Public service broadcasting is in a “red alert situation” in “many many markets” around the world, according to the most powerful man in British broadcasting.
BBC Director General Tim Davie urged the audience at the Deloitte and Enders Media & Telecoms 2024 and Beyond Conference to “look around the world and see what’s happening to PSBs.”
“It’s scary,” he added. “It’s really problematic. We are not merely troublesome we are in a red alert situation in many many markets and as politics gets more polarized we have to decide what we do about institutions.”
Davie said the BBC, on the other hand, is “not a market failure provider” and stressed partnerships with major global players such as Warner Bros. Discovery in sports as a factor.
But this doesn’t stop the BBC from making “uneconomic” decisions, he stressed, in order to preserve its place as a public broadcaster.
“Sometimes they are the right things to do but are uneconomic,” he added. “Economic choices might be to consolidate all of the BBC into London. But I’m a big believer in pushing money out of London into local creativity and out of that comes the regional news, or [hit Northern Irish drama] Blue Lights.”
He added that the BBC retains a focus on the “core market” of the UK. “We are developing shows that may not be perfect for an international global businesses’ economics but the audience are responding to them,” he said. “You have to make your local market work.”
Julian Bellamy, who runs Mr Bates vs the Post Office seller ITV Studios, concurred with Davie on this and pointed to the top 20 most-watched shows in the UK being British, with 18 being made by public service broadcasters.
“It’s the same story in all markets,” Bellamy added. “Fifteen years ago the French market was full of U.S. imports but it is almost zero today. That is essentially the same story around the world. [The success of] local shows show there is an appetite.”
“Battle for truth and trust”
Jeremy Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper in ‘Clarkson’s Farm’
Expectation/Amazon
Alex Mahon, who runs Channel 4, said it is all about “the battle for truth and trust.”
She said streamers have few shows that have positive societal impact, citing Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm as a rare example but adding: “I find it hard to build a list.”
“That is partly because we are coming at things from a different situation,” she added. “We are not thinking about ‘dwell time’ because that leads you to stuff that is more salacious. That is not our sole motivation.”
The panel was speaking in London on the same bill as the likes of Disney’s Jan Koeppen and Netflix’s Greg Peters.