A total of 12 conditions have been attached in giving approval to BBC3 – a new digital channel aimed at the 25 to 34-year old market which will replace BBC Choice.
The conditions set include commitments to:
- Innovative and risk-taking programmes – 80% of the service's output must consist of programmes specially commissioned for BBC3 and genuinely new to television. These programmes will develop untried talent on or off-screen. Programmes acquired by BBC3 will concentrate on bringing new material and talent to the screen and not on competing for well-established programmes.
- Diverse and accessible programming – BBC3 must deliver a mixed schedule of programmes, embracing drama, entertainment, news, current affairs, education, music, the arts, science and including coverage of international issues. The normal evening on BBC3, including peak viewing hours, will reflect a mixed schedule throughout the year.
- Use and foster home-grown talent – for example, 90% of output must be allocated to programmes made in the EU/EEA, for first showing in the UK.
- Use and foster the independent sector – 25% of the service's output must be commissioned from the independent sector.
- High standards – the quality of programmes on BBC3 must be of a high quality and must not be at the expense of programmes for the same audience on BBC1 and BBC2.
- A review of the service after two years – this will ensure the BBC is meeting the conditions set out in granting approval. The review will include an independent assessment, which will look at the impact of BBC3 on the broadcasting market, and a public consultation. Its conclusions will contribute to the wider Charter review process.
Announcing the agreement, Tessa Jowell said:
"The BBC has now made the case for BBC3. It has been a long, sometimes arduous process, but the negotiations have led to the toughest set of conditions ever issued in giving the green light to a TV channel.
"I am determined BBC3 should be a distinctive public service channel that is not competing with what is already out there in a vigorous market place. The channel will be reviewed after two years to ensure this is the case.
"I believe the revised format will see BBC3 emerge as a real powerhouse for new talent, within which the independent sector will have a strong voice. It will bring genuine public service broadcasting to a younger audience – offering them high quality drama, news and current affairs. It will be a first for British broadcasting.
"The channel will be diverse but accessible. It is not enough to just broadcast a wide range of high quality programmes. Our conditions mean these programmes will be accessible to their audience during peak viewing hours.
"This is a something for something deal. The BBC gets the go ahead for BBC3 and in return viewers get a new channel which is genuinely distinctive, genuinely public service and genuinely innovative."
An earlier proposal for BBC3 was rejected in September 2001. Tessa Jowell said at the time that the BBC had not made the case for BBC3 – the proposals were not distinctive enough. She offered the BBC the opportunity to put forward fresh proposals for a replacement for BBC Choice. She referred the BBC's second proposal for BBC3 to the Independent Television Commission for an assessment of its commercial impact.
Notes to Editors
1 A copy of the letter to the Chairman of the BBC and the conditions in full are attached to this press release.
2 In March the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport asked the Independent Television Commission to carry out an assessment of the market impact of BBC3.
3 The BBC has applied for the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport's approval under the Agreement that covers the need for the BBC to have the Secretary of State's agreement to vary the number or geographical coverage of its national television and radio services. The services that the BBC can operate are described in the BBC's Charter.
4 The system of approval being used in this case is based on guidelines published in January 2001 following the recommendations made in the review of the licence fee. It recommended greater transparency in relation to the BBC's processes.
5 The guidelines can be summarised thus:
- That the proposed new service is compatible with the BBC's primary public service role and furthers all or any of the public purposes set out in the Charter and Agreement.
- That the value of the public service is proportionate to the likely impact on the market.
- That the service will be universally accessible within a reasonable period of time to those with appropriate receivers and free at the point of use.
- That the Board of Governors is satisfied the service represents value for money for licence payers.
BBC3
SCHEDULE OF CONDITIONS
In this schedule references to the 'information from the BBC' means the letter of 3 December 2001 from Caroline Thomson to Andrew Ramsay, together with all information provided by the BBC in support of its application for approval of the new digital television service to be known as BBC3.
The Secretary of State's approval of BBC3 is on the basis of the requirements set out below. The purpose of the conditions is to reflect the BBC's intentions and set out the scope of the service within which the Corporation will be able to deliver and sustain a channel which is distinctively public service.
The BBC must observe the conditions in good faith, in accordance with their spirit. For the avoidance of doubt, where, for whatever reason, the service as delivered fails to comply with the spirit of the conditions, that will be taken, where appropriate, into account (together with any other relevant consideration), in deciding whether the Secretary of State should exercise, after consultation with the Corporation, any of the freestanding powers conferred by paragraph 16.2 of the Agreement in relation to the approval of the service.
Similarly, where anything contained in the information from the BBC has not been expressly incorporated in a condition, it should not be assumed that it has not been taken into account in the decision, or that any deviation from it would not be regarded as having the potential to be relevant to any decision which the Secretary of State
may consider taking under paragraph 16.2 of the Agreement.
1. High general standards in all respects (and in particular in respect of content, quality and editorial integrity) will be maintained in relation to the service.
