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Call to scrap BBC Trust, privatise C4 An independent think tank is calling for the privatisation of pubcaster Channel 4 (C4) and the abolition of the BBC's governing body, following an investigation into UK public service broadcasting (PSB). A report published by Policy Exchange suggests the BBC Trust should be replaced by a BBC Joint Board. "The BBC Trust has not held the BBC to sufficient account and has taken a narrow, institutional approach to the delivery of PSB in the UK," the report argues. "The BBC management should be accountable on day-to-day matters and the delivery of their objectives to a BBC Board, with a BBC chairman and non-executive directors." Policy Exchange also called for a degree of contestability to be brought to BBC resource allocation that would see the Beeb helping to fund rivals such as ITV and C4. However, the report characterises such a move as "bottom slicing" the UK licence fee, rather than top-slicing. "In the first instance, any funding for third-party services and output would still be channelled through BBC management and operations, but the management would be separately accountable to regulators for the effective use of these funds," it said. "This 'bottom slicing' of the BBC licence fee funding has a precedent: the funding of 520 hours of output on (Welsh broadcaster) S4C with an attributable value of £24m a year. An example of the way this would work is that the BBC could decide that investing £20m to £30m in programming first shown on C4 or (C4's digital network) E4 might be a better way to reach the 16- to 35-year-old audience with programming of public value than spending £100m a year on BBC3." Elsewhere, the report argued that C4 should be privatised in 2012, but should retain a PSB licence for at least 10 years. "The majority of any proceeds of this privatisation would remain with C4 to strengthen its balance sheet," according to the report. "It should receive extra digital capacity, reallocated from ITV and perhaps some from the BBC. It could choose to use or sublease this but retain the income from it. C4 should also be granted cross-promotional and linked access to the BBC." The think tank suggests a wide range of additional measures, such as allowing UK nets ITV1 and Five to opt out of the PSB system after 2012, and the relaxation of ownership and competition constraints in return for hard programme investment commitments. The report was produced by Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates founder and CEO Mark Oliver, who was the BBC's first head of strategy from 1989 to 1995, advising the director-general and the board on strategy and performance. Adam Benzine 14 Jan 2010 © C21 Media 2010 
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