44. Our principal conclusions and recommendations
are as follows:
1. We expect to consider the future level and
scope of the television licence fee during an inquiry into the
BBC in the Autumn of 1999 following the review of the BBC's funding
which the Government has recently announced. We make comments
later in this Report about appropriate sources of finance for
particular services (paragraph 8).
2. We welcome the progress made by the BBC, since
it assumed responsibility for collection of the licence fee, in
reducing the combined cost of collection and evasion. It is particularly
welcome that this reduction has taken place at a time when the
number of those receiving custodial sentences for non-payment
of the licence fee and subsequent fines has fallen (paragraph
9).
3. We consider the system of concessionary licences
to be one of the most pressing matters to be considered by the
funding review; it is a matter which we expect to consider next
Autumn (paragraph 10).
4. BBC Worldwide has a target to increase the
net benefit to the BBC from its activities to £200 million
by 2006. We do not accept Sir Christopher Bland's characterisation
of this target as "ambitious". In view of the potential
for further exploitation of the BBC's products and unique and
respected brand identity in an increasingly global market and
the accelerating demand for high-quality content arising from
the onset of digital television, we consider the target to be
markedly unambitious. We expect an external assessment of the
growth potential of the BBC's commercial income to form an important
part of the forthcoming review of the BBC's funding (paragraph
14).
5. We recommend that, where future bidding contests
for sports rights occur, the BBC should prepare more thoroughly
and professionally and should take the advice of the first-rate
sports specialists working for the BBC who have accumulated great
experience and expertise over the years (paragraph 23).
6. We recommend that the forthcoming review of
the BBC's funding should examine the scope for commercial partnerships
as a means of supporting BBC acquisition and retention of sports
rights in future (paragraph 24).
7. We consider that the commitment to spend one-third
of the BBC's network programme budget outside London and the South
East should be understood as the bare minimum acceptable and should
be stated without ambiguity (paragraph 26).
8. We agree that BBC Online represents an important
and worthwhile investment by the BBC. It provides diverse content
of high quality. It is very likely to become an important means
of delivery for audio-visual services in years to come. The BBC
leads the field among the British media in recognising this (paragraph
31).
9. It is tempting to view BBC News 24 as a mis-placed
investment by contrasting its high costs with its relatively small
audience. Nevertheless, News 24 is designedly a long-term proposition
and such a judgement would be premature. If it attained a quality
sufficient to compete with other news providers in a more open
market, it might form a valuable addition to the BBC's programming.
We are not, however, convinced that News 24 should remain indefinitely
as an element of the BBC's licence-funded provision and we expect
the forthcoming review of the BBC's funding to examine the scope
for the commercial development of News 24 in a fair market (paragraph
35).
10. We welcome the BBC's commitment to comprehensive
Parliamentary coverage on television demonstrated by its operation
of the BBC Parliament Channel. We wish that this commitment extended
to radio coverage, and await the listening figures for Yesterday
in Parliament that the BBC seems somewhat tardy in providing
(paragraph 36).
11. We expect that the forthcoming review of
the BBC's funding will include a thorough examination of the scope
for efficiency savings in the Corporation in future years as well
as the potential for partnerships with commercial organisations
(paragraph 38).
12. The BBC needs a strategy to maintain the
appeal of its core programming over the next nine years when it
will continue to be financed primarily by the licence fee. There
is a danger that, in pursuing a strategy to maintain the legitimacy
of the licence fee in ten to fifteen years' time, the BBC will
lose sight of elements which many see as integral to the licence
fee's justification right now (paragraph 39).
13. We recommend that consideration should be
given to publishing the minutes of meetings of the BBC Board of
Governors. We further recommend that the BBC Governors should
make greater use of professional advice on matters relating to
broadcasting from outside the BBC itself (paragraph 42).
