BSkyB, the London-based multinational European broadcaster, in Italy. Credit: Luca Bruno / AP/ Press Association Images
One of the great marvels of the government’s green paper on BBC Charter Review was its emphasis on ‘scale and scope’ and the resulting idea that the BBC is the single great behemoth of the UK media landscape. It invited comments about the extent to which ‘the public would be better served by a more focused range of BBC services’ and echoed the argument that ‘the level of public funding gives the BBC an unfair advantage and distorts audience share in a way that undermines commercial business models.’
Of course it is entirely appropriate that our attention is firmly focused on an institution that plays such a crucial role in British public life, though we should be far more concerned about its performance than its size. Indeed, if the main issue is about size, regulators should be more worried about BskyB, whose revenues far outstrip those of the BBC and whose income is set to grow over the next few years. Enders Analysis estimate that by 2026, subscription revenue will account for 44 per cent of the TV market in contrast to a mere 12 per cent taken up by funds available for the BBC.