2. The BBC will deliver the format as proposed for the service and meet all the commitments set out in the information from the BBC. The fact that some aspects of the format and commitments to which the Secretary of State attaches particular importance form the subject of express conditions does not prejudice the more general effect of this condition in relation to the service. In reaching her decision, the Secretary of State has relied upon the BBC's commitments to particular levels of expenditure on independent productions, regional production and EU/EEA programming.
3. Within its defined scope the service shall stimulate, support and reflect the diversity of the UK.
4. Consideration will be given to promoting the understanding and enjoyment of the service by viewers with sensory impairments; and the BBC Governors will monitor the levels of subtitling, signing and audio description provided on each new service, and apply to those levels from time to time the same targets which they apply from time to time to existing BBC digital channels.
5. The BBC will maintain a vigorous campaign across the full range of its services to promote the uptake of digital television and radio services and equipment generally, and across all platforms.
6. The service must deliver a mixed schedule of programmes embracing drama, entertainment, news, current affairs, education, music, the arts, science and including coverage of international issues. The specific content commitments should be as set out in the information provided by the BBC, including the BBC's further commitment to other factual programming including 15 hours covering science, religion/ethics and business. The normal evening on BBC3, including peak viewing hours, will reflect a mixed schedule throughout the year.
7. The specific commitments referred to in paragraph 6 must not be met at the expense of programmes on BBC1 and 2 catering for the 25-34 age group and new programmes made for BBC3 must also be made available to enhance the provision of programming which will appeal to young adults on BBC1 and 2.
8. (A) 25% of the service's output in terms of qualifying hours must be commissioned from the independent sector, with no reduction in the contribution made by other BBC channels to the BBC's overall 25% independent production quota; (B) The Secretary of State also welcomes the BBC's commitment to spend at least one quarter of the BBC3 programme budget on independent productions.
9. 90% of programme hours for the service, must be allocated to programmes made in the EU/EEA, for first showing in the UK. The Secretary of State also welcomes the BBC's commitments that such programmes will account for around 90% of BBC3's expenditure on programmes and that, as part of the BBC's commitment to regional production, 33% of BBC3's eligible budget will be produced from outside the M25 from 2004-5, with reasonable progress made towards that target in the preceding years.
10. Programming must be of a consistently innovative and risk-taking character. 80% of the service's output in terms of hours must consist of programmes specially commissioned for BBC3 and genuinely new to television. These programmes will develop untried talent on or off-screen. Equally, acquired programmes will concentrate on bringing new material and talent to the screen and not on competing for well established programmes. The Secretary of State welcomes the BBC's commitment that the normal evening on BBC3 will, across the schedule, reflect these objectives.
11. The BBC Governors will monitor the implementation of the service and report each year in their annual report on its delivery in line with the BBC's commitments and the conditions set.
12. The Secretary of State will review the service after two years for the purpose of satisfying herself that the BBC is acting in accordance with the facts and assurances on the basis of which the approval was given and these conditions have been complied with. The review will include an independent assessment, encompassing an assessment of the service's impact on the broadcasting market, and a public consultation. Its conclusions will contribute to the wider Charter review process.
02/03921/mk
Gavyn Davies
Chairman
British Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcasting House
Portland Place
London
SW1A 1AA September 2002
Dear Gavyn Davies
BBC3
I am writing to give you my decision on the BBC's application for approval of its proposed new digital television service for young adults, to be known as BBC3. I am approving the service, subject to the conditions referred to below and set out in the enclosed schedule.
I have considered the proposal very carefully in accordance with the Department's published guidelines, undertaking a full consultation process and examining the potential effects of an approval from the point of view of both the licence fee-payer and the broadcasting industry. I have also had the benefit of the Independent Television Commission's detailed assessment of the likely impact of the service on the commercial television market.
As you know, I rejected the Corporation's previous application for approval of BBC3 because I was unconvinced that the proposed service as it then stood would be genuinely distinctive in an already crowded market. Nonetheless I do fully understand and share the concern that the public service broadcasting sector should connect effectively with younger adults. I therefore welcome the further work which the BBC has done to refocus the proposal and enhance the programme content, particularly in respect of news, current affairs, education, music and the arts. I am encouraged too by the increased emphasis on innovative programming and the firm commitments to independent and regionally-based production. These changes have put BBC3 well on the way to becoming the distinctive proposition that I want to see.
Nonetheless I remain conscious that, with a proposed annual programme budget of £97 million, BBC3 will be a very richly endowed channel. I therefore regard it as essential that resources on this scale are used to create a public service product of the very highest quality.
Accordingly, I am approving BBC3 subject to a number of specific conditions designed to enhance still further the distinctiveness of the service and its public service commitment and to meet some of the concerns raised during the consultation process. The conditions are set out in the enclosed schedule.
As the conditions make clear, I am looking to the Governors to monitor the implementation of the service and report annually on its delivery in line with both the BBC's commitments and the conditions I have set. I myself will want to review the service in 2004 - in other words, at the same time as the review of the new digital services which I approved last year- to establish that the Corporation is acting in accordance with the facts and assurances on the basis of which I have given approval and that the conditions have been satisfied. The outcome of that review will feed into the wider process of Charter review which will by then be underway.
TESSA JOWELL
