Lisa's promises

"It's coming soon". Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to the BBC's Katie Razzall on proposals for future funding of the BBC; a firm footing, says Lisa, not just for the next ten years, but way into the future. Bullish Lisa also backed the idea of some kind of 'sovereign space' online, perhaps led by the BBC, but encompassing all kinds of UK 'trusted media', particularly regional and local. And hinted at a clampdown on politicians presenting news and current affairs programmes.  

I wonder if Labour will regret not setting up some form of independent commission on the future of broadcasting at this key pivot. Can it really be appropriate for it to emerge from behind-closed-door weekly meetings between BBC executives, junior ministers and civil servants alone ?

If the shoe fits

Poor old Monty, you thought. Must be whacked out after all those years of gardening.  But, today, we learn the change may be more about acquiring some extra cash. Here are some trainers.  Sorry, New Balance x Bleue Burnham collab trainers, £240 a pair. 

Playing with jobs ?

May I commend Barbara Speed's excellent long read in The Guardian on BBC Charter renewal ?

It's clear that the process is no closer to a funding solution, and woefully short of a Big Idea, or at least one that can be given some sort of flesh. 

More than a few terrifying paragraphs from Barbara: try this... 

Throughout the summer, 15 formal meetings have taken place between DCMS and BBC officials, with more to come through the rest of the year and into 2027. These meetings are private. No public record is released. It’s here that the real work of drafting the charter is done.

More worrying - the BBC lead on the case: 

Over email, the deputy director general, Rhodri Talfan Davies, told me he has found meetings with DCMS over the summer “very constructive … It’s clear to me they understand the importance of this moment for the BBC.”

And downright outrageous:

Senior figures at DCMS seem to believe that current rounds of job cuts – which will eventually amount to one in 10 of the BBC’s workforce – can be spun in the BBC’s favour. Lisa Nandy would not speak to me for this article, but Ian Murray, the DCMS junior minister working on charter renewal, told me he hoped the news of the cuts would show the public “the consequences of an inadequately funded BBC. It’s a really good way of the public realising that the BBC is something that they quite value.”

Doubling

I'm not sure who's advising Matt Brittin on pay negotiations (presumably never a big issue for him in eighteen years at Google), but it seems strange that the BBC's second offer in this year's pay round was double the first.  A move from 1% to 2%, still rejected by the unions, suggests the management side were playing hardball first time, and that Mr Brittin is heading for his first visit to ACAS. Perhaps he'll be able to remember his own salary when questioned... famously forgotten at Google when answering questions from MPs.

Extended

In Fort Lauderdale, Judge Kuntz has agreed with lawyers for both sides that Trump V BBC needs longer to sort out.  So the previous deadline to complete mediation moves from early November to early January 2027; and, if still going, both parties should be 'trial ready', by 6th April, rather than the previous 15th February. 

I suppose the BBC and its insurers can calculate the extended costs by a simple multiplication of the daily rate... 

Time for In Our Time

 Do we detect Matt Brittin kicking the traces over a bit of iPlayer/Sounds stubborness ?

This blog has noted the performance of In Our Time on Radio 4 as a catch-up/podcast since the BBC first started publishing Top Tens in November 2020.   When they also started highlighting programmes doing well with under-35s, there was Melvyn again. 

Now, In Our Time is to become a video-audio podcast from September 17th, available on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. It's an obvious move, but I'm guessing previously challenged by 'Whose budget pays ?'

One oddity, the video version won't be available outside the UK; you would have thought that BBC Studios would bite your hand off for it. 

People person sought

The BBC has finally posted an ad to find a replacement for Uzair Qadeer as "Chief People Officer"; he announced his departure for BT in July. The recruitment is being handled by Korn Ferry and contact should be made with Ellie Filler (left), clearly a product of nominative determinism. 

ARE YOU THE RIGHT CANDIDATE?
The BBC’s next CPO will be a transformational, Board credible executive, adept at navigating complex, high-scrutiny organisations either as the sitting CPO, or as a strong number two with sufficient Executive and Board level experience and ready for a step up.

