July 17, 2006 BBC Presses for Financing, and Its Detractors Cry Foul By ERIC PFANNER NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/business/media/17bbc.html?pagewanted=print LONDON, July 16 Jonathan Ross, a BBC talk show host with a vocabulary as colorful as his wardrobe, recently pushed things a shade further than usual. In language that would make an American television regulator blush, he asked David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, whether, as a teenager, he had fantasized sexually about Margaret Thatcher. For critics of the BBC, the moment, which Mr. Cameron laughed off, provided a glorious opportunity to accuse the public broadcaster of losing its moorings. Mr. Ross, who is paid about $11 million, a year, became an example for claims that the BBC is arrogant, spendthrift and out of control, straying into areas of questionable taste as it tries to keep abreast of commercial broadcasters in a competitive media marketplace. Such puerile vulgarity is what passes for satire these days on the channel that once brought us That Was the Week That Was on a shoestring budget, The Scotsman, a newspaper, fumed in an editorial, referring to a 1960s BBC show that poked fun at politicians of that era. The BBC is under more than the usual degree of scrutiny because the license fee of $242 a year that every British television owner must pay to finance its operations is under review by the government. While the broadcasters royal charter has been renewed for another decade, the level of financing must still be determined. A majority of Britons, in a recent survey commissioned by the BBC, said they supported the license fee. But the review process and the corporations plans for spending the money have opened the door to all sorts of critics from outside the BBC and some from within. The BBC has asked the government to increase the license fee, which raises nearly $5.5 billion a year, by 2.3 percentage points more than the annual inflation rate over the next seven years. The BBC says the money is needed to pay for digital television and Internet services as it prepares for an uncertain future in which consumers will be able to choose from a proliferating array of media options. Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, is expected to announce on Wednesday a reorganization aimed at meeting this challenge. The BBC is going through huge change, moving from traditional linear broadcasting to the challenging and exciting world of interactive on-demand digital media, Mr. Thompson said this month as the corporation published its annual report. It means the BBCs relationship with audiences is also constantly changing. Signs of change include declining audiences for the BBCs flagship conventional television channels as viewers turn to digital alternatives or log on to the Internet. Meanwhile, some of the BBCs plans to move into new areas, particularly in its small but growing commercial activities, have upset some competitors in the private sector. Some publishers, for instance, have complained about the BBCs plans to start a weekly newsmagazine as part of its advertiser-supported print operations. And, while the BBC is prohibited from selling advertising on its television, radio and Internet services in Britain, overseas TV channels like BBC World have been raising money from commercials. Now the BBC wants to add advertising to a new Web site for users outside Britain, who represent about a third of the traffic to the existing global Web site. Although British Web users would continue to be routed to an ad-free site, some rivals say the proposal to sell online advertising would give the BBC an unfair advantage in the race to stake out new-media ground, given that the BBCs online operations are, in effect, subsidized by license fees. Some commercial broadcast rivals are already experiencing tough times as the BBC broadens its presence, a situation that might seem hard to imagine in markets like the United States, where public broadcasters have little hope of competing with the private sector. Advertising revenue at the main television channel at ITV, the biggest British commercial broadcaster, has fallen sharply because of declining ratings and a shift to the Internet by many advertisers. Charles Allen, the chief executive of ITV, recently told The Sunday Times of London that if the BBC received the full increase in the license fee, it would distort the market to such an extent that it will be impossible for commercial broadcasters to compete on a level playing field. With the government set to determine the level of financing by the end of the year, a report that it commissioned from an outside auditor concluded that the BBC ought to impose some efficiencies. The BBCs own cost-cutting plans have already created some internal tensions, however. Several labor organizations representing BBC employees, including the National Union of Journalists, last week called on members to vote for a series of strikes next month to protest further job cuts. More than 1,000 jobs have already been eliminated under a reorganization plan begun last year, and another 2,000 positions are scheduled to end. The unions also object to proposed changes in the pension plan, as well as what they call meager raises while some executives are receiving big pay increases. Although Mr. Thompson waived his bonus, and his paycheck last year of $1.12 million was about a third of Mr. Allens at ITV, the unions say the 11 percent raise he received was one more example of how the BBC is increasingly acting like a commercial bully, rather than the genteel public broadcaster it once was. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
