BBC director-general Tim Davie has said the corporation is “not the defining factor” in difficulties facing local commercial publishers in the UK.
Speaking at a Royal Television Society event on the future of the BBC on Tuesday, Davie argued that “local press around the world are under enormous pressure” and that the BBC has sought to collaborate with, rather than “shut out”, regional competition.
In the wide-ranging speech, which culminated in the announcement of a review into the licence fee, Davie also laid out plans for the BBC’s news provision worldwide, asked the Government for fresh World Service funding and said there are more job cuts on the way at the corporation.
‘We’re not taking ad pounds out of the market’
Davie told the audience at the RTS event that the BBC will “double-down on” its transparency and fact-checking brand BBC Verify, which will be rolled out globally.
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Its work will be complemented by the launch of two new brands: a “new digital destination that will offer deeper analysis, longer reads and thought-provoking journalism which provide more context beyond rolling news” and a BBC investigations brand to “help audiences navigate our investigative journalism”.
He said these launches will be supported by the previously-announced hiring of 70 investigative reporters to 11 teams across England. Those hires were part of a package of 131 new local digital roles created to counteract 139 job cuts made in local radio.
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The BBC local online news expansion is controversial both within the corporation and at the BBC’s commercial rivals. In December senior editors at the UK’s five biggest commercial regional news publishers described the broadcaster as the “neighbour from hell”, accusing it of using licence fee funding to expand into local markets and thereby undermine their financial viability.
[Read more: Why BBC is ‘the neighbour from hell’ for leading regional newsbrand editors]
Asked on-stage by Today programme presenter Martha Kearney about the neighbour from hell comment, Davie said: “I would humbly suggest that the trend lines for the local press around the world are under enormous pressure. The BBC is not deemed a contributing factor [elsewhere].”
He said he thought “the more interesting question is how we can help the local press”, citing the BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service as an example of the corporation doing so.
“I do take that criticism, by the way. I don’t just push it back,” he added. “I am very interested in growing the overall market… the BBC should not be shutting out competition.”
Pushed on the matter by a Sky News reporter who asked whether the BBC’s expansion was unfair, Davie said: “We’re not taking ad pounds out of the market, and that’s really important. I’d love to see more competition on the ground. The issue is I don’t think the BBC being there or not is the defining factor.”
The News Media Association, a trade body representing commercial publishers, disagreed with Davie’s defence however. Chief executive Owen Meredith said Davie had “set out a vision for the BBC that overreaches its remit and its commitments under the Royal Charter and Agreement to not adversely impact competition.
“The public should be in no doubt that this appears to be an aggressive strategy, designed to strengthen the BBC’s hand at the expense of others.”
More job cuts to come at BBC, Davie says
Davie criticised the Government’s 2022 decision to prevent the licence fee rising in line with inflation for two years, saying “to strip money from the BBC during this period has been particularly short-sighted”.
The licence fee freeze, which is due to end next month with the first fee rise since 2021, created a significant funding shortfall. Davie said on Tuesday that the corporation had managed to find “pretty much 80%” of a planned £500m in annual funding cuts and that “we are now working on plans for a further £200m which will be primarily deployed on ensuring we can deliver enough impactful content and ensure investment in digital products”.
The previous spending cuts involved several unpopular changes, including cuts to the BBC World Service, a merger of the BBC News and BBC World News 24-hour channels and downsizing at Newsnight.
Asked by Kearney whether there are more cuts on the way, Davie said: “Yes, there’ll be more.”
NUJ national broadcasting organiser Sian Jones said the union was “concerned” about references Davie made in the speech to delivering a “leaner” public service broadcaster.
“Cuts have consequences,” she said, “and the BBC’s high quality and strong reputation can only be maintained through proper funding and a robust commitment to the public service operation which remains free of commercial interference – vitally important in today’s rapidly changing media landscape.”
Tim Davie: ‘The licence fee needs reform’
Davie concluded his speech saying that the BBC will “proactively research how to reform the licence fee” after the end of the current ten-year licence fee settlement in 2028. He said the research will look at the fee’s “scope, how it could be more progressive, and making sure its enforcement is fair and proportionate”. He added that next year the BBC “will open up our biggest-ever consultation process so that the public can inform and drive the debate on the future BBC”.
The Government announced its own, separate review into the future of the licence fee in December.
He went further during questions after the speech, saying: “The licence fee needs reform, in my view.” However he dismissed the idea of a commercially-funded BBC, arguing that “the very wonder of the BBC is that quality news sits next to genres such as drama and sport thus ensuring widespread usage”.
But he said the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Studios “can expand enormously. It can be ten times the size, being provocative”. The BBC is currently on a drive to double the size of BBC Studios, which Davie used to lead and generates revenue for the corporation by licensing its content overseas.
The BBC moved some audio content into BBC Studios last year, and Davie said in his speech that the corporation is currently looking at moving its international media analysis service BBC Monitoring across as well.
Despite the focus on commercial revenue, Davie did use the speech to ask the government for greater tax funding of the World Service.
“We cannot keep asking UK licence fee payers to invest in it when we face cuts to UK services,” he said. “We will need to discuss a long-term funding solution for the World Service that comes from central government budgets.
“Even in the short-term we will need more help. Russia and China are investing hard, and not properly funding one of the UK’s most valuable soft power assets makes no sense economically or culturally.”
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