Except, perhaps that Uzair Qadeer wasn't a full BBC Board member, and there's no guarantee of a place for his successor. 

Newsgathering

Another hit for the specialist weekend writers of BBC News Online: "Why more women carry the 'mental load' - and how couples can share it", currently standing at Number 3 in the BBC's own list of 'most read'. 

The first 'real' person cited is 'Mother of three Stacie Matthias'. From Linkedin (not the article) we learn that Stacie is a Social, Emotional, Mental Health Specialist at Cheadle Hulme School. 

Later we meet Sam Berry, billed as deputy head teacher, but also a 'content creator'.  From Linkedin, we learn that he's running a weekly newsletter called "Dads on Purpose".  From the States, the reporters talk to Zach Watson, "a married father of three and coach in the US on sharing the mental load", Yes, with a podcast and Youtube channel and a forthcoming book.  Wondering how they found Afua Williams, 40, a mother of two ?  Afua has recently launched a service called Afua's Home Reset, where, for £299, you get a 20-minute Discovery Call, a 90-minute Home Reset Zoom session, Your Home Reset PDF, made for you, and 4 weeks of message support... 

Seeing clearly

The BBC has finally caught up with management expenses and hospitality declarations from Quarter 1, 2025/26. 

Jonathan Munro, then merely Global Director of News, was, as you'd expect, travelling. A ticket from Heathrow to Islamabad via Doha came in at £6948.72. Heathrow/Warsaw return was £760.32.  Dhaka to Heathrow via Doha was priced at £3262.70. There were also claims for hotels in Bonn, Kuala Lumpar, Washington, Cardiff and London. 

Elsewhere, the then Director of Nations, Rhodri Talfan-Davies claimed £30 for an eye test and £60 for new glasses.  So did then Director of Wales, Rhuanedd Richards.  Let's hope the new specs helped with the six football matches she attended thanks to the Football Association of Wales. 

Omnichannel marketing

Talking about the capture of BBC management by marketing bollocks, I go away on holiday for a fortnight, and come back to find the Re-cuts of the Repurposed Raganathan Ad still running up to the 10 O'Clock News on BBC1. 

Someone will talk about value for money, but this cumbersome piece of work should be pushed to the archive fast.  It's 'over-messaging', with diluted impact now inducing customer fatigue; it looks back rather than forward, and there is no call to action. 

An agile BBC would make quicker promos, celebrating current sucesses - Small Prophets, Ann Droid, Murder 24/7. And stop continuity announcers from chanting  “This and everything across the BBC is made possible because we're funded by you. Thank you."  Particularly after episode 2,236 of Pointless.

Give us a clue (2)

A couple of small items from the BBC Board Minutes of April. 

"Directors discussed the relationship between network and local news. They emphasised the importance of accuracy in reporting the Nations, whilst also recognising improvements in integrating network and local resource to avoid duplication and better reflect local audiences. Directors also discussed the new  commissioning model."

A nod towards a continuing struggle for cash and control between the masters of the 6.30pm regional news teams, still cumulatively outperforming the 6.00pm national news bulletin, and the BBC News division. 

"The Board noted an update from the Chief Operating Officer including a status update on the East Bank project."

An update on the completion of the new BBC Music Studios in Stratford, unlikely to have included the words 'on time'. 

"The Board received an update on the legal action being brought by the President of the United States. It was agreed that any Board members planning to travel to the United States in future should request advice from the BBC’s legal team."

Careful, you may be kidnapped. 

Give us a clue

Not much to decode in the latest BBC Board minutes, from April - a meeting before Matt Brittin formally joined. The analysis of "where we are" as a broadcaster is clear, but there's no a jot on solutions... 

5.4 The Board considered the audience performance data for the quarter. It had been the best quarter of the year for Audience Scorecard performance with 14 of the 30 metrics green. Strong content across all genres was the key driver, along with a high level of audience engagement with News stories. In January-March, universality remained strong; depth metrics performed better and global reach was well ahead of its target,
driven by international news coverage. Overall online reach and accounts were at record  levels with seven out of 10 people using online services; this increase had been driven by the Winter Olympics digital offering and a strong iPlayer performance.

