedy is given, but whilst applicable for television or Radio 4, this merely highlights the absence of any risk-taking in, for example, Radio 1 or 2’s “main activity”. We note few creative risks, for example, within Terry Wogan’s breakfast show, or that of Chris Moyles, save (in the latter case) the risk of offending listeners! 98. The explanation for the second priority, which requires the BBC to “Ensure enrichment for all audiences by covering a wide range of cultural activities”, gives classical and urban music as examples of the kind of content which the BBC should cover50. With Commercial Radio providing successful services that cater for both genres, the absence of any commitment for the BBC to cater for minority cultural interests or address market failure is disappointing. A good example is that of black listeners aged over 35. While 1Xtra followed Commercial Radio’s urban music services in targeting young black listeners, this left a distinct community of older black people for whom a specialist service including drama, history, visual arts, music and writing could have been devised. 99. The ‘Scope of the Public Purpose’ for this Purpose Remit quotes the Charter and Agreement requirement for the BBC to cover “sport of minority interest”51. However, the Trust has evidently not chosen to reflect this in the priorities for this Public Purpose. The commitment to “niche UK sports with a loyal regional following”52 is useful, but it allows the BBC to restrict its activity to sports which have substantial audiences within a BBC Local Radio station’s coverage area, rather than sports which enjoy national interest, albeit at lower levels than, for example, football or tennis. It does not translate into any requirement on Five Live, which has no commitment to “sport of minority interest” in its Service Licence. As we explain in our response to the Service Licences, Five Live’s football-heavy schedules currently leave insufficient room for minority sports. We believe that this should be addressed in both Purpose Remit and Service Licence. 100. The ‘Market Context and BBC Role’ section of this Purpose Remit contains observations about changes in “UK-originated programming” and the “UK production sector”53. As with the reference to sports programming subscription services, these insights relate almost exclusively to television, and should be qualified accordingly. In addition, there is no reference to independent production or UK-originated content anywhere in the priorities for this Public Purpose. 101. Mention of “mainstream popular hits” and “experimental material”, also in Annex II’s explanation of the “Ensure enrichment for all audiences by covering a wide range of cultural activities” priority, is telling54. The wording here suggests that they have equal billing, but in reality the BBC’s popular music stations concentrate on the former, particularly during daytime, and relegate more obscure or cutting edge music to off-peak hours. We note that less than 1% of Radio 1’s audience tunes into its specialist music programming on a daily basis as a result of its off-peak scheduling55 whereas almost a quarter of the station’s listeners 47 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 48 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 49 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 8 50 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 8 51 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 5 52 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 8 53 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 6 54 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 8 55 0.9% of Radio 1 listeners tune in on a daily basis to the station’s Monday – Friday 1900-0000 programming (RAJAR Q4 2006) tune into Chris Moyles daily56. 102. Furthermore, the explanatory note for this priority suggests that the BBC should be “always striving to expand horizons and encourage audiences into unfamiliar territory”57. We believe that a commitment of this kind, which only requires the BBC to ‘try’ to do something, is not a commitment at all. Certainly this language would have no place in comparable regulation of the commercial sector, such as Ofcom’s localness guidelines for radio. Use of entertainment programming 103. We have particular misgivings about the fourth priority, which encourages the BBC to “Provide a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining content”58. Our interpretation of the Charter, as explained earlier, leads us to believe that entertainment on its own should not be a justification for any BBC content. Indeed, there is no requirement for the BBC to entertain in the Agreement’s definition of this Public Purpose. Instead, the Agreement requires that the BBC “enriches the cultural life of the UK through creative excellence in distinctive and original content”59. This priority threatens single-handedly to undermine the fundamental tenants that the other Purpose Remits are striving towards, providing a default fallback option for services with poor contributions to the delivery of Public Purposes. 