Labour should be clear on where it stands on the BBC

By Bill Dewison

The shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, has announced that if a Conservative government were to get into office at the next election, they could “rip up” the Royal Charter that allows the BBC to collect a licence fee when the current charter expires in 2015.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the MP said that the BBC was “out of touch with the hard times the rest of the electorate is going through” and that the BBC structure has “failed”.

The British Broadcasting Corporation began life with radio broadcasts in the early 1920s and was given its first Royal Charter in 1927. The charter decreed that the BBC would be free from political and private interests and only answer to its listeners and viewers.

More recently, Labour MP Ben Bradshaw has criticised the BBC for what he believes is bias with regards to the coverage given to the two main political parties, the Labour Party and the Conservatives. He is reported to have said “I don’t think it’s a sustainable model” and much like the shadow culture secretary, he was perhaps hinting that he would like to see the current system overhauled.

It would seem that both of the main political parties are looking towards a very different BBC in the future.

The BBC already has a commercial string to its bow with BBC Worldwide – which has a record operating profit of £117.7 million. This alone would not sustain the BBC and if the licence fee was scrapped, and the Royal Charter ripped up, the question is would the BBC be able to adapt to a commercial environment? Would it be able to compete with the hundreds of other channels available both through digital television and satellite broadcasting organisations?

The Conservatives seem to be making their view pretty clear. As well as ripping up the BBC Charter, Jeremy Hunt also announced that they would scrap the recent government digital scheme which added 50 pence a month to telephone bills in order to contribute towards a new and faster broadband network across the UK.

Labour should be clear about what it intends to do with the BBC. Do they want to dismantle this British media giant? And if so, what becomes of the licence fee? Will it remain in another form or will it be scrapped completely, allowing television viewers a choice of where they spend their money for their viewing pleasure?