Charter Conversation Continues

February 16, 2016 , 0

BBC Charter renewal and it's impact on BBC Children's and beyond...

Update from CMF Chair, Anna Home O.B.E

A number of CMF supporters attended a meeting at New Broadcasting House in London on 18th January organised by the BBC alumni group in association with CMF, at which Alice Webb, Director of BBC Children's and James Purnell, Director of Digital and Strategy, outlined plans for the development of BBC Children's over the next Charter period (10 years from January 2017). In particular they explained the roll-out of the new digital strategy, the introduction of Iplay, personalisation of content and the expansion of services to a wider age range.

They were confident that there would be sufficient funding to support all this, and stressed the importance the BBC places on its children's services.

It is fair to say that there was a good natured, but slightly cynical response to the latter point. However the general feeling was that it was good to see this level of emphasis on the future of Children's.

In our December Newsletter we reported on the meeting we had with Ray Gallagher at the DCMS, and our suggestion that the Secretary of State, who is holding a number of round-table meetings with different areas of the industry, should arrange one on the implications of Charter Review for children's content and services at the BBC. We are very pleased that as a result of our request, a meeting is happening on 23rd February. It will be attended by various lobbying organisations and representatives from the children's media industry.

The agenda will focus on the government's proposals, outlined very loosely in their consultative Green Paper, on protecting BBC budgets for children's content and the development of a fund for children's content outside the BBC.

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