104. The explanation of this priority in Annex II of this Purpose Remit says “The BBC was founded to ‘inform, educate and entertain,’ and entertaining audiences remains a key role of the BBC and one that was endorsed during the Charter Review process”60. We do not dismiss this analysis, but, as stated earlier, believe that entertainment is a means by which to deliver the Public Purposes, rather than being a purpose in itself. For this reason, we believe that this priority has no place in the ‘Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence’ Purpose Remit. Ensuring that the BBC’s activities do not undermine those of other broadcasters 105. As we have already suggested, we believe that a core way in which the BBC should stimulate creativity and cultural excellence is by ensuring that its services do not encroach upon the contribution made by Commercial Radio, a sector which is itself recognised as making a valuable creative contribution to the cultural life of the UK. 106. The BBC’s third priority under this Public Purpose, to “Encourage and enable active participation in cultural activities”, contains an endorsement for the BBC to enter into “Partnerships with other organisations”61. However, such partnerships often bring the BBC directly into competition with commercial broadcasters, who also rely on such arrangements in order to develop new content initiatives. In addition, they indirectly allow for commercial activity by licensing the BBC to carry sponsor messages associated with events. The BBC’s sheer size and its unique multi-media scale (a scale that would not be permitted for a commercial broadcaster under the ownership rules within the 2003 Communications Act or, probably, by the Competition Commission) give it a unique advantage in negotiating such partnerships. 107. In many instances, the BBC’s partnerships with sporting and cultural events providers are negotiated on an exclusive basis, behaviour which does nothing to broaden choice for consumers or minimise expenditure on behalf of licence fee payers. This Purpose Remit defines the BBC role as being to “ensure that everyone in the UK continues to have access to a wide range of high-quality, distinctive and original UK content that demonstrates cultural excellence”62. If the BBC truly wished to do this in radio, it would start by expanding listener choice by sharing rights for cultural and sporting events in partnerships with commercial stations. 108. The BBC’s current approach to this issue has a significant impact on commercial broadcasters 56 RAJAR Q4 2006 57 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 8 58 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 8 59 BBC Agreement, July 2006, 8.1.a 60 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 8 61 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 62 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 7 and should be addressed in this priority. The ‘Market Context and BBC Role’63 section for this priority outlines the market context in which “costs of key rights and talent – in, for example, sport, comedy, drama and film – have risen significantly” but fails to acknowledge that in radio, the BBC has been the primary driver of this, something for which it is only now beginning to be held to account64. 109. It is both inappropriate and provocative for the BBC Trust to include the insight that “Technology is also increasingly allowing for pay per view or subscription funding for certain types of programmes” 65, without acknowledging that this applies almost entirely to television. This could easily be used to justify the BBC’s monopolisation of all major sports rights for radio. If a Commercial Radio station such as talkSPORT were to share Premiership football commentary rights equally with Five Live this would in no way “take these programmes beyond the reach of the less well-off”66. In fact by increasing consumer choice it would have quite the opposite effect. The present arrangement in radio actually represents the severe “reduction of choice for such members of the audience” 67 which the Trust claims that it wishes to avoid. A good example of this was the recent shift in Scottish football rights from Scottish Radio Holdings (now part of Emap), which would broadcast matches of specific local interest across its network of local stations, to BBC Radio Scotland, which can only broadcast one match nationally. 110. We are also concerned that the mandate established for the BBC by the fifth priority, to “support the best talent wherever it is found in the UK’s creative community”68, licenses it to poach talent from Commercial Radio. We would strongly refute any suggestion that the BBC plays the key role in nurturing production and performing talents within radio’s “cultural genres”69. At present, the greatest flow of talent is from Commercial Radio to the BBC. 111. This priority seems to hinge on the word “support”, which is currently ill-defined. The commitment for the BBC to “employ the best of the UK’s writers and performers” suggests that “support” merely means “employ”, implying that the BBC can fulfil its Public Purposes simply by paying generous wages to celebrity presenters to ensure that they appear on the BBC rather than commercial broadcasters70. 112. We are concerned that the BBC is being tasked with employing “the best of the UK’s writers and performers”. Whom, then, should other broadcasters employ? If they employ and develop someone who becomes “the best”, is the BBC then justified in recruiting them at any cost? Instead of being worded as it is at present, this priority should commit the BBC to developing fresh talent on behalf of all broadcasters. We also believe that the commitment to “writers and performers” should be extended to all members of the creative chain. 113. We also believe that the Trust must take an interest in the BBC’s propensity to tie talent to exclusive deals which, because they do not share the BBC’s cross media presence, other broadcasters find it hard to match. We believe all such deals should be subject to individual scrutiny to assess whether they are in the public interest and represent good value for licence fee payers’ money. Does this Purpose Remit present the BBC with sufficient challenge? 