5.5 However, overall audience performance had not been replicated among young adults. Directors discussed the fragmenting youth audience and the challenges of attracting young people to the BBC, particularly given their greater preference for short-form content. Directors agreed that a briefing on how the brand power metric was comprised would be useful. 

...and there we have some of the problem. "Brand power metric" shows the current crop of BBC executives and their minders have been captured by commercial marketing blah-blah. At least, the non-executives were prepared to admit they didn't understand it.  Oh, for a BBC powered by the ideas, energy, horizon-scanning and risk-taking of the old school of public service broadcasting impresarios. 

So now we move into one of those embarassing periods for the BBC, where they follow, rather than lead. Think the creation of Radio 1, the sneaky arrival of Breakfast TV, the stripping of quiz shows and magazine programmes across daytime. Now, a helter-skelter race is on to hire Tik-Tokkers, Instagrammers and YouTubers, all dressed up in BBC 'commissioning processes', without any serious clue of where this sort of activity sits in public-service broadcasting, or, indeed, whether or not it deserves licence-fee funding. 

Up and at 'em

For all the acquired US expertise of BBC News Online, I think they mean 'Steinem'.....

Tim's Neds

 

On the face of it, it's something of a departure for the man who championed 'great British storytelling' and led the Creative Industries Council, to join a French tv production company. Tim Davie, according to Sky News, has joined the Board of French tv production umbrella group, Mediawan. It's based in the 7th arrondissement, just south of Napoleon's Tomb.

But Mediawan owns many smaller companies, including Plan B, the London-based makers of hit Netflix mini-series Adolescence, now claiming over 140 million viewers worldwide. And in March 2025, Mediawan acquired 51% of See Saw Film, the British-Australian producers of Slow Horses  and The King's Speech. 

And Mediawan also own Drama Republic, makers of Sally Wainwright's Riot Women, featuring Tamsin Greig on bass guitar. 

Alongside the Mediawan gig, Sky reports that Tim is also getting a board role at FGS Global, "Working with the world's most influential leaders to move minds and markets."

Both firms have the backing of US private equity firm KKR. 

Growth

So, if you're one of the apprentices on a scheme within BBC News, facing a future now lacking the previous promises of access to employment opportunities, Matt Brittin can probably explain why these new posts are  being funded

Senior Manager Product Development, New York

Account Dir, Enterprise Partnerships, New York

Senior Curation Editor, Washington Bureau

Content Commercialization Strategist, New York

Manager, Awards, Events & Industry, New York

The British perspective

The bbc.com version of BBC News has been well and truly Yanked into a big lead on the Las Vegas conviction of Duane Keith Davis for the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.  

Second lead is  "What it was like inside court for Tupac Shakur’s murder trial verdict" from presenter Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty. 

ABC News leads on the resignation of the US Army Secretary; CNN goes for "Nepal-China flood disaster death toll tops 1,000"; NBC chooses "Months before fatal Grand Canyon flood, park service warned of elevated risk", with the Tupac conviction 'below the fold'.  CBS leads with "Grand Canyon flash floods leave 2 dead, at least 1 still missing, park officials say". 

In the New York Times, the Las Vegas court verdict is below at least two folds, thus... 

Eugene Fraser

Eugene c1985, Crown & Sceptre, W1
Howard Benson

Born in Levuka, Fiji, Eugene Fraser was one of twelve. The family moved to New Zealand during the 1950s, settling in Mount Roskill, Auckland. He began his career with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) in the 1960s before taking the trip to the UK, and becoming a staff announcer for the BBC.   In 1967, he was on Jackanory, with Tales of Maui; from 1969, he was a regular Friday host on Night Ride, on Radio 1 and 2 after midnight. In 1972, he was hosting Friday Night is Music Night for Radio 2 from the Camden Theatre; Singing Together, for Schools Radio; and Strike Up The Band !  In 1978, against his better judgement, he was landed with regular editions of Up to Hour, breaking up the Today programme.

