Government orders BBC Online shake up

The BBC has just four months to “redefine” its online remit, the government ordered today following the publication of a review into its online services. The independent review by Philip Graf, commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, acknowledged the level of public affection for BBC Online. But Graf said some BBC sites such as fantasy football, games sites and “what’s on” listings “were not sufficiently distinctive from commercial alternatives, or were inadequately associated with public service purposes to be justified by the remit”. Graf recommended that two governors, one with new media expertise and the other with competition law expertise, should be appointed to “reinforce” the current regulation of the Beeb’s online services. The BBC should also take a “precautionary approach” to online investment, the report said, meaning that a project should not go ahead if there is a “close call” between the costs of a service and its public benefits. At least 25 per cent of non-news content should be supplied by external or independent suppliers by 2006, and that BBC Online prioritises news, current affairs, education and information. Culture secretary Tessa Jowell gave the BBC’s board of governors until the end of October to redefine its purposes. The BBC welcomed the report saying that Graf “is generally positive about the distinctiveness of its content and its impact on commercial competitors”. It agreed about Graf’s recommended changes to the BBC’s governance, saying it had already announced a new Governance Unit to work separately from the BBC to provide independent advice across all the BBC’s services. The BBC said some sites have been charged with becoming more distinctive, such as Films, some have recently been re-launched with slimmer areas of content, such as Lifestyle, and some are to be closed including Fantasy Football; the central What's On events listings; the Surfing portal; the Games portal; and Pure Soap.