114. For the reasons outlined above, we believe it does not. 63 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 6 64 talkSPORT recently won the broadcast rights to 32 Saturday 3pm Premier League fixtures per season for three years starting in 2007-8. Having previously been priced out of contention by the BBC, a new arrangement has allowed Commercial Radio to gain rights to top flight English football for the first time. Rights were broken up into packages to prevent them from being monopolised by a single broadcaster. The other six packages, including those containing rights for flagship matches selected by BSkyB for television coverage, were won by Five Live. 65 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 6 66 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 7 67 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 7 68 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 69 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 9 70 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 Performance measures 115. The first priority, for the BBC to “Establish a leading reputation for creative and innovative programming”, requires it to be “distinctive”, “regularly [including] output that breaks new ground, sets trends, and takes creative risks”, regardless of genre and platform71. We suggest that the Trust should measure audience perceptions against these criteria as originally defined, rather than in any diluted form. In addition, it should be possible for the Trust to monitor and quantify the distinctiveness of BBC output in relation to commercial broadcasters. 116. The second priority, for the BBC to “Ensure enrichment for all audiences by covering a wide range of cultural activities”, is inconsistently defined in the context of measuring audience perceptions. The Trust promises to measure “Audience perceptions of the BBC helping them to enjoy their current interests, hobbies and passions and introducing them to new ones”72. Yet elsewhere, a different measure is used, with the BBC encouraged to “offer … the best examples of many kinds of creative activity ... always striving to expand horizons and encourage audiences into unfamiliar territory.”73. Although there is obvious crossover here, these two activities are not identical, an inconsistency which we hope the Trust will correct. 117. The third priority, for the BBC to “Encourage and enable active participation in cultural activities”, will apparently be monitored through “audience perceptions of the BBC encouraging them to take part in specific events or activities”74. These “specific events or activities” are not currently defined, exposing further discrepancies between what the BBC should be providing, and what it will be judged against. The priority is defined as stimulating people to take part in a “wide range of cultural and sporting events and activities”, not “specific” ones75. 118. The fourth priority, for the BBC to “Provide a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining content”, should be measured through audience perceptions of whether the BBC’s entertainment output enables it to fulfil its Public Purposes. This point relates back to our previous concerns on the issue of entertainment programming. For instance, we do not believe that, because an audience perceives Radio 2 to be entertaining and enjoyable, it should be considered to have fulfilled a Public Purpose. 119. The fifth priority, for the BBC to “Support the creative economy of the UK across a wide range of genres”, should not only be measured using the perceptions of an undefined group of “opinion leaders”76. We believe that assessing the perceptions of the public and of competitors would also be useful. In addition, we suggest that the Trust employ output monitoring in order to establish the breadth and range of genres covered by the BBC. How well is the BBC currently delivering this Purpose? 120. Overall: In many ways we believe the BBC is delivering this Purpose well. Much of its output is creative and excellent. It does a great deal to support and nurture new talent. However, overall, we fear that this Public Purpose is being used as an excuse to concentrate on the over-delivery of populist entertainment output and the use of the BBC’s spending power and cross-media might to monopolise recruitment of leading talent. 121. Establish a leading reputation for creative and innovative programming: Distinctiveness is delivered unequally by BBC Radio. Whilst Radio 4 is genuinely unique in the marketplace, there is some overlap with Commercial Radio for Radio 3, 1Xtra and BBC7, and considerable overlap for Five Live, Radio 1 and Radio 2. We agree that they “regularly” include output which “breaks new ground, sets trends and takes creative risks”, but only because “regularly” could mean as little as once every couple of years77. We agree that this is done “across all the platforms on which [the BBC] operates” but believe it should be achieved “across all BBC 71 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 72 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 3 73 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 3 74 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 3 75 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 76 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 3 77 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 services”78. 122. Ensure enrichment for all audiences by covering a wide range of cultural activities: Although we agree that the BBC as a whole delivers much of this priority, we are not convinced that the same is true of BBC Radio and of individual services in particular. We certainly do not believe that all of BBC Radio services are “always striving to expand horizons and encourage audiences into unfamiliar territory”79. A good example of this is how, as a result of its recently acquired Premiership football rights, Five Live will continue to devote almost all of its output from 1230-1900 on Saturdays to live commentary on three football matches. Combined with two further live matches on a Sunday afternoon and one on a Monday, this represents significant dominance of key schedule times with one mass appeal sport designed to maximise listening. 