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24 September 2014
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Mark Thompson

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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ needs realistic funding for switchover costs says Director-General


"Realistic funding" through a new, long term licence fee settlement is essential if the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is to fulfil the Government's ambitious goal for digital switchover laid down in the new 10 year Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Charter, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Director-General Mark Thompson said today.

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"Few people outside the industry have registered the scale of task - or the scale of the money required. This is a project of great size and intricacy. The risks are formidable. If it is under resourced it will fail. It's a simple as that - and the failure will impact on many millions of households," Mr Thompson said in a speech at the Smith Institute.

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"If all that was wanted in the new Charter was a steady-state Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ with the same line up of services and the same level of quality, we could deliver that well within our current resources.

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"If you want a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ which does no more than it is currently doing, then a budget that reduces in real terms - RPI-minus - is the right settlement."

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A tough regime of productivity and cost reduction within the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ over recent years will release an additional Β£355m per year for new investment from 2008 - a total of Β£3bn over the next Charter.

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Mr Thompson said recent benchmarking and independent reports show the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is close to the "efficiency frontier" and its proposals for continuous efficiency improvements should keep it there.

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But to deliver the full mission set out by the Government the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ could only fund 70% of the costs itself though savings and efficiencies, he said.

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It needs additional net investment to fund the rest of the plans that successive reports have shown the public understands and is willing to pay for.

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He said that the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's current licence fee bid could reduce to around RPI +1.8% (from RPI +2.3%) if, among other factors, the broadcasting regulator Ofcom decided not to levy a spectrum tax on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ over the next licence settlement period.

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This would mean a licence fee of Β£149 in 2013/14 in today's prices, well below the Β£162.66 that the recent Work Foundation report commissioned by the Government says that licence payers would be wiling to pay.

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This bid would still include the wider broadcasting industry costs of switchover and building the digital transmission network for both TV and radio as well as investment in planned new digital access services through on demand and mobile.

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The bid does not include the costs of targeted help for the most vulnerable which need to be ring-fenced but that the Government have said will be paid through the licence fee.

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He added: "Historically the most powerful argument for a relatively long settlement has been a guarantor of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's independence...

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"Digital switchover will take place over the next seven years...

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"The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's mission over the next seven years is crystal clear in the White Paper. There is a powerful case for settling the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's funding for the same period."

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Mr Thompson stressed that, in the event of a low settlement, the new Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Trust would have to make some difficult decisions about what not to do, in the interests of public value and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's current Β£1bn a year investment in the UK's wider creative industries.

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He said: "We can't do everything. We can't rob existing core services to pay for switchover."

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He said that in the event of a low settlement, he would not be able to recommend to the Trust that the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ should go ahead with the transformational plan for creativity and jobs in the North based around a new broadcast centre in Salford.

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"We would have to find other, more modest ways of increasing our investment in the North."

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In terms of public value he said: "Benchmarked against most of the public sector, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ has demonstrated one of the strongest and most consistent records of delivery.

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"It is wrestling with many of the same issues as the rest of the public sector, how to reform and modernise; how to drive efficiencies and improve quality at the same time.

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"But it's still a success story in terms of delivery, public confidence and the ability to change and re-invent itself."

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Category: Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ
Date: 11.10.2006
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