*** UPDATE: White Paper is here (76-page .pdf) ***

Tessa Jowell is on ParliamentLive.TV, announcing the BBC Charter Review White Paper

Some nuggets / my quickly-typed summary:

* BBC needs to be strong to survive, and flexible
* Over 70% of households now have digital TV
* ‘unprecedented engagement’ with 10,000 citizens shows desire for strong, independent BBC
* Reithian principles will be adapted for the digital age (BBC will have six new purposes)
* BBC to have role in ‘building digital Britain’
* Entertainment - central to the BBC’s mission- it should be ingrained in all services
* BBC’s governance structure has become anachronistic
* Abolish BBC governors and replace with (i) BBC Trust and (ii) executive board
* BBC Trust will be clearly separated from executive board
* BBC Trust is a ‘unique solution for a unique organisation’
* BBC must create competition between in-house and independent producers
* 25% independent production will thereafter become a functional floor not a ceiling
* Move to greater Manchester - license fee as ‘venture capital for whole of nation’s creativity’
* Public value test applied to all new BBC services or big changes to existing services
* Clarify: BBC Trust does PV test, but Ofcom does market impact test
* BBC will be fully-license fee funded for next 10 years [chamber laughs somewhat]
* Process of license-fee settlement has already started
* PSB remains the ‘bedrock’ of today’s media
* But BBC cannot take its position for granted

My first impression: Jowell gave a good performance…

Hugo Swire statement: Sees no difference between green paper and white paper… What’s the difference? Conservative party is committed to ensuring BBC’s future. White paper is a disappointment. Should have been a springboard to the new digital age. Instead of a launchpad it is a holding-pen… a missed opportunity… World is transforming through new technologies… Is it credible to believe that a compulsory tax is the right way to fund the BBC for the next 10 years? BBC needs Ofcom regulation. There needs to be a single regulatory body for TV… quoting Michael Grade from his Channel4 days… BBC Trust = ‘just as cozy [as the governors], but twice the rent’. How can we be confident that Ofcom in advisory role can clip BBC powers to expand and harm competitors? Secretary of State is tying Ofcom’s hands. Ofcom ‘won’t be a watchdog, more the proverbial toothless tiger’… Unprecedented increase in funding of the BBC… Why? Gov’t is using charter renewal as a Trojan horse to pay for digital switchover. License fee in excess of £180 will hit poorest the hardest. High hopes for white paper… but it is a ‘missed opportunity’…