Lucky escape for BBC Online

The government review of BBC Online - due to be handed to ministers this week - will be good news for the corporation, according to a report in the Independent.

The review explores the performance of the BBC site, the future role for the service and the market impact of BBC Online - a key issue for many of the corporation's commercial rivals.

Several industry bodies, including the Newspaper Society, the Producers' Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) and the British Internet Publishers' Association (BIPA), submitted their concerns to the review. They claim that BBC Online's services, which are uniquely funded through a UK licence fee, are limiting the growth of the commercial sector.

Hugo Drayton, chair of BIPA and managing director of Hollinger Telegraph new media, claims that a culture of protectionism and opaque accounting at the BBC made it hard for BIPA to find concrete evidence to submit to the review process.

"I still think it's very poor use of public money. We want a level playing field, independent regulation and a better approval process," he told dotJournalism.

"BIPA has made its points to the online review - and, at least, we may have got a better approval process."

A report in British broadsheet newspaper the Independent on 23 April claimed that the review is likely to suggest ways to limit the corporation’s commercial impact and could also explore the possibility of 'topslicing'. This would mean outsourcing more public service content to the private sector by allowing commercial sites to compete with BBCi for public funding.

Philip Graf, former chief executive of Trinity Mirror newspapers, began the official review of the BBC’s online services in August 2003.

Mr Graf is due to submit his findings to the government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) by 30 April. The review is one element of the corporation’s charter renewal process, due in 2006.

"When this process started last summer it was a very different, pre-Hutton world," said Mr Drayton.

"The BBCi review is still important, but it’s a sideshow now that bigger changes are afoot."

Related articles:
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story830.shtml
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story794.shtml
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story770.shtml
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story722.shtml

See also:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=514289
http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/online_review.shtml
http://www.culture.gov.uk

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).