John Whittingdale OBE MP, Chairman of the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, emailed OfcomWatch with his thoughts on the DCMS White Paper related to the BBC Charter Review:

The White Paper contains virtually no change of substance from the Green Paper. On the key issue of governance, the BBC Trust is essentially the same structure as originally proposed by Michael Grade only with a different name. By moving the trust to a different building with its own resources, it achieves some separation from the management of the BBC. However, the conflict that the same body is charged with both setting the strategic direction of the BBC and regulating it is unresolved.

On new services, the involvement of Ofcom in conducting Market Impact Assessments is welcome. However, again, the decision as to whether the public value justifies the launch of a new service remains with the BBC Trust. This decision would be far better given to an external regulator like Ofcom.

On the key issues such as the future shape of public service broadcasting in a multi-channel age and the sustainability of the licence fee, the White Paper acknowledges the need to address them but then postpones doing so for ten years. It therefore ducks these crucial questions just at the time when the Government should be starting to consider them.

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out our recent interview with Mr. Whittingdale here.