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The future of the Â鶹Éç

What is the role of public service broadcasting in a fragmented media landscape?

The British Broadcasting Corporation is the world’s oldest and largest public service broadcaster. But as it prepares to mark its 100th birthday the organisation finds itself at a crossroads. The UK government has begun a review of the Â鶹Éç’s long term funding structure with an aim of ending its dependency on television licence fees – effectively a tax on British owners of TV sets. The broadcaster's Director General Tim Davie says services and shows will have to be cut as a result of a funding gap arising from the latest licence fee deal. There are other challenges too. Young people are consuming less Â鶹Éç content than their parents, preferring to rely on an array of different sources for their news and entertainment. So what should be the role of public service broadcasters in a world where information is curated by search engines and consumers gravitate towards streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon Prime for their entertainment?

Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of experts.
Producers: Junaid Ahmed and Paul Schuster.

Available now

49 minutes

Last on

Sat 22 Jan 2022 04:06GMT

Contributors

John Whittingdale - Conservative MP, former UK Culture Secretary

Claire Enders - Media analyst

David Elstein - Former TV executive

Emily Bell - Professor of journalism, Columbia University

Also featuring:

Alan Sunderland - Journalist and former Editorial Director for ABC Australia

Picture

Â鶹Éç New Broadcasting House at night. Credit: Getty Images

Broadcasts

  • Fri 21 Jan 2022 10:06GMT
  • Sat 22 Jan 2022 00:06GMT
  • Sat 22 Jan 2022 04:06GMT

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