Press Releases

The BBC's Statements of Programme Policy (SoPPs) are published online today.

These statements outline the commitments and editorial priorities across BBC services for the year ahead and explain how each service will deliver the requirements of their Service Licence and Purpose Remit.

They also demonstrate the BBC's ongoing commitment to meeting audience needs and to delivering excellence and value across all of its services.

The BBC's commitment to international, national and local journalism remains at the heart of the corporation's offering while strengthening its performance in the nations and regions of the UK will continue to be a key priority.

Commitments in 2008/2009 include:

• Distinctive drama, comedy and entertainment programmes with fresh new ideas will remain a hallmark of BBC's output. New distinctive series include a BBC One drama called Occupation, which tells of the lives of soldiers returning from Iraq, as well as a new BBC Two drama which will attempt to tell the story of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers bank. BBC Three will continue to cement its reputation as the UK's leading digital channel for new comedy talent with new studio comedy from We Are Klang and a new narrative comedy called The Gemma Factor.
• Arts and culture programming will be further enhanced in the year ahead across BBC services. Among a plethora of additional series and formats that will exclusively focus on the arts and culture genres, the most ambitious season on poetry, in the history of BBC, will roll out across BBC Two, BBC Four and CBeebies, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and online.
• Factual output will remain at the core of BBC's TV schedules with new commissions such as The Science Show (working title) on BBC One bringing science to a family audience. BBC Two will also play a role in strengthening our factual offering with new programmes such as South Pacific, a six-part natural history series, and Recession Britain, a documentary series which tackles different areas of the UK's changing economy. BBC Three will feature a range of programmes in The Grown-Up Season examining at what age one should be treated as a grown-up.
• Highlights in radio programming include a series of social action campaigns focusing on issues such as drugs and bullying which will be developed in a partnership between BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra and BBC Switch. Radio 4 is also set to feature landmark factual series and a partnership with the British Museum will be rolled out. New programming on Radio 2, 3 and 4 will also explore the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• Following the recent BBC Trust review of BBC Online, the corporation will become better connected to sites and services outside of the BBC. There are also plans to make the successful BBC iPlayer available on a wide range of platforms and devices.
• The continuing commitment to strengthening BBC's performance in the nations and regions, with plans, subject to Trust approval, to enrich the coverage of local government. There are also plans for more knowledge-building programmes in Northern Ireland and Scotland and for enhanced coverage of football in England as well as the roll-out of the redesigned BBC Local websites. The diversity of Britain's communities will be represented through the range of genres and formats.

Notes to Editors

The BBC's Statements of Programme Policy 2009/10 are published on the About the BBC website.

Under the Communications Act 2003, each public service broadcaster must produce an annual statement identifying its commitments for delivering its public service remit in the year ahead. This is the seventh set of BBC statements.

The terms under which the BBC is required to produce statements for its public services are covered in the Revised Agreement with the Secretary of State approved by Parliament in December 2003.

It is the responsibility of the BBC Trust to monitor the BBC's performance against the statements and report their conclusions.

The regulatory programming quotas placed on the BBC, which are monitored by Ofcom, are in addition to SoPPs commitments. These are measured by Ofcom on a calendar year basis and compliance reported by the external regulator.

The BBC Trust will monitor the BBC's performance against these statements and will publish their findings in the Annual Report and Accounts 2009/2010, scheduled for publication in July 2010.

The BBC's accounting year runs from 1 April to 31 March.

BBC Press Office