An appearance by Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, before members of the influential all-party Select Committee on Culture, Media & Sport, saw parliamentarians told that a new set of rules and guidelines were to be established for BBC Worldwide, the so-called commercial arm of the BBC.
BBC Worldwide last year had revenues of £919m ($1.4bn at current rates,
but nearer $2bn measured in 2007-8 values). Sir Michael told MPs that
the BBC Trust had heard the “chorus of complaints” from the commercial
sector about the reach of BBC Worldwide. “The trust has already decided
that we need to tighten both the mission and the guidelines around BBC
Worldwide,” Sir MIchael said. “It is now an appropriate time to review
the boundaries and we are of the view that they need to be modestly
contained and the detail of that we will make public once we have
finished our inquiries.”
BBC Worldwide made a “profit” of just £117m on its £900m revenue.
There has been considerable criticism from the UK independent
production sector that Worldwide exploits the BBC’s powerful position
in UK broadcasting. Last year it bought the ‘Lonely Planet’ guidebook
operation, a venture wholly unrelated to television.
Sir Michael said the Trust acknowledged the concern of critics and had
mounted an internal study into the matters. He said: “I can assure you
they are going to be tested. I don’t think you are going to be
disappointed with the conclusions.”
An appearance by Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, before members of the influential all-party Select Committee on Culture, Media & Sport, saw parliamentarians told that a new set of rules and guidelines were to be established for BBC Worldwide, the so-called commercial arm of the BBC.