With National politics dominating the news agenda this month the BBC has been out of the headlines. But that doesn’t mean it’s been all quiet at the Corporation.
Licence Fee
News that the licence fee is increasing to £180 from the beginning of April almost slid under the radar. The increase was expected. It’ll go up in line with inflation until 2027 but who knows what may happen after that.
The BBC itself reported on the ongoing consultation over the Government’s Green Paper ahead of the next Royal Charter. A debate over what should happen next is ongoing.
The Times speculated that radio users might be asked to pay a subscription to listen to certain content. The introduction of iPlayer and BBC Sounds could make it easier to monitor who is watching and listening.
The Times also reported that according to Ofcom, YouTube has become the second most watched video service in the UK – behind the BBC but ahead of ITV.
Creative Industries minister Ian Murray was quoted as saying the BBC and Channel 4 could be allowed to merge in order to take on the global streaming services such as Netflix. People with long memories will recall that the UK terrestrial broadcasters proposed such a system many years ago but the project was shot down by regulators. Now the position has changed with increasing numbers of mainly American companies entering the crowded streaming market. The minister said regulators would be likely to take a different view today.
Meanwhile Comcast who own Sky is in talks to buy ITV’s broadcasting business for around £2 billion. That would include the streaming service ITVX which would come under the control of the US company which also owns Universal Studios.
Radio
If TV is going through turbulent times, radio would appear to be in rude health. The latest Rajar figures reveal that fifty million adults are tuning into radio each week.
Commercial radio increased its share of listening to 55 per cent compared with 42 per cent for the BBC. Overall radio continues to reach 86 per cent of the UK population with many listening online. Nearly nineteen per cent of us listen on smart speakers.
If commercial radio had a good quarter, the BBC continues to lead overall listening with Radio Two remaining the UK’s most listened to station.
BBC Sounds recorded its strongest charter to date with more than 700 million plays across radio, podcasts and music mixes.
Scott Mills remains the UK’s most listened to Breakfast Show having increased his audience to 6.5 million a week. Vernon Kay continues to be the most listened show on UK radio with 6.7 million listeners.
