How Does the Public Value the BBC?

There are different ways of assessing the value of a broadcasting organisation such as the BBC. There is the economic value of the BBC which is determined in public opinion terms by whether the licence fee represents good value for money given the extent to which members of the public use its services. There is also the value that its viewers, listeners and readers attach to its various services in terms of quality of experience that might be determined by subjective perceptions of entertainment and/or information value of its programmes. Of course, the public is confronted increasingly with a range of new broadcast services for which they must pay directly. These services offer distinctive and increasingly well-funded and high-quality entertainment and information outputs. Where use of the BBC’s services has become significantly eroded for some individuals, their willingness pay even more to fund the BBC can also weaken if their use of its services has reduced to below a critical level. Ultimately, the BBC must continue to offer ‘value of experience’ to its audiences which they believe they cannot obtain anywhere else. This objective has become a growing challenge for the BBC as its own budgets have reduced while those of some of its major rivals have substantially increased.