The BBC has not been fit for purpose for over twenty years.
It chose not to participate in satellite or cable. The consequence of this was it missed the digital revolution which has transformed our lives. More recently, it lost £100m in a digital production project without anyone really minding. It also turned down a Facebook equivalent before we had ever heard of social networks.
True, they did see the importance of the net and its web sites did once lead the way but no longer. And the iPlayer was pure genius as was Freeview but they have missed too many opportunities to be a world leader.
Despite a more recent pruning of staff, without a bottom to top fundamental restructure, the BBC will continue to have a bloated management system. And the real problem is that the best creatives no longer reside inside the BBC.
The Trust was a fudge dreamt up by Michael Grade who persuaded Tessa Jowell, then the Secretary of State, to go with it rather than allow the BBC to come under the aegis of Ofcom. And it is still a fudge.
The Board ought really to act like a plc. It does not. It must change its role. It should set the strategic direction of the organisation, hold the executive board to account and be a critical fan. To date the two chairmen have been too close to the BBC per se. As the licence fee renewal process is just starting, the new chair will also have his/her hands full and he will also have to cope with the impact of the Scottish referendum and a general election, always the most difficult of times for it (which may result in a possible hung parliament). It does seem odd from the outside that the licence fee renewal takes up so much time and energy (the BBC’s costs alone must be well into the £millions).
The pace of change in the digital market place is frighteningly quick. Netflix (founded 1997), LOVEFiLM (2002) and Spotify (2006) have made the BBC look slow and cumbersome. It is playing catch-up whilst their viewers have adopted new and different viewing patterns though interestingly television is still the biggest delivery of home entertainment.
The key is to create as much live programming as possible as all others programme genres can just as easily be placed on the iPlayer or its equivalent so one consequence is that you do not need as many old fashion channels. One of the drivers of “live” is Sport which the BBC failed to understand. It wins international plaudits for its coverage of the Olympics and Wimbledon but it has lost its edge and many of the rights.
The BBC needs to rethink itself. It cannot go on as it is. It should shed its management staff in spades otherwise the place will sink. It should be the most creative company in the world: it is not. It needs to refocus on its core strengths – News, Current Affairs, Entertainment and Education.
Over the next five years, the commissioning side should be one third internal staff, one third staff who were employed at the BBC who, instead of being offered high-end redundancy payments, should be given the chance to create their own independent production companies (with a strand of programmes for 3 years) and one third independent production companies with turnovers off less than £5m. Those companies with over £5m turn over would be able to pitch against internal BBC staffers. This leaner BBC would give it the jolt it so badly needs.
The BBC needs to be a leader again otherwise the licence fee is unsustainable.