123. Encourage and enable active participation in cultural activities: Our reservations about the word “enable” were outlined in paragraph 92. We believe that BBC Radio could do more to encourage participation in cultural activities. For example, BBC7 and Radio 4 could support their on air drama with listings information for regional theatre, and BBC Local Radio could play excerpts from the music which can be heard in upcoming local concerts. 124. Provide a wide range of enjoyable and entertaining content: We believe the BBC delivers this extremely well, but do not believe it should form part of this Public Purpose Remit (see paragraph 93 for more details). 125. Support the creative economy of the UK across a wide range of genres: We believe that, as a whole, the BBC is effective at nurturing and supporting creativity. We also agree that it employs (some of) the best of the UK’s writers and performers, although in paragraph 94 we outline our concern about the way this priority strays from the direction given in the Charter. However, we would make the point that, in radio, the flow of talent is largely from Commercial Radio to the BBC, especially in its popular music networks and local radio. For example, Radios 1 and 2’s schedules include many graduates of Commercial Radio including Chris Moyles, JK & Joel, Scott Mills and Chris Evans. Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities Do the priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement? 126. The Agreement requires the BBC “on occasion [to bring] audiences together for shared experiences”. The Trust has translated that to a requirement under the second priority for this Public Purpose that the BBC should “regularly broadcast individual programmes that bring together a very wide range of people – for example, great state occasions, important national sports events and high-quality entertainment that draws large audiences”80. We cannot see the reason for changing an occasional requirement into a regular one, and are particularly puzzled by the emergence of “high-quality entertainment that draws large audiences”. This seems to endorse an unjustifiably populist approach to such output. Perhaps more dangerously, it encourages the BBC’s tendency to negotiate exclusive rights for events coverage which reduces public access to such events, whilst also raising the rights’ costs, thereby reducing the value delivered to the licence fee payer. 127. We also note that there is a difference between attracting “a very wide range of people” to a broadcast and an event which “draws large audiences”. We believe the former is much more important for the BBC than the latter. Do the priorities need amending in any way? Force and specificity 128. The commitment under the first priority for the BBC to “portray and celebrate the range of 78 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 79 Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence, p. 2 80 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 2 cultures and communities across the UK at national, regional and local level” 81 does not define how wide a range of cultures the BBC should strive to reflect, and how widely this content should be carried. Ensuring that the BBC’s activities do not undermine those of other broadcasters 129. As previously discussed, this Purpose Remit contains a welcome acknowledgement that the BBC should “take care not to undermine a continuing plurality of local and regional media”, seeking to “complement rather than replicate their provision”82. Yet the terms “complement” and “replicate” are currently undefined in relation to this requirement. 130. However, it is not only in relation to local and regional services that the BBC should ensure that it maintains its activity within sensible limits. We explain above how we believe that the second priority for this Purpose Remit, to “Bring people together for shared experiences” 83, could inappropriately excuse much of the anti-competitive activity in which the BBC engages thereby excluding other broadcasters from key events. Programmes such as concerts and sporting events that “bring together a very wide range of people” 84, could easily be handled by Commercial Radio if the opportunity were available. 131. The observation that “By virtue of its scale and reach, the BBC is in a unique position”85 is telling. That unique position brings responsibility as well as opportunity and we believe the Trust must be firm in the guidance it gives the BBC management to ensure its position is not abused. 132. We have further misgivings about the third priority, which includes a commitment for the BBC to “provide forums in which these communities can debate among themselves and with other UK communities”86. We believe this suggests that the BBC’s current plans for increased local BBC services will meet with the approval of the BBC Trust, potentially prejudicing a future Public Value Test. 133. This concern gains extra credence in the ‘Market Context and BBC Role’ section for this Purpose Remit, which contains a contentious suggestion that commercial pressures may lead to “further reduction in investment in local and regional content by commercial media”87. We reject any inference that there has hitherto been any reduction in investment in local radio by commercial operators and suspect that Commercial TV may, rightly or wrongly, be being alluded to. As the recent CRCA audit found88, local Commercial Radio actually increased its provision of news, weather and travel information by around 60% between 2000 and 2004. 