BBC response to phase two of Ofcom's public service broadcasting consultation

Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman of the BBC Trust, speaking at the launch of the BBC response to phase two of Ofcom's public service broadcasting consultation, said:

"Today we publish our response to Ofcom's phase two consultation on the future of public service broadcasting. The response comes from the BBC Trust, speaking for the BBC as a whole.

"The BBC remains committed to helping to secure a strong and sustainable future for public service broadcasting in the UK.

"The current PSB set-up is under severe strain. Although audience demand for high quality public service content remains high, the ability of the commercial PSBs to deliver it is threatened by structural change – made more acute by the worsening economic climate.

"Much of the current debate has focused on changes to regulation and funding to find a solution. But these approaches merely slice the existing pie in different ways. They do not attempt to grow the pie.

"Our approach is different.

"We have always believed that a solution founded on co-operation and partnership can generate new value – and substantial new value - and should therefore be sustainable in the long term.

"That was the reason why, during phase one of the Ofcom consultation, the Trust challenged the Director-General Mark Thompson and his team to build on the strength and reputation of the BBC and work with other broadcasters to come up with strong plans for co-operation that meet the partners' needs as well as our own and that the partners are prepared to support.

"We were looking for ideas that would offer substantial and sustainable new value for the industry and – just as important – for audiences.

"The results of that work is what today is all about.

"I'm not going reveal the detail – which is properly for Mark to do. But I do think that what Mark is about to outline is an imaginative and far-reaching set of partnership proposals with the potential to offer the sustainable solutions we seek.

"Of course, coming together as partners must not imply a reduction in competition. And the Trust will want to ensure that the proposals can accommodate changes in the family of PSB providers and also that they do not impair competition with others.

"The strong creative rivalry between broadcasters, and their varied funding models, accounts for much of the breadth and richness of public service content they currently offer audiences, and it is not in the interests of audiences that this should be diminished.

"But the strongest creative and editorial rivals can co-operate fruitfully, and for the greater public good, in areas such as the sharing of technical standards and expertise, more efficient working practices, and the pooling of resources.

"Pooling the use of expensive kit is already commonplace among newsgatherers from competing television news providers – with no effect on competition editorially. And, of course, the BBC has a good record of developing new broadcast technologies and standards, including PAL, Teletext, and NICAM, and sharing them openly and freely with the rest of the industry.

"The proposals Mark is about to announce build on that heritage. This is not about the BBC bearing gifts, but about extending the BBC's public purposes by working with partners to develop new ways to bring high quality content to all our audiences."

[Presentation from the Director-General, after which Sir Michael Lyons said:]

"Let me briefly outline the scrutiny process these proposals now have to go through.

"First of all we in the Trust want to hear views on these proposals from potential partners, policy makers, the industry as a whole – and of course from the public. We are open for representations for three months – details are on the Trust website.

"Because discussions with potential partners are in various stages of development, there is a limit to the amount of detail we can make public right now. But as things become clearer we'll share as much detail as the BBC and its partners can.

"As for the Trust itself, there are a number of key tests we will apply to these proposals – and proposals for other such partnerships that may emerge.

• First: do they really make a difference and produce a sustainable outcome?
• Second: do they offer demonstrable value to prospective partners and other stakeholders?
• Third: do they represent a genuine offer, not excluding options that may involve a financial cost to the BBC – if that cost can be justified by public gain?
• Fourth: can we be sure that the principles of BBC independence, accountability and delivery of the public purposes are not put at risk?
• And finally – and most important of all – are the proposals ones that we judge to be in the public interest?

"Some of the proposals will trigger the Trust's formal regulatory processes. For example, opening the iPlayer to other PSBs will not go ahead before a full public value test has been completed. We look forward to working closely with Ofcom on this.

"As I said at the start, the problems are serious, so time is of the essence in finding solutions. We believe that these proposals hold the potential of delivering early and tangible benefits.

"There is a lot of work still to do and a rigorous approvals process to go through, and due diligence to do on behalf of licence fee payers. But if the BBC and its partners can build on the productive work done so far, then we could see benefits starting to come on stream before the 12 months is out - an early Christmas present for 2009 to our audiences who value the richness and diversity of the public service content now available."

Ends