Poll: Public support for BBC range of services
November 16, 2015
Independent research has shown that the vast majority of people agree that the range of services the BBC provides for the licence fee is either about right or it should provide more, according to findings published by the BBC Trust in further evidence as part of Charter review.
In the Trust’s public consultation with almost 40,000 people, half of people surveyed said the range of services and programmes was either about right while a quarter said the BBC should provide more. Only a fifth said the BBC should provide less.
In audience research conducted by ICM, 37 per cent of people surveyed said that the range of services provided by the BBC was about right while 56 per cent said that they would like the BBC to provide even more. Only 7 per cent thought the BBC should provide less.
There was also support for universality of the BBC in the research and consultation; 58 per cent of the public said that the BBC should provide something for everyone who pays the licence fee, with only 8 per cent disagreeing; and 53 per cent of those who took part in the public consultation agree, with only 14 per cent disagreeing.
The public consultation also found that audiences strongly feel that the BBC must represent everyone and all groups across the UK, with this seen as an important distinction that sets the BBC apart from commercial broadcasters.
Nine in ten people in the public consultation also agreed that it was important that the BBC was impartial, independent and provided high quality programmes and high editorial standards.
There is public support for the BBC’s mission of inform, educate, entertain, with these words the most commonly chosen by the public in the audience research to describe what the BBC should do, and 85 per cent of people in the research agreeing that this should continue to be the BBC’s mission.
BBC Trust Chairman Rona Fairhead said: “Our evidence gathered from thousands of people across the UK is that they like what the BBC provides now, and they want this to continue, with high quality programmes that offer something for everyone. There is very little public appetite for any radical change to the scope of the BBC.”