From The Sunday Times
December 14, 2008
Secret deal secures BBC cash until 2033
The corporation’s grandiose plan for a new £813m HQ forced ministers to
give an assurance on its future
Steven Swinford
The BBC is shrugging off the recession by spending more than £800m on a
magnificent new headquarters in central London of glass and Portland
stone.
Now Greg Dyke, the former director-general who masterminded the deal,
has disclosed that the project was so large it forced ministers to give
a secret assurance that the corporation’s future was secure until at
least 2033.
The disclosure has angered politicians who say the assurance — made by
Tessa Jowell, the former culture secretary — may have bounced future
governments into endorsing the future funding and survival of the BBC.
Philip Davies, a Tory MP and member of the Commons select committee for
culture, media and sport, said: “We have always worked on the principle
in this country that no government can bind a successive one, but that’s
in effect what Tessa Jowell was doing.
“She was giving an assurance that she was not entitled to make. It’s a
constitutional outrage. The BBC has forced the government’s hand by
spending so much money at a time when the future of the licence fee is
uncertain.”
The licence fee, which is due to be reviewed again in 2012, the year
work is scheduled to finish on Broadcasting House, the BBC’s art deco
headquarters. Its royal charter expires at the end of 2016. The rise of
satellite television and limitless choice on the internet have
undermined the rationale for the existence of the BBC.
Dyke was forced to resign as director-general after a clash with No 10
over the Hutton report on the death of the weapons expert Dr David
Kelly. He said this weekend he extracted written assurances from the
government that the BBC would be “properly funded” until 2033 to help
secure an £813m bond needed to finance the redevelopment of Broadcasting
House.
He embarked on a massive building programme, commissioning Pacific Quay,
the BBC’s £190m Scottish headquarters in Glasgow, and new studio
complexes in Hull and Birmingham. His real obsession, however, was the
redevelopment of the grade II* Broadcasting House, which was built in
1932.
“Broadcasting House is important in terms of the long-term solidarity
and security of the BBC for the next 40 years. We wanted to make
something special, something wonderful that would stand the test of
time,” Dyke said.
To fund the redevelopment, the BBC decided in 2003 to tap the bond
market for the first time. Although the £813m 30- year bond was not
guaranteed by the government, the BBC was given an AA credit rating.
According to Dyke, Jowell’s written assurances over the future of the
BBC helped secure the deal. “When we were getting the bond we had to get
an assurance from the secretary of state that the BBC will still be
around,” he said.
“We had to agree a wording to make sure it looked like the BBC will
still be properly funded. It basically said that it is our [the
government's] belief that the BBC will still be there and still be
funded by 2030.”
The redevelopment is already two years behind schedule and £20m over
budget. Work is now under way on a nine-storey extension that will host
BBC News and BBC Global News — including the World Service — alongside
the national radio stations.
When completed, the centre will have more than 4,500 staff, 36 radio
studios, six TV studios, two control rooms and 60 graphics and editing
suites. It will also include the world’s largest newsroom, a 43,000 sq
ft open-plan office equivalent to half the size of a football pitch.
In Britain, no other media organisation comes close, meaning that any
minister who decided to slash the BBC licence fee would turn the
building into a white elephant, wasting public money. ITN’s newsroom is
a quarter of the size, while Sky’s is a fifth.
“We’ve got to the situation now when commercial broadcasters are on
their uppers trying to survive, cutting costs here, there and
everywhere, whereas the BBC has got so much money that they don’t know
what to do with it,” said Davies.
A spokesman for the culture department insisted that ministers had not
acted “unconstitutionally”, but declined to comment further. The BBC
declined to comment.
Poor credit
Kenneth Branagh, now starring as a Swedish detective in the much-praised
BBC1 drama Wallander, has criticised the corporation for “zooming
through” cast and crew credits.
“The BBC thinks it must move on very fast to the next programme or promo
or it will lose viewers,” Branagh said. “It’s insulting.”
In Wallander, watched by more than 6m viewers, 99 names flash past in 14
seconds.
Equity, the actors’ union, has recently raised the issue with Mark
Thompson, the BBC director-general. Many viewers have also complained.
http://www.timesonl
Sunday, 14 December 2008
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