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The report is called Building Public Value. It lays out
a nine point manifesto and actions for how the BBC can take a lead
in building a fully digital Britain. The aim is to ensure that no
one is excluded from the second stage of the digital revolution.
While building platforms and better access to more affordable digital
technologies is a first step to a fully digital Britain, the second
is about opening up the creative potential and public, as well as
private, value.
Innovations like access to the BBC's Creative Archive and the Digital
Curriculum - due to launch in 2006 - are already underway. However
pilots such as BBC News' iCan, which enables active participation
in civic life, and Media Player (iMP) which, like the enormously
successful Radio Player, allows people to download any TV programme
within seven days of transmission, give audiences more freedom from
schedules than ever before.
BBC DG Mark Thompson added, "An economist might conclude that
the BBC has an important role in preventing various kinds of market
failure in the new digital world. Our vision is far bolder. We look
forward to a future where the public have access to a treasure house
of digital content; a store of value which spans media and platforms,
develops and grows over time, which the public own and can freely
use in perpetuity."
Thompson also said that the beeb was hoping to achieve switchover
from analogue by 2012. The most urgent priority for the BBC in the
future is not further expansion, but completing the challenge of
creating a fully digital Britain. That is what will enable the BBC
to deliver its vision of universality the report stated.
Thompson however went on to say "We can help build an infrastructure
but digital Britain will only come to life if it also becomes a
creative space in which the best ideas and the best talent can meet
audiences who are hungry for originality and quality.
"In the end, the future will not be about pathways and platforms
but about content. Universally available, outstanding, distinctive
content has always been and remains the point of the BBC."
Three reviews are currently underway. One is looking into the BBC's
production base and commissioning needs, including a level playing
field and a fairer deal for independents. Another is examining the
BBC's commercial services and a third is focussing on general efficiencies.
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