Advanced Television

Sky “BBC review just cosmetic”

May 28, 2010

In its public response to the BBC Trust's consultation on the BBC Strategic Review, BSkyB has accused the Trust of abdicating its responsibility by letting the BBC executive lead the review. It says the changes they have signalled are 'cosmetic' and 'tinkering'.

Sky said that the corporation’s cost cutting proposals are “arbitrary in nature, designed to attract attention to small changes while disguising the reality of maintaining the status quo”.

“The [BBC] executive’s proposals appear tactical and cosmetic. They tinker around the edges of the BBC’s activities, giving the impression of change while avoiding the fundamental questions over the BBC’s future strategic direction.”

BSkyB added that an examination of the proposals shows that the BBC’s own review “does not address in any meaningful way how the BBC should be making hard choices and prioritising its resources”. It said it was ironic that the BBC proposes to close 6Music, despite the fact it reaches a niche audience not well served by commercial rivals, because if it grew then its market impact would increase, while the reality is the corporation “pays no attention to the actual market impact caused by its major services”.

Sky claimed the plan to free up £600 million (E709m) a year to reinvest in content by cutting back on BBC activity in certain areas, without making any “significant” changes to output on its main networks, demonstrates how much money the BBC has to play with and how inefficient it has become”.

Categories: Articles