BBC Trust faces government probe

During his keynote speech at the Royal Television Society (RTS) Cambridge Convention, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale announced that Ofcom is to conduct a review into the terms of trade and whether the regulations remain the most effective means of supporting small independent producers in their negotiations with broadcasters, in light of significant – and probably continuing – changes in the relative size and strength of the different parties.

The LV-850001 has a TV tuner built-in, but for external 8k signals it will need to use all four of its HDMI 2.0 inputs at the same time.

Mr Whittingdale said the process of deciding the BBC’s future should “explore” how the corporation “fits into the contemporary broadcasting landscape and how it might be even better”.

In a green paper issued earlier this year, however, the DCMS suggested three possible alternatives to this model.

He confirmed that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is “commissioning independent research into some of the BBC’s impact on the market”.

But it was right to ask questions about the how distinctive its programming is, he added.

Mr Whittingdale also called on the BBC to make the iPlayer available outside the UK. “However no one could deny that the BBC has made some bad mistakes in the last few years”.

He said there was “a widespread view… its governance structure needs reform”.

Clementi has been tasked with coming up with proposals for a new model of governance and regulation of the pubcaster, including specific mechanisms to enable both, and proposals about the way the BBC and the bodies that govern it should engage with licence fee payers and the industry.

The report is expected to be submitted in early 2016.

The review will be carried out by Sir David Clementi, former chairman of Virgin Money and Prudential and previously a Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. “We look forward to working with Sir David Clementi”.

Via its statement, the association said: “Pact is disappointed that yet again the publicly owned broadcasters appear to have lobbied for another review of the terms of trade outside of the legitimate regular reviews required under legislation”.