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MPs criticise BBC’s foreign formats

An influential report from a group of UK MPs says the BBC’s licence fee model could be scrapped and has attacked the pubcaster for spending money on entertainment formats such as The Voice.

The Voice

The Voice

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee (CMSC) report argued that the licence fee model was becoming “harder to sustain” and added that technological changes such as the surging demand for BBC VoD service iPlayer meant changes were needed.

The report, which follows an 18-month inquiry into the broadcaster’s operations, warned against rushing to abolish the license fee but said the corporation should prepare for the possibility of a change in the 2020s – possibly replacing the fee with a broadcasting levy like that introduced successfully in Germany in 2013.

It also questioned why the BBC was making shows that could easily be produced by a commercial rival, such as Talpa Media’s singing format The Voice.

“While it is generally accepted that the BBC does a lot of things that the market would not replicate at the same scale or volume by itself, several witnesses found that the BBC’s schedules too often contain programmes and formats that are seen elsewhere,” the report said.

“For instance, we were told there was no obvious justification for the BBC buying in formats such as The Voice for the UK audience. Lord Burns worried that over a 10-year period BBC1 had ended up looking too commercial and had relegated quite a lot of what would be regarded as public service broadcasting to BBC2, BBC4 and its children’s channels.”

The MPs also queried plans to create a commercial production arm, tearing up the long-standing production quotas and allowing BBC in-house producers to compete for commissions at rival broadcasters. The plan was unveiled by director general Tony Hall in July.

The MPs said there was a possibility producers could start to chase profits rather than follow the BBC’s public service remit. BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm, had previously been criticised for its £130m acquisition of the Lonely Planet travel brand in 2007 – it sold it at an £80m loss in 2013.

The report slammed the pubcaster’s governing body, the BBC Trust, for its failure “to meet expectations.” It suggested the trust should be replaced by an external body to oversee the broadcaster.

The trust was only formed in 2007 but has been beset by problems such as overspending and poor handling of scandals such as the Jimmy Savile affair. Former Financial Times CEO Rona Fairhead was appointed as its chair at the end of last year.

CMSC chair John Whittingdale MP said: “The BBC Trust remains far too close to the BBC and blurs accountability, rather than it being a sharp and effective overseer of the BBC’s performance.”

Plans to move BBC3 online, which have been challenged by the indie production sector in the UK, were backed by the MPs.

The 164-page report comes at the end of an 18-month inquiry and will inform the government ahead of the BBC charter renewal, which is due at the end of 2016.

The BBC’s brief response read: “This report confirms the importance of the BBC in national life and recommends maintaining and modernising the licence fee, something we have said is necessary.

“We’re grateful to the committee for endorsing our record for efficiency and maintaining the quality of programmes and services, and note members overwhelmingly voted against moving to a subscription funding model.”

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