UNDER the White Paper -- The Future of the BBC: Serving the Nation,
Competing Worldwide -- the Government proposes that:
* The licence fee should be the main source of finance until 2001 --
there must be a review by then.
* A new Royal Charter and Agreement should provide the framework for
its activities for 10 years from January 1, 1997.
* Clear objectives for each of its radio and television services
should be published and audiences consulted on changes.
* The Broadcasting Complaints Commission and Broadcasting Standards
Council should be merged.
* The BBC should develop its commercial activities at home and abroad,
expand programme sales and develop international TV services with
private sector partners.
* Its commercial activities should be distinct from its public
services and not subsidised by the licence fee.
* The BBC's governors should maintain contact with audiences and
approve objectives as well as measure success.
* World Service Radio should continue to be financed by the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office's grant-in-aid.
* The BBC will continue to be editorially independent.
* It will publish a statement of promises to its audiences and provide
information so they can see if these have been kept.
* It should reflect the culture of the whole of Britain and more
programmes must be made in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the
English regions.
* The Government and the BBC are to explore options for injecting
private finance into the BBC's transmission service, taking account of
its interests in digital broadcasting services -- privatisation is one
option.
THE BBC now has financial security, with licence fee funding confirmed
for the next seven years. The fee -- a colour TV licence costs #84.50 --
brings in about #1.6 billion a year, and currently is linked to
inflation until the BBC's Royal Charter expires in 1996.
The White Paper dismissed other ways of raising the money.
Paying from tax would mean an extra penny in the pound on the standard
rate of income tax or 0.5% on VAT. A levy on the sale or rental of TV
sets and videos would be a burden for businesses.
However, in the long term, it said it might be possible to transfer
some or all of the BBC's services to a subscription system.
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It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
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We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
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