Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said the BBC is bullish about moving to a fully digital future but lacks a plan for delivering the services it envisages.
The committee has published a report on the outlook, highlighting that the BBC is held back by regulatory and financial uncertainties, with a projected funding gap of nearly £400 million a year by 2027-28.
It comes after the broadcaster announced in May 2022 that it would be taking a ‘digital first’ approach, focusing resources towards content that appeals to audiences who choose to view it both live and online with a range of devices.
The PAC said it is not convinced the corporation currently knows the detail of the resources needed to achieve the relevant plans, or whether the £500 million per year it intends to invest by 2025 will be sufficient in planning for an ‘internet only’ future.
This requires the development of clear financial plans, including which services will close and what happens if savings elsewhere are not enough for planned investments in digital, the report says.
There is also a need to overcome challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled staff, with the corporation currently having a 23% turnover in its digital section.
Personalisation priority
Among the priorities identified in the report are that the BBC needs to develop a personalisation strategy consistent with its public service obligations, and in parallel develop data security policies that are fit for purpose as it gathers more personal data.
It will also have to be careful not to move too quickly towards digital only, with a danger of leaving behind people with poor access to digital services. Maintaining universal service will depend on sufficient broadband coverage across the UK, and the BBC is urged to work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which is responsible for broadband roll out.
Along with the warnings, the report says the BBC’s key digital products are performing well compared with rivals, highlighting that it spend only £98 million in the area in 2021-22 compared with £1.7 billion by Netflix.
Difficult balance
Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the PAC, said: "The BBC has a careful and difficult balance to strike here - it has committed to an internet only future by the 2030s but knows it is essential that there are ways for people, especially children and others who cannot or do not easily access the internet, to access its services. Licence fee payers must be able to keep our options open.
“The BBC is being held back in a yesteryear of TV and radio by uncertainty over funding and regulation, and by the DCMS’s constant delays and downscaling of national fast broadband roll out plans. The BBC fulfils an essential public service function – it must have the planning, resources and wider infrastructure support to do so.”
The PAC perspective comes months after the National Audit Office published a report painting a mixed picture of the BBC’s digital progress, also emphasising the funding problems and difficulties in recruiting and retaining skilled staff.
