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BBC video decision: Inquiry verdicts in detail

The BBC Trust’s decision today to reject plans to launch 65 local online video services comes after a six-month long consultation between the Trust and broadcasting and communications regulator Ofcom and renewed lobbying by the local media.

Here’s our in-depth guide to what the BBC proposed, what the Trust and Ofcom concluded – and what may happen next.

The BBC Proposal

The corporation currently offers regional news on television, radio and websites with BBC TV programmes available on the internet.

In May, BBC Management submitted proposals to the BBC Trust to introduce an additional local video service, covering news, sport and weather, on enhanced BBC Local websites in 60 areas across the UK with an additional five Welsh language services.

The proposed service would have required around 400 staff and a total budget of £68m covering a four-year period from launch.

The Trust decided that the proposals were a significant change and should be subject to a public value test, including a public value assessment by the BBC Trust and a market impact assessment by Ofcom.

What the Trust said

The public value assessment conducted by the Trust concluded that a broadband-only local video proposal would not extend the BBC’s reach to those audiences it is not serving very well.

Some people in low income groups or living in rural areas have no access to broadband while younger audiences want a local online service which includes a wider range of commercial content which the BBC does not provide, it said.

The target audience for local video is between 34 and 45 and therefore most likely settled in an area.

Their areas of news interest would be local schools and hospital news but research shows they have less time to search for content on the web.

Older people already consume BBC local news and their preference is an improvement in quality of BBC regional news programmes, the Trust found.

Against the background of increased financial pressures on the BBC, the assessment concluded the service would not create significant new reach or impact in return for the investment.

What Ofcom said

Broadcasting and communications regulator Ofcom conducted a market impact assessment. It found the overall impact likely to arise from the local video proposals to be negative with newspaper publishers among those most affected.

It found that the launch of the proposal would have a significant negative market impact on commercial providers.

“We expect the impacts on these services, as they are currently provided, to be no more than about 4pc of annual revenues,” it concluded.

“However, our main concerns are about the effect of the BBC’s proposal on future commercial innovation in online local news, sports and weather services.

“There are strong ambitions on the part of commercial providers to develop these areas of their business.

“Almost every local newspaper now has its own website…..and the use of video content. The BBC Local Video service would represent a major presence in this area and is likely to be of significantly greater scale than commercial providers could offer.”

What happens next?

The BBC Trust has instructed that the £68m fund earmarked for the four-year video project is to be removed from the Nations and Regions’ budget and returned to central funds.

Expenditure of this money will be subject to Trust agreement.

The decision not to approve local video is now open to public consultation until 5 January and comments can be left on the BBC Trust website.

A final decision is due to be published on 25 February. The Trust has asked the Executive to consider their own response carefully and in particular whether existing regional and local television and radio services can better address the performance gap originally identified by the Trust.

  • Detailed reports about the findings of can be found on the BBC Trust website and at Ofcom.org.uk