Government White Paper on the BBC

The BBC could be stopped from showing Strictly Come Dancing in a primetime slot , according to new plans from the Culture Secretary.

John Whittingdale is ready to put in place a new charter that will stop the Beeb showing their best shows on Saturday and Sunday night and going up against rivals ITV.

Shows in the firing line are Poldark, The Night Manager and Strictly, which goes up against X Factor every year in the weekend’s most sort after slot.

Those who agree with the charter say the BBC should not be using licence-payers’ money to pursue ratings at the expense of commercial-backed rivals, according to The Mail on Sunday.

Whittingdale, who recently stated that the BBC iPlayer loophole could soon close, is also expected to tell the BBC to come clean about how much it pays it’s top presenters, according to the report.

This would be a revelation as figures have only been speculated.

The report also goes on to say the Culture Secretary is thought to unveil a crackdown on the BBC’s ‘cross promotion’.

This is where one BBC channel advertises shows on another.

Rivals have always thought that this was unfair.

This news from Whittingdale arrives just as a standards probe is launched into the MP over that trip to Amsterdam with his dominatrix ex-girlfriend.

The Culture Secretary was reported after a Mirror investigation for not declaring a two-night, expenses-paid trip visit to the MTV Awards on the register of MPs' interests.

A source close to the top Tory said he did not need to because the trip's cost did not meet a £660 threshold - coming just under it at £530.

But he faced questions after it emerged he had declared a similar trip in 2006, and cheapest available pairs of tickets for the ceremony alone were selling for £160.

according to a report

The report also goes on to say the Culture Secretary is thought to unveil a crackdown on the BBC’s ‘cross promotion’.

This is where one BBC channel advertises shows on another.

Rivals have always thought that this was unfair.

Strictly no X Factor clashes, BBC told
Tim Shipman and Nicholas Hellen

The BBC’s top dramas and entertainment shows could be moved from primetime slots to stop them competing with ITV shows for ­ratings.

John Whittingdale, the culture secretary, is due to give regulators new powers over the corporation in the white paper on the renewal of the BBC royal charter to be published this month.

He will intervene after complaints from ITV last autumn, when the BBC decided to schedule Strictly Come Dancing against The X Factor, consistently beating its commercial rival in the ratings and costing it dear in lost advertising revenue.

Whittingdale will stop short of personally ordering the corporation to move Strictly Come Dancing or BBC News at Ten. But the white paper will indicate that the BBC has been too aggressive in its search for ratings, particularly at weekends.

Senior government sources say its plans will allow commercial broadcasters to complain to the regulator if the corporation deliberately hurts their viewing figures. According to industry sources, this could mean the BBC would have to move dramas such as Poldark and The Night Manager away from prime time on Sunday evening to midweek slots.

A BBC insider complained: “Where will this end? Will we have to schedule a documentary by Mary Beard [the Cambridge classics professor] against X Factor?”

A source familiar with Whittingdale’s plans said: “What we are trying to do is set a broad set of principles and guidelines about how we think the BBC should operate. How that is applied to individual programmes and scheduling is a matter for them. But they will be subject to external regulation.

“If ITV, for instance, felt the BBC had deliberately put something on at the same time as X Factor just to bugger it up then they could say that doesn’t fit in with these principles. If they want to do so they can go and complain to the regulator.”

One industry source said it was unfair to penalise the BBC for ITV’s struggles to create popular new entertainment and drama shows: “Effectively, this means they will be told to make sure fewer people watch their programmes. How does that make sense?”

The white paper is also expected to scrap the long-standing requirement forcing television providers such as Sky and Virgin Media to carry the BBC’s output.

But rivals’ fears that the BBC could be allowed to charge them for carrying its programmes have been allayed.

Although the BBC’s charter will be extended for a further 10 or 11 years, the corporation will be put on notice that the government will be able to review its performance after five years to take account of changing technology.

The report only thinks that's what he's going do? Not a very good report.

Anyway, what's unfair about cross-channel promotion? Any company with more than one channel can do it. And is there anything stopping single channels doing a bit of cross promotion and/or favourable scheduling to even out their demographics for different genres? ITV and Channel 4 used to cross-promote.

The BBC could be stopped from showing Strictly Come Dancing in a primetime slot , according to new plans from the Culture Secretary.

The report also goes on to say the Culture Secretary is thought to unveil a crackdown on the BBC’s ‘cross promotion’.

This is where one BBC channel advertises shows on another.

Rivals have always thought that this was unfair.

Could the BBC be more imaginative in those slots against ITV, especially on Saturday evenings? In France, the only 'talent' contest was on TF1 with the French version of The Voice, while state run France 2 had a traditional cabaret show on. TF1 had the precious young adult audience, while France 2 had the older audience, yet were still able to provide general entertainment.

Remember the main story is in the Daily Mail. Lovers of the BBC as we know.