About Ofcom and the BBC

A word or two about Ofcom, the UK government's TV regulator, and its ongoing battle with the BBC. Ofcom (or the Office of Communications) is basically Britain's version of the FCC. However, Although Ofcom's designed to be an overall regulator of all British broadcasting, replacing five different regulatory agencies, it was not given ultimate authority over the BBC when it was formed. This is something it would very much like to rectify.

As I mentioned in mediaville, Ofcom currently is locked in a battle with the BBC over ultimate control of the public corporation. According to Media Guardian, Ofcom has challenged reform proposals set in a government green paper on the BBC's royal charter, published last week. Ofcom argues that the proposal to maintain an independent BBC board - called the "BBC Trust", replacing the old Board of Governors - is not radical enough.

Instead, Ofcom would prefer to see the creation of a new, independent body (doubtless under its own oversight) that will also give other UK broadcasters a slice of the BBC license fee pie. At one point, culture secretary Tessa Jowell, seemed inclined to agree, though she has apparently backed off. The green paper (government jargon for a "a tentative government report of a proposal without any commitment to action; the first step in changing the law [prior to] the production of a white paper") seems to keep BBC reforms to a minimum.

Back in March, when Jowell announced the continuation of the license fee, a new BBC Trust, and a new 10-year charter, she said that the BBC was "as much a part of British life as the NHS" and should retain its independence from the government. But worryingly, she also said that, "like the NHS it faces the need to change so that it can be as effective in the future as it has been in the past." She also "recommended that its funding should be reviewed within the next charter period," and this is the opening that Ofcom apparently seeks to exploit.