September 10, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

AuntieÕs £300 million digital wish list

LONDON, September 10, Graphic News: The BBC is expected to get the green light for its digital expansion into the 21st century. But pay-TV rivals claim that the 78-year-old broadcaster, fondly referred to by Brits as ÒAuntieÓ or Òthe Beeb,Ó is plotting to invade territory already occupied by the commercial sector.

The announcement by Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport -- which will take centre-stage at the biennial Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge on September 13 -- will unveil four new digital TV channels and five new radio stations, costing £300 million ($435 million) over two years.

In addition to the existing six TV channels -- BBC1, BBC2, BBC News 24, BBC World, BBC Choice and BBC Knowledge -- the new BBC3, BBC4, Playbox and Children 2 are intended to boost digital take-up.

At their core is the relaunch of BBC Choice as BBC3, described as a racy evening channel aimed at young adults, i.e. the under 35s. It will feature hourly Òliquid newsÓ lasting one minute; drama, comedy, multi-cultural and gay-issue programmes, as well as education and society programmes. Around 80 percent of the programming will be new content. It has a budget of £57 million ($83 million) in the first year rising to £95 million ($138 million) in 2002-03.

BBC4, which will be a relaunch of BBC Knowledge, is a Òforum for intellectual debate,Ó covering arts, sciences, history and philosophy. The evening channel, which is aimed at the over 35s, will feature foreign-language films and performance-based programmes from concerts such as the Proms, dance, theatre, jazz venues and other arts festivals, as well as half-hour nightly global news slots. BBC4 has an initial 2001-02 budget of $26 million ($38 million), rising to £31 million ($45 million) the following year. It will make around 70 percent of its output as original productions.

Playbox and Children 2 will broadcast in the daytime only and are aimed at pre-school children and Òpre-teensÓ respectively. The £10-million ($14.5 million) per year Playbox will offer Teletubbies, Tweenies and Bill and Ben, while the £31-million ($45 million) per year Children 2 will show Newsround, Blue Peter and internet-based shows.

The five new radio stations are in addition to the existing stations, Radios 1 to 5 and the World Service. They will include Network X, contemporary music aimed at a young black audience; Network Y, a popular music station; Network Z, an adult and childrenÕs speech service supplying comedy, drama, features and readings from literature; The Asian Network, and BBC Five Live Sport Plus, which will broadcast sports programming that currently doesnÕt have air space. The radio stations will cost between £2 million ($3 million) and £5 million ($7.3 million) each per year -- much less than Radio 3, the BeebÕs most high-brow and least-listened-to station, which costs £54 million ($78 million) a year.

The BBC -- which employed 23,640 people at the end of 2000 -- also broadcasts BBC America (a U.S. cable channel) as well as BBC Online, its free internet site which costs around £52 million ($75 million) a year.

The commercial opposition is mounting a last-ditch effort and threatening to take legal action to halt AuntieÕs plans. Rupert MurdochÕs BSkyB, Disney, MTV Europe, Nickelodeon and Artsworld are bitterly opposed to the plans. They argue that the BBC is using its £2.37 billion ($3.4 billion) annual licence fee and £181.8 million ($263.6 million) government grant-in-aid to replicate pay-TV services and try to steal their viewers.
/ENDS
Sources: BBC, Economist, Hoover's Company Profiles, Reuters