BBC Trust

Background

In June this year, the BBC Trust published its review of the supply arrangements for the production of the BBC’s television content, radio content and online content and services.
 
We concluded that, in light of market developments, it is the right time to consider whether changes to these arrangements might better meet the needs of licence fee payers and help develop the wider sector.
The review did not specifically test options for changes to these arrangements but, recognising how the BBC secures its content for the future and how its supply arrangements are regulated would be key issues for the review of the BBC Charter,we consulted on and published a set of five principles that we consider fundamental to any future content supply framework set up to serve the interests of licence fee payers over the long term.
 
At the time of the review, the BBC Executive (the Executive) was working up its own proposals for how they believe current arrangements should be reformed to deliver broader choice and better ideas for BBC content across its TV, radio and online services. Our review set out our expectation that the Executive make public more detail about its plans when they are more developed.
 
The Executive has today published their detailed proposals for the creation of BBC Studios and the removal of the BBC’s in-house guarantee in most genres.  Whilst proposals for the reform of the supply arrangements for the production of radio content as well as online content and services are not as developed, in its document entitled British, Bold, Creative (published on 7 September) the Executive set out that it is developing plans, which are subject to Trust approval, that could lead to around 60% of eligible network radio hours and 60%-70% of online content spend being open for competition by the end of the next Charter period.
 
The Trust is keen to gain a wider view on these proposals and ideas and is now opening them up to public consultation. We are also inviting stakeholder views on the alternative options to the reform of the BBC’s arrangements for content supply that the Government has set out in its BBC Charter Review discussion document.[1] Following our consultation, and informed by the views we receive, we will submit our advice to Government on how well the different options serve the interests of licence fee payers over any new Charter period.
 
The current BBC Charter and Framework Agreement do not allow for some of the options for reforming the BBC’s content supply to proceed so it is for the Government to decide whether or not to make the necessary legislative changes. As part of this, should the Government consider that establishing a commercial BBC Studios business is an appropriate approach in principle, the Trust would, in accordance with the Charter and Agreement, need to apply its established regulatory processes for assessing BBC Studios’ compliance against the approvals framework for the BBC’s commercial services and/or public services (as appropriate), including compliance with the Trust’s Fair Trading Policy and with relevant law as well as ongoing regulatory scrutiny.
 
Whilst we welcome views from anyone with an interest in the supply of content that audiences consume on BBC television, radio and online, this consultation is aimed primarily at industry stakeholders, including independent production companies, BBC in-house production, representative trade bodies, Government bodies, as well as other broadcasters and organisations representing the wider creative community and workforce.
 
As the proposals develop and the options for changes become clearer, we will also make sure that the public are given the opportunity to have their say through our ongoing programme of audience research that we are carrying out as part of the Charter review process.

[1] On 16 September 2015, the Secretary of State further announced that Ofcom will undertake a separate review of the terms of trade, the codes of practice negotiated between UK broadcasters and the trade association for UK independent production companies (PACT) setting out the licensing of rights between broadcasters and producers within primary and subsequent windows. The Communications Act 2003 requires the parties to come to such agreement and Ofcom oversees this process. We will consider Ofcom’s findings in this area as we develop our submission to Government.

What we are consulting on

For the supply arrangements for the production of the BBC’s television content, we are keen to receive your views on the potential strengths and weaknesses of the following four options in serving the interests of licence fee payers over at least the next 10 years:

1. The retention of the current arrangements with no changes to the quotas. Under this ‘status quo’ scenario, the existing levels for the proportions of BBC television commissioning reserved for in-house production, independent production and set aside for competition between the BBC and independent producers through the Window of Creative Competition (WoCC), as well as the quotas and targets for out-of-London productions including production in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, would be maintained. BBC in-house production would remain completely in the public service and not make content for any other broadcaster unless, as now, the BBC demonstrates spare capacity.
2. The retention of the current arrangements with changes to the quotas. Under this scenario, the proportions of BBC television commissioning reserved for in-house production, independent production and set aside through the WoCC, as well as the quotas and targets for out-of-London productions including production in the devolved Nations, would continue but some/all would be set at new levels and/or using different metrics (e.g. value instead of hours) and potentially considered on a genre by genre basis. We would particularly like to hear your reasoned views on what the optimal levels might be for any new TV WoCC and/or independent production quota and how they might be constituted. As above, BBC in-house production would remain completely in the public service and not make content for any other broadcaster unless, as now, the BBC demonstrates spare capacity.
3. The removal of quotas for BBC television commissioning to allow external producers to bid for and potentially win all such commissions (with some genre exceptions) alongside a new commercial production business wholly owned by the BBC and free to make programmes for other broadcasters. This reflects the Executive’s proposals but we would be happy to receive views on the mix of genres and programme strands which the Executive propose to be in or out of the BBC Studios model.
4. Directly scaling back BBC in-house production. In its Charter review discussion document, the Government states it wants to understand whether there are arguments for scaling back the BBC’s production capabilities and what the impact of this might be on audiences, other broadcasters and the production sector as a whole. We would be keen to hear your views on whether BBC production should be scaled back and, if so, to what degree including what an optimal level for any new in-house guarantee might be and how it might be constituted. 

For the supply arrangements for the production of the BBC’s radio content and online services and content, we are keen to receive your views on the potential strengths and weaknesses of the following two options in serving the interests of licence fee payers over at least the next 10 years:

1. The retention of the current arrangements with no changes to the quotas. Under this ‘status quo’ scenario, the existing levels for the proportions of BBC radio commissioning reserved for independent production or set aside through the radio WoCC would be maintained. For online, the existing level for the proportion of eligible online spend on content and services the BBC must commission from independent suppliers would be maintained.
2. The retention of the current arrangements with changes to the quotas. Under this scenario, the proportions of BBC radio commissioning reserved for independent production or set aside through the radio WoCC would continue but be set at new levels and/or using different metrics and potentially considered on a genre by genre basis. We would particularly like to hear your reasoned views on what the optimal levels for any new independent radio production quota and/or radio WoCC might be and how they might be constituted.For online, the proportion of eligible online spend on content and services the BBC must commission from independent suppliers would continue but be set at new levels and potentially include the introduction of a WoCC for online content and services.

How we would like you to respond

For each of the above options that you would like to provide your views on, please set out in your response how effective you think this particular option would be in fulfilling our five content supply principles including identifying potential areas of concern (see detailed descriptions of these principles):

Please also let us know if there are other options for changes to the supply arrangements for TV, radio and online content that you feel we should consider in additions to those we detail above.

The consultation runs from Thursday, 16 September 2015 to Friday, 20 November 2015.

If you are responding on behalf of an organisation we may publish the organisation’s views with your consent. Please complete the confidentiality statement whether you make your response by mail or email.

We do not intend to publish individual responses from the public and will treat your identity in confidence if you disclose it to us. The BBC complies with the Data Protection Act 1998. The BBC Trust will securely store any personal information you provide such as your name, address and email address and use it only for the purposes of administering this consultation. You can find more information on the BBC’s privacy policy at http://https://truemac.vn/privacy. The BBC is also covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If a request is made under the Act in relation to this consultation, the BBC may be required to disclose the information unless an exemption under the Act applies. For more information, see http://https://truemac.vn/foi.