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BBC chairman, Michael Grade, said, "This is a strong endorsement
of the BBC as the cornerstone of public service broadcasting in
the UK now, and through digital switchover. On behalf of the Board
of Governors, I accept the Government's conclusions for future governance
of the corporation. It is regrettable that our own reforms have
not had time to prove themselves. But it is important that the issue
has now been settled ahead of the new Charter, providing the BBC
with the necessary certainty and stability."
Grade pointed out that in the BBC's Building Public Value
(BPV) manifesto, published last year the broadcaster had set out
a series of radical steps to modernise BBC governance. This had
included the creation of an independent Governance Unit, the introduction
of service licences and a stringent public value test.
"These are being implemented in full and are already having
the desired effect.
For the first time in the BBC's history, there is now a clear distinction
and appropriate separation between governance and management, and
a greater emphasis on objective, evidence-based scrutiny of BBC
activities. I recognise that our changes have been essentially more
behavioural than structural. We had hoped that these crucial reforms
would be allowed time to prove their worth. However, we recognise
that the consensus in the public debate has been to move beyond
behavioural changes and to buttress them with a new structure."
BBC DG Mark Thompson said, "The Green Paper endorses the ambitious
public purposes we set out in Building Public Value, adding for
the first time an explicit purpose for the BBC to lead the building
of digital Britain. A 10 year Charter and secure funding for the
BBC will give us the right foundation on which to take on these
challenges.
"Audience expectations are rising all the time and it's hard
to predict what platforms, technology and innovations might emerge
between now and 2016. But the assurance that original, British content,
consistently aiming for excellence, from the BBC will be a guaranteed
fixture of any future landscape is good news for the industry and
our audiences. Over the coming months, as the Charter debate continues,
we intend to show by our actions that we are committed to creating
a BBC fit for the future, open to new technologies and new ways
of serving our audiences, with fair access to the best ideas from
wherever they come, drawing on talent from the whole UK, with transparent
and coherent commercial activities and with rigorous plans to deliver
the best possible value to licence-payers."
Thompson conceded that it was equally important that as the Executive
Board of a public service broadcaster, funded by the licence fee,
they should be properly supervised and held accountable for decisions
taken.
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