PSB model 2: BBC only
- Published: 10 September 2008 17:07
- Author: Robin Parker
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- Last Updated: 10 September 2008 17:07
- Reader Responses
The BBC becomes the sole UK-wide provider of PSB content. Limited plurality is provided only to the extent possible through other broadcasters' commercial output.
Heather Rabbatts, factual and drama development, Tiger Aspect:
"We need a simple solution to shore up the BBC to secure its place in the market. It's the BBC that bestrides the change and offers us a real anchor in changing times. Everybody recognises BBC1 and BBC2 as the real champions of public service content and there's a clarity of purpose within its DNA. It also has the scale to innovate online and in wider technology. The BBC remains the global media company representing what we stand for in PSB content.
"It's enormously difficult for Ofcom to come up with a regulatory framework that keeps pace with change. The danger is coming up with a set of models that are already out of date once they are implemented. The other models will take five, six or seven years and the world will have moved on, and put in a series of complexities that will be outdated. They are all looking fundamentally for more money.
"The case for plurality is overstated. ITV is only arguing about a regional remit that's rapidly declining, while Channel 4 has a voice precisely because it's outside the realm of public service responsibility. Its commissioners don't think about how to fulfil public purpose but how to break boundaries. Putting it within any situation of public subsidy would undermine its creative DNA.
"Let ITV and C4 explore the real opportunities of the market, which we know drives innovation and change."

