How should switchover be funded?
On the day that it was suggested that the Government’s White Paper on the BBC will now be postponed until sometime in the New Year, together with a couple dozen others, I had lunch with BBC Director General Mark Thompson and some of his senior management team. This is the third time that I have done this since the Charter Review process commenced and I see it as a welcome initiative by the BBC to reach out to stakeholders and interest groups to explain its position and hear a range of views in response.
Today’s lunch focused on the current bid for an enhanced licence fee. Unlike the two previous events I have attended, this time the DG used a PowerPoint presentation. He summarized the case put in the BBC’s presentation to Government, using many of the same slides. The conclusion of the case is that the BBC proposals and industry costs will increase the level of licence fee increase needed over the period from 2007-08 to 2013-14 to RPI+2.3% pa. In today�s prices, the licence fee in 2013-14 would be �150.50. It was emphasized that the licence fee, as a proportion of both median incomes and the lowest 10% of incomes, has been falling and would continue to fall even if the full increase requested was granted.
In the following question and answer session, I asked about digital switchover. I wanted to know if the DG thought it right that the BBC should be charged with the information campaign and support for disadvantaged citizens and if it was right for such activities to be funded by the BBC licence fee. Thompson played it straight, admitting that this was an unconventional use of the licence fee but insisting that the BBC would be comfortable with performing this role providing that the relevant increase in the fee was ring-fenced for this purpose.
However, one other questioner raised the same issue, reflecting to some extent Luke’s earlier posting and the comment yesterday on the beginning of the OFCOM Digital Dividend Review by Liberal Democrat DCMS Spokesman, Don Foster MP: “Ofcom’s welcome initiative will test current Government estimates that the Treasury will gain half a billion pounds a year from switchover. If this figure is correct, serious questions must be asked as to why the BBC, not Government, should pay for the Government’s policy of switchover.”
Since tonight is the BBC Childen In Need appeal, as we left the briefing, we were all invited to contribute to the appeal – proving that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but also neatly reminding us of one of the many good things that BBC does for the wider community.
