Burnham: co-operation is way ahead for PSB
- Published: 29 October 2008 17:07
- Author: Robin Parker
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- Last Updated: 30 October 2008 10:11
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Culture secretary Andy Burnham has outlined a PSB future in which broadcasters co-operate and scheduling clashes in the chase for ratings are a thing of the past.
Speaking to Broadcast, Burnham called on public service broadcasters to look beyond their own organisations and backed the BBC's plans to pursue partnerships with its rivals.
"An era has ended in broadcasting: an era of head to head competition, with big broadcasters slugging it out and putting the main national news head-to-head on a weekday night," he said.
"They [broadcasters] sustain each other, it is part of an ecology. I think it's sensible that we now pick up the concerns each expresses and pull that together to make a whole, and start to cast a new shape for PSB."
Burnham repeated pledges for a "twin-track" approach with Ofcom to shaping the future of PSB, with both regulator and government publishing their views early next year.
BBC director general Mark Thompson will soon outline proposals to partner with rival broadcasters, a move Burnham has welcomed. "There are clearly short-term pressures in the system," he said. "There are very important questions about how the BBC behaves and who it supports - what is its role? I welcome very much the way it's thinking and putting out new ideas about partnerships and co-operation. It shows the BBC is responding to the changes around it."
Burnham is braced for public protests in Selkirk next week.The region is preparing to switch off its analogue transmitter and the culture secretary has been criticised by local MPs and shadow culture minister Jeremy Hunt, who branded as "insensitive" Burnham's suggestion that those viewers who only get 19 of the 48 Freeview channels can subscribe to a commercial package if they want the full service.
"The universal offer is the PSB channels plus a few more," Burnham said. "It's quite a big step forward to go from four or five channels with possibly not brilliant reception to around 20 channels and good reception. If people want more they can opt in to different options."
