[Swprograms] White Paper on BBC charter and licence delayed

["Paul David" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Maggie Brown, Media Guardian, November 18th:

The white paper on the BBC charter and licence has been postponed
until spring 2006 in a decision which will set back chairman Michael
Grade's plans for internal reform of the board of governors.

A key figure involved in the process told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the
white paper will not now be appearing in December, or even January
2006, as has been widely expected. The source said the white paper has
been delayed so it can undergo a substantial revision. The decision is
reported to stem primarily from the barrage of criticism over creating
a BBC Trust, to be chaired by Mr Grade, which was a central plank of
the BBC green paper proposal of March this year. The BBC Trust plan
has been roundly attacked by critics as a fudge, a compromise body
that is not clearly enough separated from the BBC management.

On top of this the BBC's bid in October for an inflation-busting
10-year licence fee was also rejected by the Treasury, while John
Whittingdale, the chair of the parliamentary culture committee,
accused the BBC of wanting to wallow in a "swimming pool of cash".

The latest influential group to pour scorn on the proposals was the
House of Lords committee on the BBC, chaired by Lord Norman Fowler,
which concluded in its report on November 1 that "the plans for a
trust to take over from the governors are ill-conceived. This model
fails to separate governance and regulation of the BBC, allowing the
corporation to remain judge and jury in its own case. Ofcom should
provide independent regulation of the BBC's activities." The
committee, which will continue taking evidence until February, was
also scathing about the corporation's bid for licence fee increases in
line with the retail price index plus 2.3% a year from 2007, which
would push the licence fee above £200. "It is difficult to see how the
increase now being proposed can be justified," it said. It also added
there is no reason licence fee payers should fund the cost of digital
switchover when the government will make a substantial amount -
estimated at around £1.2bn - from selling freed-up analogue spectrum.

Another stinging criticism of the plans, it added, was that they
failed to live up to the green paper's billing for "a strong BBC
independent of government".

"The procedure by which the BBC's charter is agreed is entirely
outdated", it said, proposing the corporation should be established by
an act of parliament, not a royal charter.

The green paper had earlier rejected advice from an independent panel
on the BBC, composed of grandees chaired by Lord Burns, created to
advise the culture sectretary, Tessa Jowell. This said there should be
a public service broadcasting commission, to oversee regulation, which
could license and dispense subsidies.

The atmosphere of unease has mounted during the autumn, when it became
clear the BBC had not consulted the music industry over its Beethoven
radio downloads, had to hurriedly scale down its ambitions to offer
free Bach music over Christmas, incurred cost over-runs for rebuilding
Broadcasting House and the estimated relocation to Manchester for key
departments at £600m. Ofcom also queried its estimate, in the licence
fee bid, of having to pay a £300m a year in spectrum tax. Ms Jowell
has appointed independent accountants to assess the BBC bid.

A spokesman at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "The
white paper will be published some time in the new year, in 2006."

There has never been a firm date given for publication.



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