Seminars
Licence Fee Seminar
Friday 5 May, 9am – 5.30pm
Seminar Information Pack and Papers
Speakers for the Seminar
Summary
DCMS held a public seminar on Friday 5 May 2006. It was chaired by Lord Burns and the debate focussed on the key issues that underlie the future level of the licence fee. The seminar took place in front of a small invited audience, which included industry experts and representatives, as well as members of the public.
We invited submissions from interested parties which formed part of the background papers. These are all published in full below.
The seminars were also webcast live. View archived webstreams of this seminar at: www.bbc.co.uk/thefuture/seminars/seminar050506.shtml
Seminar Information Pack and Papers:
Agenda PDF (30kb) - Some key issues affecting the next BBC licence fee settlement PDF (45kb)
- Background Information PDF (47kb)
Industry and Public Submissions
- Balfour, Frances; Member of the public, April 2006
Submission RTF (37kb)
- BBC; Revised Report on Affordability of the BBC's licence fee; August 2006 (please read footnote)
Submission PDF (209kb) - BBC Governors; The BBC licence fee bid: What do the public think?; An independent report by Professor Patrick Barwise; April 2006
Submission PDF (183kb)
- BBC; Summary of the BBC's licence fee settlement bid; April 2006
Submission PDF (258kb) - BSkyB; The Proposed Licence Fee Settlement; April 2006
Submission PDF (57kb) - Channel 4: Submission for the licence fee seminar; April 2006
Submission PDF (64kb) - Churches Media Council; Review of the BBC's licence fee; April 2006
Submission RTF (67kb) - Commercial Radio Companies Association; A licence to kill? The impact of the BBC licence fee settlement on commercial radio; Indepen; February 2006
Submission PDF (146kb) - Commercial Radio Companies Association: Submission to Lord Burns seminar on the BBC licence fee; April 2006
Submission PDF (48kb) - Emap Radio; Submission to Lord Burns seminar on the BBC licence fee; April 2006
Submission PDF - IPA and ISBA; Funding the BBC; An ISBA/IPA submission to DCMS; March 2006
Submission PDF (153kb) - ITN; Submission to the DCMS on the proposed licence fee settlement; April 2006
Submision PDF (54kb) - ITV; Level of the BBC licence fee from April 2007, A review of the current BBC funding and licence fee proposals; May 2006
Submission PDF (92kb) - Lincs FM; Submission to seminar on the BBC licence fee: April 2006
Submission RTF (7kb) - Satellite and Cable Broadcasters' Group (SCBG): Evidence to the 5 May 2006 Licence Fee Seminar: May 2006
Submission PDF (56kb) - Turner, JDC; Member of the public; April 2006
Submission RTF (10kb) - Voice of the Listener and Viewer; The future of the BBC; Financial and structural issues: April 2006
Submission RTF (367kb)
Background Papers
- White Paper “A public service for all: the BBC in the digital age”, DCMS, March 2006
White Paper “A public service for all: the BBC in the digital age” - Draft Royal Charter and Framework Agreement, DCMS, March 2006
Draft Royal Charter and Framework Agreement - Delivering public value: BBC Licence Fee www.bbc.co.uk/thefuture/related.shtml
- The Future funding of the BBC; Report of the Independent Review Panel; Chairman Gavyn Davies, July 1999
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/bbc_funding_review/reviewco.pdf - The Communications Market, Ofcom, 2005
www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/cm05 - BBC Charter Review Research reports
www.bbccharterreview.org.uk/research/research_home.html - BBC Charter Review Green Paper; A summary of consultation responses, Ubiqus, 2005
A summary report- an analysis of responses to DCMS Green Paper consultation PDF (306kb) - BBC Charter Review; A summary of first phase consultation responses, Ubiqus, 2004
A Summary Report - An Analysis of Responses to the DCMS Consultation PDF (322kb) - Independent Report into BBC Funding, PKF, April 2006
Review of the BBC Value for Money and Efficiency Programmes
Speakers for the Seminar
Speakers for the Seminar (Please note, there may be some additions/changes to the final panels). All sessions will be chaired by Lord Burns.
Guest Speakers and Panel Biographies PDF (132kb)
Session 1 – BBC’s Current Settlement
- Lord Burns
- Margaret Exley
- Tim Gardam
- Prof. Steven Barnett
- Maggie Brown
- Paul Brown -CRCA
- Conor Dignam
- Lord Lipsey
- Zarin Patel -BBC
- Alice Rawsthorn
- Mark Thompson -BBC
Session 2 – Industry Wide Issues: Cost Pressures and Efficiencies
- Lord Burns
- Margaret Exley
- Tim Gardam
- Mark Beilby - DRKW
- Anne Bulford -Channel 4
- John Cresswell -ITV
- Zarin Patel -BBC
- Phil Riley -Chrysalis
- Dr. Bill Robinson
- James Strachan
- Mark Thompson -BBC
- John McVay - PACT
Session 3 – Technological Development
- Lord Burns
- Margaret Exley
- Tim Gardam
- Jana Bennett - BBC
- Barry Cox
- Fru Hazlitt -Virgin Radio
- Ashley Highfield -BBC
- David King
- Mike Short -O2
- John McVay - PACT
Session 4 – BBC’s own future funding proposals
- Lord Burns
- Margaret Exley
- Tim Gardam
- Charles Allen - ITV
- Prof. Patrick Barwise
- Mike Darcey - BSkyB
- Jocelyn Hay - VLV
- Steve Hewlett
- Dame Patricia Hodgson
- Lisa Kerr - CRCA
- Ed Richards - Ofcom
- Mark Thompson - BBC
- Caroline Thomson - BBC
We have produced transcripts of each session. Every attempt has been made to accurately transcribe the debate, however, due to the acoustics of the conference room, this transcript may contain minor errors.
Transcript for Session 1 – BBC’s Current Settlement PDF (114kb) - updated 2/6/06
Transcript for Session 2 – Industry Wide Issues: Cost Pressures and Efficiencies PDF (126kb)
Transcript for Session 3 – Technological Development PDF (96kb) - updated 2/6/06
Transcript for Session 4 – BBC’s own future funding proposals PDF (124kb) - updated 2/6/06
If you have any comments or queries, please contact the Charter Review team.
Some of these documents are available online in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.
BBC; Revised report on Affordability of the BBC's licence fee; August 2006 - The analysis in Oxera's revised affordability paper incorporates the updated government forecasts of future household disposable income and expenditure, as well as updated information on outcomes in 2004/05 that were published by the ONS after the initial analysis was undertaken in Q1 2006.
These revised forecasts are more cautious than those previously available, hence taking these into account, together with the forecast growth in the number of households over the relevant period, leads to the conclusion that in aggregate the results on affordability previously reached no longer hold and that there will instead be a small adverse movement in affordability in aggregate. That worsening equates to less than £1 per year per household.
Given the importance of affordability to those in the lower income brackets, Oxera have also developed the analysis of the distributional impact of the licence fee since their previous paper. This analysis now takes into account the revised income and expenditure forecasts, as well as forecast growth in the proportion of households with a person aged 75 or over (and hence eligible not to pay the licence fee) and their concentration in the lower income deciles.
The results of that analysis, tested for robustness against each of the six forecasting techniques presented in the paper, show that licence fee growth will not have adverse effects on affordability for those for whom it matters the most - namely those in the lowest income deciles.
Last update 16 August 2006