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27 May 2016 / Athelstane Aamodt
Issue: 7700 / Categories: Opinion
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The same but different

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Do the government proposals for future-proofing the BBC lack vision? Athelstane Aamodt reviews the evidence

So it’s finally here: the government has published its white paper on the renewal of the BBC’s Royal Charter, entitled A BBC For The Future: A Broadcaster Of Distinction. It’s big, coming in at 136 (bafflingly, unnumbered) pages, rather more than its predecessor, the 2006 White Paper A Public Service For All: The BBC In The Digital Age, which was almost half the length at 76 pages.

The main points of the white paper are:

  • the licence fee remains intact, and will increase in line with inflation;
  • a new “unitary board” is proposed that would replace the BBC Trust and the BBC Executive;
  • the BBC’s content commissioning will be opened up to greater competition and the guarantee of in-house production will be removed except in the case of news and current affairs;
  • a new public service fund will be created to “enhance plurality”;
  • the promotion of greater transparency, including “transparency on the remuneration of talent paid over £450,000”
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