After that he became a pillar of Radio 4, on Today and the Six O'Clock News. 

Senior R4 editors recount tales of a little light BBC outreach over late lunches, with external guests. Eugene was asked to join one, with guest the High Commissioner of Fiji, clearly delighted to meet a fellow Fijian. Eugene greeted him:  "How do you do?  I think my grandfather may have eaten yours". 

I first directly encountered his warmth, wit and wisdom in 1973; as news trainees, we'd be set exercises writing dummy radio news bulletins, measuring their quality against the R4 1300. Our trainer, Mike Rabbetts would get Eugene to read our efforts, and give us feedback and tips on writing for radio.  

From then on, it was always brilliant to bump into Eugene.  Occasionally cynical, but somehow always upbeat and uplifting. A force of nature. 

No surprise

BBC DG Matt Brittin returned to a theme at the Edinburgh TV Festival, warning that the BBC iPlayer had “fallen behind” rivals due to a focus on content spend over technology in recent years.

And, lo, Broadcast reveals that Dan McGolpin is an applicant for the head of content role at C4. His current job ?  Director, iPlayer and Channels - "Service lead for BBC iPlayer, overseeing strategic direction, budget and operations."

The rhythm method

Back in May 2019, James Purnell, given custody of BBC Radio by Lord Hall, talked about the future of BBC Sounds, launched six months previously.  He said the BBC was developing its own public service algorithm; "This is not an algorithm that just gives you more of the same, but an algorithm built to surprise you, to direct your attention to new information, to different points of view, to pop your bubble."

Yesterday, the new DG Matt Brittin focused on such an algorithm to drive a new version of iPlayer, which might have a UK-focussed type offer, and work like YouTube. 

I see, hear and smell a combination of red herrings and alarm bells. Listeners, readers and viewers go through all sorts of gateways to obtain both information and entertainment. On tv, in the 1950s, it was select one of two channels and sort of let it happen. Then came Radio Times and appointments to view. ITV sniffed a biased portal and came up with TV Times. On the radio, the rotary dial gave more opportunities for serendipity; you could spin and just listen for "English", or music you liked. The broadcasters much preferred you to have push-button radios. 

Now, with giant portals like Amazon and Netflix, it's not really a question of "What's on ?"; we're not far from a position where nearly 'everything is on'.  All too big for a Radio Times, and we turn increasingly to websites to pick recommendations in monthly reviews of new material. The 'front pages' of Netflix, Amazon, and Disney are not reliable guides to quality; they're pushing their new stuff, co-ordinated, like old-style broadcasters, with press and publicity campaigns. (Where would The One Show be without them ?)

I can't imagine (in all Mr Brittin's re-imagining of public service broadcasting) an iPlayer where the BBC surrenders control of the 'front page'; iPlayer 2 would have to run alongside.  Would we really want computers to control the front page, as Mr Brittin says, “in a way that’s not biased towards the incentives of a U.S. tech company or commercial interests. It should be biased towards what we want public service to be all about.”  That's the problem, Matt. A goody-goody repository for family values ? Equal time for  all religions ?  Even-handed between the Nations and Regions ?  A balanced choice between acid jazz and chamber music ? Influencers without advertising funding ?  Police chase videos and/or home-made news reports ?

Any evidence of how it's working on BBC Sounds ?

.

Amol's team

Amol Rajan has been networking.  His 'inner entrepreneur' has driven him to collaborate with the Sister Group (co-founder Elisabeth Murdoch) via their creator talent operation. Looking after Brand Rajan's strategy will be Rich Waterworth, previously an exec with YouTube and TikTok, and on production, Bryony Hopkins, an  early digital operative for BBC World Service and BBC News, later with LadBible, now a campaigner on Crohn's Disease. 

The Sister Group have an interest in Koko, the Camden venue that was operated by the BBC from 1945 to 1972, and home to many Goons recordings. That could be where Amol entertains...