134. We would have serious concerns if the BBC Trust was to make a habit of basing its policy work on untested assumptions of this kind. The BBC is already in an advantageous position by virtue of being able to trial new services without concern for commercial factors. Commercial broadcasters continue to provide the level of services that their audiences demand, although they are obviously unable to over-provide if economies of scale diminish, something which could be caused either by unwarranted BBC or regulatory interventions. 135. The market context analysis also alludes to the “increasingly diverse set of communities” in the UK89. We would caution the Trust against making any statements which might be seen as an endorsement for future expansion in the number of services offered by the BBC in order to serve specific communities of interest and place. Whilst sharing the Trust’s view that it may become “more difficult to attract audiences to content that does not relate directly to their own interests”90, we would emphasise that commercial broadcasters are also faced with this challenge, and may be unforeseen casualties of any fresh BBC interventions. We 81 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 2 82 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 8 83 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 2 84 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 2 85 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 9 86 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 9 87 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities p. 9 88 CRCA, Commercial Radio: In the Public Service, 2004 89 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 9 90 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 9 fundamentally reject the implication that the BBC should need to expand the number of services it provides in order to meet burgeoning demands of diverse communities, particularly in the face of increased provision from commercial broadcasters. The BBC is amply provided for with radio, television and other services, and may instead like to consider redeploying some of its existing resources, rather than seeking reasons to expand its provision further. Do the priorities present the BBC with sufficient challenge? 136. For the reasons outlined elsewhere in this section, we believe the BBC should be more robustly challenged than it is by the priorities which the Trust has devised for it in this Purpose Remit. Performance measures 137. The first priority, for the BBC to “Represent the different nations, regions and communities of the UK”, is defined as pertaining to “cultures and communities”, yet the Trust plans to measure it in terms of audiences’ “area and community”91. This inconsistency should be resolved. In addition we have concerns as to whether an audience will be able adequately to judge how its culture or community is represented elsewhere. 138. The second priority, for the BBC to “Bring people together for shared experiences”, does not include a requirement for audiences to “talk” about the events or programmes in question92. At any rate, the Trust should be measuring the quality of ‘sharing’ that these experiences generate, rather than just its general existence. 139. The third priority, for the BBC to “Encourage interest in, and conversation about local communities”, will be measured using “Audience perceptions of the BBC helping them to feel more involved in their local communities”93. We are concerned that this monitoring might be discreetly used in order to establish the rationale for the BBC to introduce additional services for local audiences. In fact audience perceptions of local media provision, including Commercial Radio, suggest that current demand for local content is being met94. 140. The fifth priority, for the BBC to “Support the UK’s indigenous minority languages”, will be measured through “Audience perceptions of the BBC supporting their language with programming and other content”95. We believe that the Trust should not only measure whether the BBC is supporting these audiences, but whether it is doing so to a sufficient degree How well is the BBC currently delivering this purpose? 141. Overall: We believe that, in terms of geographical communities in particular, the BBC is serving its audiences well. We also believe it is successful, perhaps too successful, at identifying with communities who have a shared interest in mass appeal areas such as football and national pop music events. 142. Represent the different nations, regions and communities of the UK: The BBC delivers this well. 143. Encourage interest in, and conversation about local communities: We believe that, in respect of its target market, BBC Local Radio is delivering this priority well. We note, however, an increasing propensity of BBC Radio to secure exclusive rights to create “shared experiences” for those whose interest lies in areas such as major sporting events, concerts of national and global appeal etc. Disturbingly, the off-air aspect of these events is often supported by commercial companies96. Given that the Public Purposes task the BBC with delivering these events through their services, we believe that the BBC’s generous public funding should be sufficient to bring them to air. The need for commercially-sponsored off-air events is questionable and, we believe, outside the BBC’s remit. 