Union slams BBC Licence vandals
BECTU has accused a government advisory committee of vandalising the BBC after it recommends selling off BBC Resources Ltd and nearly half of BBC Worldwide.
The recommendations are contained in the report produced by the Gavyn Davies committee which was set up to review the future of the BBC licence fee after 2002. It proposes that the Corporation's expansion into digital broadcasting should be funded by privatisation of selected BBC departments, and an extra licence fee of £24 per year from April 2000 for households with digital TV equipment.
BECTU has said that the fund-raising plan is a risky and short-term fix to the BBC's financial problems, and believes that the Corporation will end up losing money in the longer term.
Privatisation of Resources Limited, the section of the BBC which runs most of the Corporation's television production facilities, will, says the union, create a sellers' market for studios, edit facilities and outside broadcast units, which will inevitably increase the cost of programme-making.
In response to industrial action by BECTU members last year, promises were made by several BBC executives that Resources Limited would not be privatised in the future. The union will be calling on those who made the pledge of no privatisation, including Chairman of the BBC Governors Christopher Bland, to stand by their promises.
Poor trading performance by BBC Resources Limited, which registered a £5million loss in its first eight months of business, have raised fears that any sell-off would be at a rock-bottom fire-sale price, with some unprofitable areas being closed down completely
BBC Worldwide, which contributes over £50million per year to the BBC's income, is also proposed for privatisation, with the Corporation retaining a controlling 51% stake. The union believes that this plan will simply transfer a large proportion of income earned from the BBC's long-established archive of programmes to private profiteers who have invested nothing in creating the archive.
It is understood that Davies Committee members were not unanimous in approving the privatisation recommendations covering BBC Resources and Worldwide.
BECTU is planning a campaign throughout the summer against the privatisation proposals contained in the Davies report, which will culminate in lobbying activity during the political party conference season in October.
Culture Minister Chris Smith, who last year promised that Resources Limited would not be sold off without discussions involving the BBC's unions, has opened a three-month period of consultation on the Davies report. Comments should be sent to:
Andrew Calnan
Broadcasting Policy Division
Department of Culture Media and Sport
2-4 Cockspur Street
London
SW1Y 5DH
United Kingdom
email [email protected]
To be received by 31 October 1999
Text of press release issued by BECTU 5 August 1999
Davies Committee is vandalising the BBC
Broadcasting union BECTU has accused the Davies Committee of vandalising the BBC, in its first formal reaction to the committee's recommendation to sell off BBC Resources Ltd and 49% of BBC Worldwide.
The union believes the committee has produced a package that delivers short-term gains for the BBC at the price of long-term losses and the end of public service broadcasting in Britain.
BECTU Assistant General Secretary Gerry Morrissey said: "When Resources Ltd was created last year we were given written assurances by Sir Christopher Bland and Secretary of State Chris Smith that this was not a prelude to privatisation. Exactly one year later more than 4,000 people are set to lose their jobs if the Labour Government approves this recommendation."
The Davies Committee was asked to look at ways of funding the BBC in the future, but under pressure from the Treasury it has instead dealt with how to speed up the digital revolution.
Gerry Morrissey continued: "When the majority of UK households have digital TV and analogue is switched off, the government stands to make billions in revenue from leasing the freed-up analogue frequencies. But rather than acting in the country's long term interest and funding properly the transition to digital - encouraging fast take-up by giving the BBC the resources to make quality programmes for a free third channel. Its resulting proposals to fund digital by selling off Resources will destroy 70 years of work that made the BBC's programmes what they are today. This is nothing less than vandalism."
Privatising Resources will destroy the BBC's programme making capacity. After privatisation, the few remaining producers and managers would have to compete with other companies to hire in casual labour to crew productions. At times of national events and crises, the corporation could be left without the crews to supply the quality and level of coverage the nation expects. And the union argues that in a seller's market with the best technicians in decreasing supply, the cost to the BBC will increase substantially, resulting in a further squeeze on programme budgets or a deterioration in programme quality.
Morrissey added: "Public service broadcasting is what makes the BBC different from the commercial broadcasters. It has a wider role to play in the UK's life and in the country's broadcasting industry. The BBC has been the training ground that made the UK the world's highest quality programme making nation. If the corporation ends its recruitment and training of tomorrow's technicians, no-one will fill that void. In the long run, the Davies Committee's means of funding digital television will become the reason why digital fails."
BECTU has also attacked the plans to sell BBC Worldwide, which contributes over £50-million a year to the BBC's budget. Morrissey asks: "Why sell off 49% of a body that is a net revenue earner for the BBC? After the one-off payment disappears, the BBC will have lost a long-term revenue earner. This is another case of short-termism."
BECTU, hitherto one of most loyal unions to the Labour Government, is planning an all-out campaign against the sell-off which is almost certain to put it in direct confrontation with Downing Street.
ENDS
Issued by BECTU Press office.
Further information: Luke Crawley on 0171 437 8506, Gerry Morrissey on 0171 437 8506 or 0850 317 866 (Mobile).