BBC asks for more cash

The BBC is asking the government for an additional £3.5 billion in public funding over the next six years to enable it to develop initiatives for children and a chain of BBC Open Centres.

The BBC says the extra money, requested as part of the BBC’s response to the Davies report The Future Funding of the BBC, is essential for it to pursue its ambition to be a public service broadcaster of the future. The consultation period following the publication of the report ended on November 1.

ITV’s submission to the DCMS calls for a greater debate on the scope of the BBC and its current use of public money, rejecting the panel’s proposal for a digital licence fee.

Commercial radio group, GWR, calls for a clearer outline of the BBC’s unfocsed digital radio plans, stating that any support for a BBC subsidiary would further increase an imbalance in funding between the public and commercial sectors.

This article was first published on Media Week