91 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 2; p. 3 92 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 2 93 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 3 94 Ofcom, Radio - Preparing for the Future: Phase 1, December 2004, p. 71-72 95 Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities, p. 3 96 Such as T-mobile’s support of Five Live’s world cup street party and Renault’s sponsorship of Proms in the Park. 144. Reflect the different religious and other beliefs in the UK: We wonder to what extent BBC Radio is doing this for its younger audiences. 145. Support the UK’s indigenous minority languages: We believe the BBC performs well in this area. Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK Do the priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement? 146. We note that, in terms of “bringing the UK to the world” the Agreement only requires that the BBC “brings high quality international news coverage to international audiences”97. However, although we believe this priority does capture this accurately, we note that it has been interpreted to include matters such as “helping [British talent] build the foundations for international exposure”98, “bringing UK music to a world audience through its representation at and coverage of international events”99 and “[working with] the European Broadcasting Union to offer its music programming internationally”100. These extensions of the BBC’s remit with regard to this priority do not appear justified. Importantly, because they are funded by UK services, and therefore the licence fee, they raise the cost for licence fee payers without delivering any additional benefit. We strongly recommend that these anomalies are corrected and the original intention behind the requirements of the Agreement is reinstated. 147. We do not have any comments on priorities 2 & 3 of this Purpose Remit, save for our concern about the requirement that the BBC should be bringing to its audiences the “best” of international genres such as music, film and arts. The dangers of this are outlined in paragraph 149, but for now we comment that this is not signalled within the Public Purposes outlined in the Agreement, which simply requires the BBC to “[make] people in the UK aware”101 of international issues, cultures and viewpoints through the transmission of these genres. Do the priorities need amending in any way? 148. The RadioCentre agrees that BBC Radio should reflect global activities, attitudes and opinions, particularly those of direct relevance to the behaviour, interests and activities of the UK at home and abroad. 149. However, in line with our previous comments on the Trust’s use of language which encourages the BBC to compete with other broadcasters, we do not believe that it is appropriate for the BBC to be expected to “bring to its UK audiences the best of international music, film, arts, and other creative work”102, as outlined in the third priority of this Purpose Remit. Again we ask, if the BBC brings “the best” to its audiences, what scraps might other broadcasters be left to fight over? 150. The BBC should be encouraged to introduce audiences to material which they would otherwise be unable to access, but this priority could be perceived as giving it an imperative to ensure that it acquires paid-for creative work – such as the most popular films – regardless of cost. In terms of radio, the RadioCentre was not party to the process by which Radio 2 acquired the music radio show presented by Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio, from American Commercial Radio broadcaster XM. Nevertheless we believe that it would be inappropriate if this Purpose Remit priority encouraged the BBC to monopolise access to other international content which could alternatively find a home on Commercial Radio. 151. We have no other objections to the content of the Purpose Remit as written, although we do have some observations about additional areas which the Trust might wish to consider. 97 BBC Agreement, July 2006, 10.b 98 BBC Radio 1 Service Licence, p. 5 99 BBC Radio 2 Service Licence, p. 5 100 BBC Radio 3 Service Licence, p. 5 101 BBC Agreement, July 2006, 10.a 102 Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK p. 2 152. According to the ‘Scope of the Public Purpose’, this Public Purpose is to “be met by services funded by the licence fee, commercial income and Grant in Aid”103. In fact, the means by which the “UK is brought to the world” by BBC Radio does not (or at least should not) include licence fee funding unless you include the (considerable) use of BBC Internet offerings by non-licence fee payers from outside the UK and publicly funded broadcasting content produced with an eye to selling it overseas (this last activity is often not best suited to audio content because of language difficulties). We believe this priority should state, very clearly, the boundaries which relate to various BBC services in this area. 153. On a related issue, we believe that the BBC Trust is faced with a challenge in assessing one aspect of the BBC’s performance with regard to this Purpose Remit. In evaluating how effectively the BBC has “brought the UK to the world” it must surely be assessing the effectiveness with which BBC content has been marketed overseas. However, we wonder how it will ensure that, in seeking to guarantee success in overseas marketing, BBC managers do not compromise their commissioning for UK audiences. 154. In addition, we have some concerns about the transparency of existing BBC activity against this Public Purpose, which in radio is largely handled by the BBC World Service and the content sales activities of BBC Worldwide. There are a number of ways in which the BBC Trust could improve the transparency of BBC dealings and ensure the best possible practice in the way in which the BBC brings the UK to the world: 1. First, BBC World Service Radio should have a proper Trust Service Licence. It would make it easier for Parliament to assess the value the UK receives from the relevant Grant in Aid. In addition, its core service is now a digital radio service transmitted to the UK and competing alongside all the UK’s other radio services for audience time and attention, thereby increasing the imperative for parity in this area with other BBC Radio services. 