Supplementary letter from the BBC
I note that you are taking evidence from RadioCentre
this week.
You may have seen reports in the press that
they have made a complaint to the BBC with regard to the sponsorship
of the Sports Personality of the Year event held in Birmingham
last December, and I thought I should let you know the BBC position
on this—which has also been shared with RadioCentre directly.
The BBC's Editorial Guidelines make it clear
that when the BBC stages major events at outside venues, such
as concerts and award ceremonies, it may be acceptable to supplement
the cost of mounting the event with sponsorship. This is not considered
programme sponsorship, but event sponsorship.
The BBC Editorial Guidelines themselves are,
of course, approved by the BBC Trust and are kept under constant
review by the BBC's Editorial Policy team.
The policy of taking sponsorship for major BBC
events at external venues in order to defray costs to the licence
fee payer of staging them has been clearly established for many
years. For example, Cardiff Singer of the World, Young Musician
of the Year and Choir of the Year and Proms in the
Park have all been sponsored in this manner.
In the case of Sports Personality of the
Year ("SPOTY"), Robinsons' contribution made up
only part of the total event costs—which were considerable.
This was a major live event with an audience of 8,000 people.
The scale of the event covered on air in 2006 and 2007 was far
greater than in previous years, in which the programme had been
broadcast from a BBC studio that offered little space for the
general public to attend. One of the main reasons for extending
the scope of SPOTY in the last two years has been to enable
the public to attend and participate in a great BBC occasion.
Sponsorship was sought for this, the second
year the event had taken place outside London, because the size
of the event was increased still further to bring in a live audience
of 8,000—and clearly the costs of such an event are massively
greater. Supplementing licence fee funding in this way enables
the BBC to provide event attractions and the necessary facilities
for the thousands who attended—costs which clearly would
not have been incurred with a studio based programme.
The BBC has strict guidelines on the way in
which references to the sponsor of an event are made during the
broadcast of any programme relating to it. The overall principle
is that references to the sponsor should be for the purposes of
enabling their role in relation to the event to be fairly reflected—not
to allow them to secure on-air promotion opportunities. Speeches
by the sponsors were not allowed, although discreet signage (on
the podium, for example) was. Our guidelines also demand that
all proposals for sponsorship of BBC events and on air reflections
are approved by the Chief Adviser Editorial Policy. BBC Fair Trading
is also consulted and has particular oversight of sponsorship
activities off-air.
The overriding requirement is that sponsorship
money should enable the event itself to be mounted, and must not
be used to pay for broadcast coverage or programme costs. No financial
contribution from any sponsor may be used to supplement a BBC
programme budget, and programme departments must ensure that this
is the case.
I hope you will find this information helpful.
25 February 2008
| 
