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Television

This section contains quantitative and qualitative research published by the BBC Trust which examines various aspects of the television sector including research carried out on the service reviews of BBC One, Two, Four and the service review of the BBC's childrens' services.

Service reviews

A service licence is issued by the Trust for every UK Public Service. It defines the scope, aims, objectives, headline budget and other important features of each service and states how performance is assessed by the Trust. The Trust is responsible for reviewing each of the BBC's services at least once every five years to ensure that they are high-quality and provide good value for everyone in the UK.

BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four

The Trust's service reviews of BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four, launched in September 2009, had two broad aims: firstly to assess how well these television channels are performing against the commitments set out in their service licences, and secondly to consider the stations' future direction and determine whether any changes to the licences were required.

BBC Parliament and the BBC News Channel

The Trust's service review of BBC Parliament and the BBC News Channel had three broad aims: first, to assess how well BBC Parliament and the BBC News Channel are performing against commitments set out in their service licences; second, to consider the channels' future direction and third, to determine whether amendments to the licences are required.

BBC Red Button

The Trust's service review of BBC Red Button looks at how well the service is performing against the commitments set out in its service licence, and considers the service's future direction and whether any changes to the licence are required.

Children's services

The Trust believes that children's broadcasting is at the heart of the BBC's public service remit. The Trust's review of children's services looked at the BBC's content for children aged 12 and under. This includes the CBBC and CBeebies channels, the CBBC and CBeebies branded content on BBC One, BBC Two, radio and online, as well as content to support formal learning for primary school children.

The review asked two overarching questions. Firstly, how well is the BBC serving children? And secondly, is the BBC's strategy for children's services and content robust and deliverable?

The overarching objective of the research was to assess the contribution made by the BBC's children's provision to delivery of the BBC's public purposes.

Research among children in ethnic minority homes

The BBC Trust identified ethnic minority children as one of the audience groups who may have been under-served by the BBC. Data suggested that on average, children from a black or ethnic minority background watch less BBC children's content than white children.

This research was commissioned to feed into the overall children's review by providing information on children living in ethnic minority homes in terms of their lifestyle and media consumption, as well as their propensity to view BBC children's programming.

Quality and distinctiveness

Qualitative research to explore perceptions of innovation and distinctiveness.

A key finding from the annual tracking survey, which gauges the public's attitudes on how well the BBC is delivering the purposes, is that there is a negative perception on how well the BBC provides fresh and new ideas. In order to understand what is driving this perception, we commissioned qualitative research to explore this further with the audience.

Accessibility and distribution

Strategy review stage two research - accessibility and distribution

The purpose of this research was to explore licence fee payers' attitudes towards the strategy review proposals which impacted specifically on the accessibility and distribution of BBC services.

Public value tests

Public value tests provide detailed and specific evidence to help us decide whether or not we will allow the BBC to launch a new service or significantly change an existing one. A key part of this evidence is licence fee payer reaction to the proposals using audience research.

BBC HD

The BBC Executive brought proposals to launch an HD television channel on all major TV platforms, drawing on programming from across the portfolio of channels. To inform our assessment of this proposal, we commissioned research to explore the potential appeal of the specifics of the new channel amongst a representative sample of licence fee payers. The Trust approved this proposition in November 2007.

Gaelic Digital Service

In January 2008, the Trust approved the launch of the Gaelic Digital Service on cable, satellite and broadband. Before this happened, the Trust commissioned a piece of quantitative research which contributed to the Public Value Test carried out on the proposed new service. The research consisted of a representative sample in each of the 4 nations of the UK. It assessed the level of support there was in principle among UK licence fee payers for the existence of a dedicated Gaelic Digital Service and looked at whether the service was something that the UK licence fee payers felt the BBC should be doing. It also explored whether UK licence fee payers felt the amount of provision outlined in the proposal represents was an appropriate level provision for an indigenous minority language.

World Service

Under the terms of the BBC's Charter and Agreement the Trust has a duty of oversight of the World Service which includes an annual performance review. We look at one or more services each year and commission research to explore how the service is perceived by the relevant audiences.

Arabic TV audience research

Audience research was commissioned in six different countries within the Middle East to evaluate perceptions of BBC Arabic TV amongst current and future opinion formers in terms of its content and how it is delivered.

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