Cookie monstering

New York-based class action specialists Levi & Korsinky are after a minumum of $5m from the BBC.  They have at least 100 people signed up to complain that bbc.com is tracking their presence on its website from the moment they click to visit, and sometimes continues to do so after they've rejected tracking in 'preferences', ticking the box "Do not sell or share my personal information".  The complaint says Piano Analytics, Comscore Scorecard and Google Analytics are all taking data.  They want a full jury trial.  

Easy answer

In the white heat of BBC Annual Plans around 2017/8, the organisation remembered there were people aged 16-34 in the population at large, and promised to do something for them.  Then, the big trick was that online only BBC3 would be moving to Birmingham. 

In 2017, the main outlet for live performances of contemporary pop music on BBC television was Later with Jools Holland, on BBC2. Jools was 59.  Producer Mark Cooper was about to retire. 

In October last year, the BBC Board said there's a problem with 16-24 year old audiences, and the answer is probably TikTok and Instagram. 

In 2026, the main outlet for live performances of contemporary pop music on BBC television is Later with Jools Holland, on BBC2. Jools is 68.  Producer Alison Howe is 55. 

As far as anyone can tell, BBC3 is still in and around London. 

Range

And so, the glorious diversity of BBC Commissioners grows apace.  Director of Content Kate Phillips has selected Fiona Campbell (Dominican College, Belfast and Jesus College, Cambridge) as her Director of Factual.  And there's a return to the BBC fold for Ed Havard (Sherborne and Oxford), who started his career as a researcher for Shaun Woodward MP, spent time with Newsnight and the Six O'Clock News, under the tutelage of Jay Hunt, and rose to be the youngest editor, at 29, of Question Time. He becomes Director of Entertainment. 

Jay found a berth for Ed alongside her at C4 when he refused to move to Scotland with Question Time. He's most recently been with NBC Universal, where he led their side of the partnership with the BBC developing The Traitors, produced by Studio Lambert. 

Bright lads

BBC Board minutes from October reveal the consultancy firms hired to save licence fees spent on process rather than production - but not the consultancy fees. 

J P Petranca (King's School Chester, and PPE Balliol) of the Boston Consulting Group is back, having worked with James Purnell in 2013, and BBC News in 2018.  

Alongside him was Colin Light, Price Waterhouse Cooper Global Advisory Chief AI Officer (M Eng and Ph D, Southampton, Ph D Biomedical Engineering, New Brunswick and Stanford University Executive Programme.)

How to write up a barney

It was Tuesday 4th November when the wider world first knew of Michael Prescott's list of complaints about editorial issues at the BBC, when his 'dossier' was made public in a leak to the Daily Telegraph. The Prescott Package is thought to have been sent to BBC Board members in September;  Prescott's last formal meeting as a member of the Editorial Standards and Guidelines Committee was in June - there's the mildest hint of a 'discussion' at that meeting. Mr Prescott may well have been irritated into writing his explosive email by reports of the September ESGC, when, once again, the issues were discussed and left to drop. 

By the time we arrive at the full Board meeting on October 16th, held in Salford, positions were hardening, but you wouldn't pick up any sense of an existential row from the minutes,  finally published today.

Editorial Matters
5.8 The Board considered an email sent to its directors by Michael Prescott, a previous external editorial adviser to the Editorial Guidelines Committee, which expressed dissatisfaction with the Committee’s handling of a number of editorial matters. 

5.9 The Board discussed the email and a full range of views was expressed. It was concerns and gather further feedback as a first step. The Chair would report back to the Board following the meeting.

At least nineteen people were in the room for that discussion, presumably none guilty of the leak.  Chairman Samir Shah's intentions in listening to Mr Prescott's 'concerns' are as clear as mud; at this stage, it seemed nobody was particularly focussed on the clear breach of guidelines in the Trump edit. It took just five days from the Telegraph leak for the penny to drop, with Deborah Turness losing Board confidence, and Tim Davie throwing the towel in earlier than most expected.

Power cuts

The soft power mood music is still miserable. According to politico.eu, The British Council is expecting cuts in funding from the Foreign Office which could see 400 job losses. 

An internal consultation document emailed to staff and seen by politico lists 784 jobs “in scope” across the U.K. and Europe, with at least 404 roles expected to be “displaced”, amounting to 15 percent of total current staff. 

The Council is largely self-funding from its English language teaching and exams divisions, but it still receives around £160 million a year in government grants.  That could be cut by £50m. 

Nostalgia

The Today programme left the soft toys and building blocks of politics, war and pressure groups for a moment this morning, and went through the round window to look at culture in the world outside Broadcasting House. Once again, they found 1995, and the battle for chart supremacy between Oasis and Blur. 

I used to listen to a version of Today in 1963, presented in two chunks on The Home Service by Jack De Manio and Brian Johnston. I was twelve. The Beatles's first official chart-topper, From Me To You, came in May that year. We were only allowed the Light Programme at weekends - the Beatles were on Saturday Club on 25th May, recorded on 16th May. Even Today caught up in 1964, with Jack De Manio interviewing John Lennon on the set of A Hard Day's Night, ahead of the publication of In His Own Write.  

I can't find Today running orders from 1963, but I'll take a guess that even they weren't obsessed with popular music from 36 years previously.  I'm sure I would have remembered a feature on, says, rivalry between crooners Rudy Vallee, Al Bowlly and Bing Crisby. 

Charl off

The BBC's first ever Chief Brand Officer, Charl Bassil, is leaving at the end of the month after two years in post. 

For those not clear about his impact, he notes " I’m grateful for the opportunity to build a stronger, more unified approach to brand and reputation across the BBC". 

Bob up

BBC Studios have backed Robert Schildhouse, currently CEO of Britbox, giving him oversight of US streaming service BBC Select as well. Studios claim that Select is now the third largest documentary streamer in the States, without sharing absolute numbers.  Subcriptions are apparently up 50% year on year - again, no transparency on absolute numbers. 

Robert (Ohio State and Harvard) is also rewarded with a new title, CEO, Direct to Consumer.  

On Linkedin, he's delighted.... 

I am energized and deeply grateful for the opportunity ahead as we build BBC Studios Direct-to-Consumer, home to BritBox and BBC Select.

We are operating in an incredibly dynamic time in the streaming industry that rewards creativity, risk taking, and bold thinking, and I have the privilege to work alongside a world-class team across BBC Studios as we continue to pursue our aggressive growth ambitions.

I am thankful for the trust placed in me and proud of what we have already built together. I could not be more optimistic about our future!

Looking for 600

Economic forecasting at the BBC should be more straightforward than in a commercial organisation. So Tim Davie's farewell call for £600m in savings over three years must have some logic. Ahead is a 3.13% rise in the licence fee, but that's based on annual CPI - and the BBC always argues that 'broadcasting inflation' is way ahead of that.  Last year's pay deal saw the total wage bill rise 4.5%; a deal with Equity saw performers get rises between 10 and 13%.

The number of licence fees 'in force' is steadily falling, in the context of politicians and papers 'dissing' paying at all. If there hadn't been an increase in the licence fee for 2024/5, the BBC would have been down £50m, rather than up a billion in income. Say the number of licence fees in force drops 800,000 over the year, the remaining 23,000,000 paying the new £180 rate generates £126.5m of 'new money' in the twelve months.  And CPI won't come down to 2% until late 2027, according to the OBR.