The old funding formula will not save the BBC

Every 10 years the BBC cheerleaders, program makers and directors are sent out to sell one agenda which is the BBC is at risk and we need to put pressure on the government to continue with the licence fee and the event at the Westminster Media Forum on Thursday was not any different. 

The event started with David Moody, the BBC head of strategy which referred to a research that I challenged which states that every day 47 million Britain's access the BBC channels, which baring young children this means almost all of us are BBC loyal audience.

Broadly speaking the crowd at the  events are similar in composition in they are white middle class and with not much ethnic representation within the BBC staffing, leadership and program makers which explains why the BBC is poor when serving the diverse growing audiences in the UK. 

It is not hard to find the BBC usual suspects, a handful of privileged families or people who are given commissioning and program making for decades without fail. Hence there is very little chance for independent productions to stand a chance to win commissions.

The constant comment I hear from the ethnic audiences is that “We are short changed and there are no relevant programming for us and we have no presenters or role models from within our communities to look up to which is a shame”.

It is very clear that the other missed audience is the youth or Generation X. This generation is moving away from companies like the BBC and towards smaller, leaner and more cost effective and entertaining channels with cheap productions such as YouTube. This could be a for the BBC to listen and understand what these audiences need and the trends shaping their viewing habits.

This shift in the BBC thinking will not be achieved until we have ethnic audiences and the youth well represented on their staff, commissioners and leadership, which is currently lacking. What the technology companies are successful at is they listen and figure out their audiences and respond to their needs 100%, which makes them extremely successful and profitable. 

The BBC directors should and must be weaned-off guaranteed income in the shape of the license fee and must approach funding with a mixture of subs as well as commercial exploitation of its huge range of award winning content and digital assets. 

On the other hand the BBC Worldwide is a highly profitable organisation and this operation should be either sold off or privatised so the taxpayer liability is reduced.

The BBC should be challenged and made to compete alongside commercial enterprises and do feel that they can make huge commercial returns.