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Tories would constrain BBC to 'core broadcasting'
Ben Bailey18.09.09
The BBC will be forced to stick to "core broadcasting" if the Conservatives take government, the party's culture spokesman said today.
Jeremy Hunt said the £142.50 licence fee could be frozen and BBC executives' salaries capped at £192,250, less than a quarter of director-general Mark Thompson's current wage.
Mr Hunt told the Daily Mail the salaries seemed "way out of proportion" in an era of belt-tightening.
The corporation's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, would be limited to promoting products overseas and Mr Hunt said parts of it might be sold off.
It could be worth more than £1 billion, he said, adding that any revenue would be welcome when national debt was high and the government was facing severe public spending constraints.
He attacked BBC Worldwide's recent acquisition of Lonely Planet travel guides, saying nobody could understand how it related to the BBC's "core purposes".
"We would certainly make clear our concerns over the scope of the BBC's commercial activity in any discussions over its future, for example decisions over the licence fee settlement," he said.
"We would want a clear understanding of how the BBC was going to rein in its commercial activities."
Mr Hunt said the party did not want the BBC to make less good quality family entertainment and added: "But do we want the BBC to constrain its ambition beyond that core broadcasting? Absolutely."
The Conservative proposals could also make the BBC scale back its online presence and scrap channels like BBC3 and BBC4 with low audiences.
The BBC Trust's future was plunged further into doubt as Mr Hunt said licence fee payers needed to be able to complain to a "wholly independent" body.
He said the trust had become a "corporate champion" and if it was scrapped, Ofcom might be an alternative.
The proposals come just two days after Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw also called for the BBC's governing body to be scrapped and said the corporation had probably reached the limits of "reasonable expansion".
In a speech to the Royal Television Society's Cambridge Convention, Mr Bradshaw said the BBC Trust was not sustainable in the long term as "both regulator and cheerleader".
He also said there may be a case for a smaller licence fee and that there should be a far-reaching public debate about the corporation's structure.
Reader views (5)
The BBC ceased to have any entertainment value when Morecambe and wise left it,-its total garbage these days,-the news is spun by Labour for Labour,the sitcoms are politically correct tosh with less chuckles than a morgue,I could go on forever,-since the late eighties it has been an unnecessary and compulsory bill that we should not be paying.
- Aufdeutsch, Communist Britain.
How about scrapping the enforced tv-tax all together?
Could not agree more, encrypt the channel and only allow people who pay the licence to watch, it would last hours.
- Gary, Brentwood
The licence fee should be scrapped. Why should decent people have to pay for loud mouthed presenters to utter obscenities? The reputation of the BBC has been dragged through the gutter down into the sewer.
- R.F.York, Yorks, UK
For any political party to try and control the media is extreamly worrying. I don't agree with the licence tax, but please lay off the BBC! It is a public service.
- Rod, Epping, UK
How about scrapping the enforced tv-tax all together?
Or here's an idea, get the demographic that the BBC pander to, to pay for it. Here's a clue; they are not the indigenous majority.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
