What Future for the BBC?

According to Nadine Dorries, when she was Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the BBC was a ‘global success story’ even in an ever-changing media ecology. Nevertheless, the time may have arrived for its funding model to be reviewed along with its future role within the British public service broadcasting system. TV streaming services had changed British audiences’ viewing and listening habits. The rising popularity of ‘on-demand’ services also indicated a shift in public mindset towards paying for their broadcasting services. Coupled with this change, younger generations of media consumers demonstrated a different orientation towards the BBC from their older counterparts. The BBC still had personal value for many British people and wider cultural value both at home and globally. These aspects of its value largely existed because of the nature of its funding which had protected its programme-making ethos and enabled it to make programmes wealthier commercial enterprises eschewed. British audiences indicated in different research studies that they were satisfied with programme standards on the BBC and with the diversity of its provision. A few sub-groups disagreed and wanted greater provision for their own communities. The BBC was especially valued for the quality and impartiality of its news reporting. Sounding a more negative note, however, its senior management had demonstrated shortcomings on a number of high-profile occasions in handling crisis events and called into question the efficacy of the BBC’s corporate and management culture. Audiences were turning to newer forms of ‘non-linear’ viewing with growing enthusiasm, especially younger audiences, but the BBC’s content still had traction in this setting both with its iPlayer service being widely used and the presence of BBC productions on global TV streaming services. The reality of the contemporary media marketplace was that the BBC was frequently outgunned in terms of its available production budgets in big genres such as drama. As streaming services also embraced news and sport more often, it could face significant competition for audiences even in those spheres in which it had previously excelled. As people were faced with making decisions between multiple subscription services, they were also likely to become more sensitive about any financial outlays for their audio-visual services. In this context, to retain the British public’s support and patronage, it would need to demonstrate its continued relevance and achieve this across different audience sub-groups to have any hope of retaining public funding.