UK Govt launch another attack on BBC, C4 & S4C

Members on the public service broadcasting panel will include Conservative peer Lord Grade, who has previously been chairman of the BBC, executive chairman of ITV and CEO of Channel 4; Baroness Bertin, a former press secretary to David Cameron; and Sir Robbie Gibb, the former director of communications to Theresa May and former head of BBC Westminster.

Joining them will be Andrew Griffith MP, Boris Johnson's former business tsar and former chief operating officer of Sky Group PLC; and Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's vice president for Europe.
Several former senior executives of Sky, ITN and Endemol Shine are also on the panel.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden says there is genuine debate over whether "we need" public service broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4.

He told The Telegraph it was time to "ask really profound questions" about their role in the digital age - "and indeed whether we need them at all".

Mr Dowden is set to announce a new panel of experts to assess the future of public service broadcasting.

The BBC said it "continues to innovate, adapt and lead change".

In his article, Mr Dowden said Netflix and Amazon Prime had "lobbed a grenade into the system".

He added that the panel of broadcasting, journalism and technology leaders would not be "tiptoeing around the edges" but rather "drilling right down into the current system and how it operates".

He continued: "Public service broadcasting has already lived, adapted and thrived through a hundred years of history. It's time to start thinking about what it does next."

In a statement, a BBC spokesman said: "The past few months have served as a powerful reminder of just how much the BBC matters locally, nationally and globally. Our programmes and services have never been more relevant, important or necessary."

The BBC is "the number one media provider in the UK", the statement added. "And while the world is changing swiftly, so is the BBC. We will continue to innovate, adapt and lead change.

"We welcome the government's commitment to conducting an open and transparent process. We look forward to working with government to secure the right funding settlement for the BBC and its audiences."

'Flying the flag for Britain'
Members on the public service broadcasting panel will include Conservative peer Lord Grade, who has previously been chairman of the BBC, executive chairman of ITV and CEO of Channel 4; Baroness Bertin, a former press secretary to David Cameron; and Sir Robbie Gibb, the former director of communications to Theresa May and former head of BBC Westminster.

Joining them will be Andrew Griffith MP, Boris Johnson's former business tsar and former chief operating officer of Sky Group PLC; and Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's vice president for Europe.

Several former senior executives of Sky, ITN and Endemol Shine are also on the panel.

The panel will advise ministers on a strategic review of all public broadcasters, including ITV, Channel 5, STV in Scotland and S4C in Wales, looking at whether their current funding and governance arrangements are "fit for purpose".

The Telegraph said the panel was also expected to look at whether the broadcasters should continue to have prominence on channel menus by virtue of their status.

'Harangued or ignored'
The news comes as the government launches negotiations to decide how much the TV licence fee will cost between 2022 and 2027. That will determine how much funding the BBC and S4C receive.

Mr Dowden has written to the BBC asking how it intends to make savings, including through the salaries of its on-air talent; how it will support the vulnerable, elderly and lowest paid; and how it intends to "fly the flag for Britain in every corner of the world".

The culture secretary praised the role of the BBC during the coronavirus pandemic but argued that "a growing number of viewers feel harangued or ignored" in news, drama and comedy and it must change to ensure it reflects the views of the "entire nation".

He wrote: "Someone switching on their TV from their semi in Bradford should feel just as represented by the Beeb as a person watching in their Islington townhouse."

Speaking at the Creative Coalition 2020 festival on Tuesday, BBC director general Tim Davie admitted the corporation needs to "fundamentally change" how it recruits employees.

He said that while he is not "anti-Oxbridge", jobs should be accessible to people who do not have the same academic background.

Last month, Mr Dowden said Channel 4 privatisation was "on the table".

The channel was launched in 1982 as a publicly-owned, commercially-funded public service broadcaster.

It does not receive public funding and has a remit to deliver "innovative, alternative content that challenges the status quo".

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden says there is genuine debate over whether "we need" public service broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4.

He told The Telegraph it was time to "ask really profound questions" about their role in the digital age - "and indeed whether we need them at all".

He wrote: "Someone switching on their TV from their semi in Bradford should feel just as represented by the Beeb as a person watching in their Islington townhouse."

The irony of this comment is that it's aimed at the type of voter that claims to abhor "identity politics"

I personally detest identity politics but the BBC, as imperfect as it is, is a national treasure which sells the country to the rest of the world.

Whoever said that this is a distraction from the handling of the pandemic is spot on.

I don't think I've ever hated a government as much as this one and I'm what may be considered one of the people most likely to support it.

Reform the BBC - yes. Make it better reflect a wider variety of opinions - yes.

But scrap it, defund it, or neuter it so it can't do what it does better than anyone else - no.

This may be a bit controversial but I think having less channels is not terrible at all, as I believe it increases the quality of the service. This is not a BBC problem but an ITV/C4/C5/Sky/UKTV one too (as well as radio with the poor quality of some stations). There is no harm in having three channels which have a time share such as CBBC/Cbeebies on BBC Three. It is however an issue of getting rid of it completely or cutting it down to the bare bones. By having less channels, we have less repeats or pointless spin off shows like You're Fired or It takes too on BBC2 or in other cases Get me out of here now or the Friday night show with Bake Off or back in the 00s Little Brother with Big Brother, which waste screen time.

I still believe in a future with linear side by side with Netflix/Prime as the BBC still shows potential with Dr Who or His Dark Materials and Dracula.