Peers reject licence fee top-slicing

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Peers have rejected the idea that the BBC should share some of its licence fee revenue with other broadcasters.

The House of Lords Communications Committee told media secretary Andy Burnham that the government should examine the BBC's solution to the industry's troubles, which is to offer to share facilities with broadcasters to save costs.

The committee told ministers they were sceptical of the proposals that had been put forward for top slicing the BBC licence fee.

"We observe that often these proposals have come from individuals or organisations who are no friends of the BBC and want to see a weaker corporation.

"The one certainty is that top slicing would lead to fewer resources for the BBC and our concern is that news and current affairs would again suffer," it said.

The committee added: "The commercial public service broadcasters should not be supported at the expense of the ability of the BBC to do what it does best."

When he gave evidence, Burnham suggested that the BBC could share facilities, such as equipment and studios, rather than handing over part of its current income.

The committee agreed. It said. "We believe there is scope in the idea of sharing BBC facilities with other public service broadcasters and that this proposal should be further examined. The Government should take forward this work."

The peers also called on ministers to clearly state "that privatisation is not an option under consideration" for Channel 4.

The committee said: "Channel 4 deserves certainty about its future structure particularly at a time when the outlook for the industry is so confused."

When questioned by the peers, Burnham was asked to rule out privatisation of Channel 4, but replied: "These are not only decisions for me."

The government has set aside £600m to provide help for older and disabled people in switching from analogue to digital television. The money has been included in the BBC's licence fee settlement but £250m is expected to be unspent.

In evidence to the committee Lord Puttnam, deputy chairman of Channel 4, suggested unspent money could be diverted to other public service broadcasters and the peers have backed the idea in their report to ministers.