U.K. public service broadcasters are meeting their public goals, ...
U.K. public service broadcasters are meeting their public goals, with some gaps, the Office of Communications said Thursday. An Ofcom review aims to gauge the channels’ performance, market changes, prospects for delivery of public service content, audience needs and…
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funding models. Overall, Britons see the main public broadcast programs as being of high quality, particularly in news and information, and the BBC remains “particularly valued,” Ofcom said. But viewers want more kids’ programs and shows on the nations and regions (Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland) than they get from the five main channels, it said. The BBC probably will continue to contribute strongly to public broadcast, but for the other stations the picture could be less certain, Ofcom said. Long term, commercially-funded public broadcasters need clarity on their roles, and some channels may have delivery requirements waived, it said. Audiences want competition for the BBC and new platforms for viewing public programming, it said. Public broadcast is trying to address more needs, but has fewer resources outside the BBC to do so, it said. Preliminarily, Ofcom wants new funds found to end a decline in subsidies for commercial public broadcast and to maintain plurality in the delivery of content. Money could come from taxes, spectrum auctions or spectrum charging; BBC license fees; access to spectrum at below-market prices or other in-kind treatment; or industry levies, Ofcom said. Assuming the BBC still gets appropriate funding and remains the cornerstone of U.K. public broadcast, the key questions are whether some or all existing commercially funded public broadcasters keep their special roles in delivery of public service content, and whether broadcasters should have access to money beyond the BBC’s. Comments due June 19 -- PSBReview@ofcom.org.uk. The regulator debuted a discussion blog at ofcompsbreview.typepad.com.