The objective of the Review is to examine whether the governance arrangements established during Charter Review 2015/16 are effective in enabling the BBC to deliver on its Mission and Public Purposes, and reviewing the evidence as to how ensuring Ofcom can successfully hold the BBC to account. The Review will make recommendations for changes to these arrangements during the current Charter period and for further consideration at the next Charter Review.

The PPA submitted evidence last year to Ofcom’s consultation on its regulation of the BBC, arguing that the current regulatory framework does not allow Ofcom to adequately assess the market impact of changes to the BBC’s services in the digital age. We argued that license fee funded services should not seek to replicate content for audiences which are already well catered for by specialist media publishers.

Earlier this year PPA also met with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to discuss the detail of the Terms of Reference, arguing that the BBC’s impact on UK specialist publishers should be scrutinised as the Department assesses the effectiveness of the current governance and regulation arrangements.

We are therefore pleased to see that ‘competition and market impact’ is a key consideration in scope of the Review. The Department will evaluate ‘how the BBC and Ofcom assess the market impact and public value of the BBC in an evolving marketplace and how that relates to the wider UK media ecology, including with regard to commercial radio and local news sectors and other content makers and distributors’.

The PPA will continue to engage with Government as the Mid-Term Charter Review progresses.