UK regulator reveals plans to modernise BBC operating licence
Details
Editor
| 24 March 2023
With the fallout from the Gary Lineker social media row barely ended, the BBC is now facing a major shift in requirements on its online services after UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom announced a new, modernised BBC operating licence.
BBC Building 27May2022
In drafting the new licence which comes into effect on 1 April 2023, Ofcom said that over the last decade, the media landscape and the way in which audiences consume content have dramatically changed. It added that in this increasingly fragmented landscape, the BBC continues to have an important role, but it needs to transform and modernise to continue delivering on its remit. Moreover, the regular accepted that its regulation also needs to modernise, to reflect changes in the media landscape and audience behaviour.

Ofcom believes that it is enshrining the changing needs of viewers and listeners and a demand for greater public accountability are in announced by today. IT says that it has been designed to firmly hold the BBC to account on delivering its remit, while enabling it to adapt and innovate in how it delivers content to viewers and listeners, whose habits are dramatically shifting.

For the first time, the licence sets new requirements on the BBC’s online services – BBC iPlayer, BBC Sounds and the BBC website. At the same time, Ofcom says that it is safeguarding important content on the BBC’s broadcast TV and radio services, using quotas to ensure the BBC delivers a minimum volume of content such as news and current affairs, and original UK programmes.

The updated licence also demands a step-change from the corporation by imposing transparency as a core obligation and will have to explain in more detail how it is delivering for audiences. This says Ofcom follows concerns about the lack of detail and clarity provided by the BBC around planned changes to its programmes and services.

The new BBC Operating Licence requires that the BBC improved how it explains its transformation plans to audiences, and whether or not they are successful. As the BBC looks to modernise how it delivers on its remit, Ofcom noted that it needs to do much more to engage in a meaningful and transparent way with the public and other stakeholders as well as itself.

Ofcom believes that too often there is a lack of detail and clarity in the BBC’s announcements about proposed changes to its services. It is now expecting no less than a “step-change” from the BBC to ensure more open, detailed and proactive communication. It says the BBC also needs to be clear and open about whether its changes are successful.

Anopther issue is that it may be that not all the BBC’s plans prove effective in practice. Recognising that, and being prepared to change course, Ofcom stressed that was essential to secure audiences’ trust.

For the first time, the new licence requires the BBC to comprehensively report on its plans and performance. It imposes strict and detailed requirements specifying what the BBC needs to report, and when. These compel the BBC to set out extensive information, with its Annual Plan, about how it will deliver for audiences, including total broadcast hours and hours of new content, by genre. The BBC must then evaluate whether it has delivered on those plans, as part of its Annual Report. This information will be critical in allowing Ofcom to hold the BBC to account in those areas of its delivery not subject to quotas. Also, for the first time, it will have to publicly set out its plans before making significant changes to its services.