The Great British Bake Off wins Best Feature at the BAFTAS. Ian West PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.One of the most significant differences between the recently published draft BBC Charter and the current one is a new requirement for the BBC to be “distinctive”. The most recent development in the Bake Off story served up by Damian Collins MP, Acting Chair of the Select Committee for Culture Media and Sport, is a timely reminder that this “distinctiveness” requirement has the potential for long-term damage to the BBC.
According to The Times Collins has warned that if the BBC should choose to retaliate to the loss of its biggest hit show by scheduling a new cookery series against the refried Channel 4 version, Ofcom might have to investigate. Then, he suggested: “I think it would be fair to say that it wouldn’t be a distinctive programme.”
Under the new Charter it’s proposed that all BBC programming and services on TV, radio and online must be “substantially different” from those available from “other providers…both in prime time and overall”. This is new. Search the current BBC Charter for the word” distinctive” and you will draw a blank. Distinctive is set out in terms of” “the mix of different genres, programmes and content; quality; proportion of original UK output; level of risk-taking, innovation, challenge and creative ambition; and the range of audiences it serves.”
