ITV

Tag: Sir Michael Lyons

  • BBC Trust to review licence fee structure

    BBC Trust to review licence fee structure

    MUMBAI: The BBC Trust has launched a public consultation as part of a wide-ranging review into how the licence fee is collected for the UK pubcaster.

    The Trust is responsible for overseeing the licence fee collection arrangements, put in place by BBC management, and ensuring they are “efficient, appropriate and proportionate”. This is a new responsibility for the BBC’s governing body which is stated in the Royal Charter for the first time.

    BBC Truist chairman Sir Michael Lyons said, “It is use of a television, or other television receiving equipment, which dictates the need for a television licence, but the purpose of the licence fee is to pay for all BBC domestic services – on television, radio and online. For the BBC to meet its remit, and deliver the quality programmes and services the public rightly expects, it is essential it collects the funding needed.

    ” The BBC has a duty to be efficient in collecting the licence fee and to keep evasion rates as low as possible so that those people who pay are not disadvantaged by those who do not. This is an issue which arouses strong emotions, because the right balance needs to be struck between ensuring compliance with the law and avoiding any disproportionate heavy-handedness. On behalf of licence fee payers, the Trust will consider whether that balance is being struck through the processes used to collect the licence and, if there is room for improvements, we will ensure they are made.”

    The Trusts review will consider areas such as:

    – The range of payment methods available to licence fee payers and whether it is clear to people when a TV licence is needed 
    – The tone of the marketing and advertising about the TV licence 
    – The enforcement methods used by TV Licensing, including letters, visits and detection 
    – Through consultation and formal research, the Trust is seeking the public’s opinion on these issues, as well as their view on how far the BBC should pursue those who should but don’t pay the licence fee.

    The public consultation closes on 28 November 2008. The Trust will also be talking to audience groups and other interested parties and distributing information via libraries and other public places. It will be visiting TV Licensing sites to gain first-hand experience of collection and enforcement of the licence fee.

    The Trust will analyse all the evidence it collects and expects to publish its report next spring, once it reaches its final conclusions. The review will not consider settled public policy issues, such as the cost of the licence fee or whether there should be a licence fee at all.

  • BBC Trust sets strategic priorities for UK pubcaster

    MUMBAI: The BBC Trust has published final remits to guide the BBC in meeting each of the six public purposes laid down in the Charter.

    In a letter from the BBC Trust Chairman to BBC DG Mark Thompson, Sir Michael Lyons said, “As we discussed on several occasions… the BBC faces a complex set of demands. It is therefore important for the Trust to set clear priorities and realistic expectations informed by our research.”

    The six public purposes, which the BBC is required to promote through all its output, are:

    – Sustaining citizenship and civil society 
    – Promoting education and learning 
    – Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence 
    – Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities 
    – Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK 
    – Emerging communications 

    Earlier this year, after consulting widely on draft priorities in each of these areas, the Trust highlighted “innovation and distinctiveness” as the single biggest issue for all audiences and published research showing there was demand for more new programmes and fresh ideas from BBC television. This remains the Trust’s top priority and, to ensure a proper understanding of what people want in response, they commissioned some in-depth analysis, a summary of which is also published today.

    Lyons said, “What we have learned is that audiences do not want a radical change of direction from the BBC: there is support for programming in every genre, and they value the familiar BBC classics that no one else offers. It seems that, although there is more choice of channels across UK television as a whole, people nonetheless perceive there to be less choice of programmes and they are keen to see the BBC give greater prominence to the range of its high quality work. That said, this is not just about perception. People do expect the BBC to avoid well-trodden paths, and they are clear that their expectations of the BBC are different from other broadcasters.”

    Among several priorities singled out by different audience groups as important and not necessarily in need of improved BBC performance, the Trust also highlighted news and current affairs, formal education for children, and serving audiences in the devolved nations and those in areas further away from the South-East, as top priorities for the BBC.