2. Second, the Trust should publish a clear agreement between the BBC Trust and BBC Worldwide. Licence fee payers and UK commercially funded content providers should be able to see the extent to which the BBC is being subsidised by commercial activities said to be in pursuit of “bringing the UK to the world”. Do the priorities present the BBC with sufficient challenge? 155. We believe that, if correctly transposed into Service Licences, they do. Performance measures 156. For reasons outlined earlier, we currently have concerns about the requirement for the BBC to be perceived to be “setting the standard for high quality international journalism”104. Although there may be areas in which it is appropriate for the BBC Trust to undertake comparative research across a range of broadcasters, we do not believe that this applies to a commercially viable core area of broadcasting such as news. How well is the BBC currently delivering this purpose? 157. Overall: The BBC is a respected broadcaster in this field and performs well. 158. Build a global understanding of international issues: We believe the BBC World Service performs well in this area. We do not believe any licence fee funded services should be contributing to this priority. 159. Enhance UK audiences’ awareness and understanding of international issues: Within the amount of news and current affairs broadcast, which we noted earlier could be increased on some services, the BBC generally delivers this well. 160. Broaden UK audiences’ experience of and exposure to different cultures from around the world: We believe the BBC generally delivers this well. 103 Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK p. 5 104 Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK p. 2 Emerging communications Do the priorities adequately reflect the requirements of the Charter and Agreement? 161. Yes. Do the priorities need amending in any way? Force and specificity 162. We agree that it is important for the BBC to take a leading role, though not the leading role, in “[helping] everyone in the UK to get the best out of emerging media technologies now and in the future”105. However, we do not believe that this should represent a blanket licence for the BBC to use its already dominant position on analogue to dominate across all digital platforms. 163. We are concerned to note that the first priority suggests that the BBC should offer “interesting and enjoyable programmes and services”106. The clear inference here is that the programmes and services being referred to are not necessarily the same as those being offered on existing platforms. We would not support the BBC making new exclusive content available on mobile phones for instance. We would appreciate clarification that the Trust is not suggesting a whole new raft of BBC content, and therefore investment, which commercial players will be unable to match. Ensuring that the BBC’s activities do not undermine those of other broadcasters 164. Given the emphasis we placed earlier on the need for the BBC to ensure that its activities do not undermine those of other broadcasters, we recommend an additional priority be included: ‘Develop its services in ways which do not foreclose markets’. 165. The BBC Trust should ensure that, as the BBC develops its own digital future, it makes available to other broadcasters the benefits which it, by virtue of its size, scale and public funding, is able to negotiate. For example, the BBC has just announced it will make its radio and TV channels available as a package to Vodafone, Orange and 3's 3G customers. All Commercial Radio companies should be given the opportunity to piggy-back on such an initiative, since at present, the effect of the BBC's actions may be to foreclose some of these opportunities to commercial competitors. This is not in the public interest. 166. We recommend updating the figures on digital take-up expressed within the Market Context role, and perhaps pointing to a section within the Trust’s website where the most up to date data will be published107. Do the priorities present the BBC with sufficient challenge? 167. We believe that, like Commercial Radio, BBC Radio faces considerable challenges in embracing the digital future. While not the focus of this response, we believe that there is merit in considering a joint BBC/Commercial approach to examining the issues of licensing, use of spectrum and, eventually a digital switchover policy. This should be between the BBC and the RadioCentre (which represents all of Commercial Radio) rather than the DRDB (which, though an important organisation, represents only multiplex owners). Performance measures 168. We believe that the Trust has identified a sensible means of monitoring BBC performance against this Purpose Remit. In particular we welcome the Trust’s decision to look to Ofcom for data about DAB coverage and penetration. How well is the BBC currently delivering this Purpose? 169. The BBC generally delivers this Purpose well. We believe its support for DAB digital radio could be even more explicit on some of its popular music services for example by offering unique output to persuade listeners to sample digital listening. 105 Emerging Communications, p. 2 106 Emerging Communications, p. 2 107 Emerging Communications, p. 8 RadioCentre April 2006 RadioCentre 77 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 5DU t: +44 (0) 20 7306 2603 f: +44 (0) 20 7306 2505 www.radiocentre.org