All change ?

Three important slices of the minutes from the BBC Trust meeting held in November.


The Executive sought approval to rebase the proportion of the licence fee spent on the BBC estate from six per cent to eight per cent to take account of the move from a freehold to a more expensive leasehold portfolio. The Trust agreed that its Finance Committee should consider this proposal on receipt of further information from the Executive.


Surprise, surprise. Leasehold is more expensive than freehold, and once you've sold the freeholds, it's like the last train to San Fernando - you'll never get another one.


The Director, BBC Trust said the Executive was due to publish its latest update on senior management pay within the organisation. Members discussed issues arising from the update in light of the Trust’s established policy and new initiatives outlined in the Chairman’s speech to the Royal Television Society in July. They agreed that the Chairman should reinforce with the Director-General the need for discipline in this area.


Twitchy stuff.  Has Lucy Adams done Patten's bidding and got rid of executive bonuses ?  We're overdue an update on all senior salaries, last posted August 2010.

And finally, this one, on future fund raising for the World Service, as it becomes a licence fee cost. First target - finding £3m a year.


The Controller, Strategy and Distribution, Global News outlined two proposals which had been developed in initial response to this target. One involved limited advertising on some World Service language websites and the other was a yearlong pilot to trial advertising around World Service English radio broadcasts on the Berlin FM frequency.


Ads on the World Service ?   Really ?