And now on BBC1, market failure

Here's an entertaining volte face, from Lord Hall, who was DG just five years ago. 

Writing in The Guardian, he abandons a previous BBC shibboleth - that the BBC should never be defined as simply built and funded to make worthy programmes that ads won't support. 

"When I was working for the BBC, we would shy away from the argument that the organisation was also a defence against market failure. Nowadays I think that should be part of why the BBC exists. There are certain genres of programmes that are not ever going to be internationally successful but reflect who we are. Programmes about religion, the arts, music, or shows that reflect who we are in a more gentle way, like Countryfile or The Repair Shop. And I lost count of the number of parents who told me how much they valued British content for their children either as toddlers with CBeebies or later as teenagers with Bitesize. And then, of course, there are those moments that bring us all together, from the Cenotaph to Westminster Abbey to the Olympics."

The trouble with Lord Hall's new position is that, by this argument, there's no rationale to compete with programmes made with the help of big advertisers. Why make shiny floor shows, Gladiators, The Wheel, etc ?  Why make endless quizzes ?

Lord Hall goes in for the argument that regional variations on the Vera formula are loved because they are regional, which I doubt is true. And in most people's view, local services at the BBC are being abandoned in favour of regional output. 

"The BBC gives cultural definition to more specific communities too. When I was running the BBC, I talked to the people at Radio Cumbria, for example, who told me how their work helped define a community that is geographically very widespread, especially at times of crisis. These local services, whether in small areas or serving the nations, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, at their best report the stories that matter to their audiences and celebrate the characteristics that make them what they are. Taking this forward is an important role for the BBC.

"All in all, the BBC is the largest producer of stories about our isles, the people, the places, the communities that make up this diverse and creative nation. Of course, that has a value. The BBC is the largest single investor in UK-made programming, contributing about £4.9bn to the UK economy each year, half of which is spent outside London.

"But an even bigger question is how and where our culture is defined. In the end, the only broadcasting organisations that will reflect the UK as its primary purpose are the BBC and Channel 4."