Page 12 Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 4, 2020
BBC boss: We won’t abandon
our older v iewers for youth
come at the expense of older
audiences.
We know they are often the peo-
ple who value and rely on us most.
They are our super-users and they
will always be super-served. Big
change at the BBC will need to
continue. We will need to go fur-
t h e r t o s w i t c h s p e n d i n g
from activities that no longer
serve audiences towards those
that can serve them better. We will
need to make more difficult cuts
and more tough choices. But in
looking to change, we must notundermine what makes the BBC
such a valued asset for Britain.
Today the country faces a broad
range of challenges. It is part of the
BBC’s public service mission to
help the nation respond. That
means working alongside otherinstitutions and news organisa-
tions to keep everyone informed
about coronavirus, for example.
Not only does the BBC have a
responsibility to report the infor-
mation the public need in a man-
ner that is calm, measured andaccurate, we also have a reach and
influence that few can match.
This reach extends throughout
our nations and regions.
One of our biggest priorities in
recent years has been shifting the
organisation away from London,
from our 3,500 staff in BBC North
to our brand new HQ for BBC
Wales. A decade ago, a third of the
BBC was based outside the capi-
tal. Today it’s half.
The recent floods highlighted
what a vital role we play at local
level. Our local radio reporters
have worked hard to keep com-
muni- ties safe, informed and
prepared, even as
their own homes
were affected. One
MP speaking to
BBC Hereford &
Worcester called it
public service broad-
casting at its very best.O
ur reach also extends
around the world. Today
the BBC is used by
around 430million peo-
ple. At a time when Britain is
seeking to reshape its interna-
tional identity, we have an impor-
tant role to play in carrying the
nation’s voice, values and cultural
influence worldwide.
The BBC is not a perfect institu-
tion. Like everyone else, we can
and do make mistakes. But we
always strive to be better. And we
are always accountable to our
audiences, who are quick to high-
light our weaknesses but equally
quick to praise our strengths.
We will talk to the public about
what kind of BBC they want as we
approach our second century. We
will carry out a big listening exer-
cise, with events up and down the
country. It will be a chance for audi-
ences to speak to us directly, and
tell us what they want us to be. I will
set out full plans in the spring, but I
want this to be one of the most sig-
nificant pieces of public engage-
ment the BBC has ever undertaken.
I won’t tie the hands of my succes-
sor, but I want them to have all the
insight they need from the people
who matter most: the public.
So yes, let’s have a debate about
the BBC. Let’s even debate our
funding model when the time
comes. But let’s not put the cart
before the horse. Let’s first decide
what kind of BBC we want for this
country, then work out how best
to achieve it. I genuinely believe at
this important moment, the BBC
matters more than ever and can
work even harder for the uK at
home and abroad.L
eT’S have a debate about the
BBC. We’re always up for it.
We are probably the most
hotly-debated organisation in
the country. That’s good. Itmeans we matter.
The former culture secretary Nicky Morgan
wrote recently that the BBC needs to accept
that no change isn’t an option. I couldn’t agree
more. A BBC that doesn’t change with
the times is a BBC that fails its audi-
ences. And they own the BBC after
all. The BBC has always been the
first to embrace change. We were
perhaps the original disrupter, pio-
neering the wireless, TV, colour broad-
casting, high-definition, the transition to
digital with DAB, iPlayer and more.
Let’s not forget that iPlayer was absolutely
groundbreaking. The head of Netflix, reed
Hastings, credits it with blazing the trail for
his company, creating a whole new market
for video-on-demand.
I believe British innovation is something to
be proud of. Some say if the BBC was that
innovative we would have invented Netflix
ourselves. The truth is, we did.
More than ten years ago, back when Netflix
was still delivering DVDs through the front
door, the BBC joined forces with other public
service broadcasters to set up a British
video-on-demand service. It was blocked by
the regulators, opening up a gap that Netflix
and others were only too happy to exploit.
More recently, we were blocked from mak-
ing planned updates to iPlayer. Audiences
told us they wanted straightforward changes,
like more box sets and more programmes
available for longer. They said this was what
they expected, what they demanded as value
for the licence fee.
T
He delay while the regulator
checked our plans cost us valuable
time. Meanwhile our uS competi-
tors were free to update their own
platforms on a near-weekly basis, with no
permission needed.
We’ve worked hard to modernise our organ-
isation. Driving down efficiencies to industry-
leading levels. Cutting jobs and management
layers. Streamlining our news operation.
reshaping what we do to meet the needs of
today’s audiences. We know we have to do
more to serve young people in particular.
It’s an area where we need to be radical and
I’ll be setting out big plans on this in April
when we publish our strategy for the year
ahead. But don’t let anyone tell you this will
Let’s listen to
what yOu say
... and promise
to do better
Handover: Lord Hall outside the BBC studios at the start of his tenure in 2013
By Tony Hall
BBC director-general Tony Hall has
promised not to abandon older audi-
ences amid fears the corporation’s
attempts to appeal to youngsters will
leave them feeling ignored.
Writing on this page today, Lord Hall
pledged said older Britons are ‘super-users’
of the broadcaster’s services and vowed
they will always be ‘super-served’ by it.
He said the BBC, which has decided to
strip millions of over-75s of their free TV
licences, knows the elderly ‘are often the
people who value and rely on us most’.
It comes as the BBC battles to stop
younger audiences deserting its services in
favour of streaming giants like Netflix,
Amazon Prime Video and Spotify. Lord Hall
also announced that the corporation is to
launch a major initiative, which he called a
‘big listening exercise’, aimed at asking the
public to tell the broadcaster what they
want it to produce.
Involving events throughout the country,
the exercise is described as ‘one of the most
significant pieces of public engagement the
BBC has ever undertaken’.
The peer’s comments are a response to
the criticism the corporation has faced
across a range of issues, such as the TV
licence reform. Ministers are currently con-
sulting on whether to decriminalise non-payment of the licence, a move which the
BBC has said could cost it around £200mil-
lion a year. The Government has also sug-
gested the charge could be scrapped in
2027, with claims it could be replaced by a
subscription service.
It emerged yesterday that Lord Hall anddebate about the BBC’s future and funding
model, saying it needs to ‘change with the
times’ or will ‘fail its audiences’. And he said
the BBC will need to make ‘more difficult
cuts’ and ‘more tough choices’.
His comments come after BBC presenter
Carrie Gracie launched a ferocious attack
on the broadcaster’s overpaid bosses on
Monday. The former BBC China editor, who
has been a leading figure in rows over equal
pay, said there were ‘too many managers’
who were ‘paid too much’, adding that she
would ‘take them all out’.
She also revealed that, with 450 jobs being
axed in news departments, she is preparing
to walk away from the BBC. She said: ‘I’m
an expensive person, I should go.’By Paul Revoir Media Editor
BBC DirECtor-GEnEral
‘More tough choices
to come’other senior executives have been called to
give evidence to MPs on the Commons dig-
ital, culture, media and sport committee
about the proposed changes to the licence
fee. In his article, Lord Hall welcomes a