Pat Holland

Thank goodness for *W1A* (2014-17), the now defunct satire on life at
New Broadcasting House first launched in the run-up to the BBC's
traumatic renewal of its Royal Charter ('Don't forget it's a *Royal*
Charter' declared 'Head of Values' in the hour-long special which kicked
off *W1A*'s second series (BBC2 23.4.2015)). Now that Charter Renewal
and all its attendant upheavals are in place, lets hope that the
Corporation doesn't loose its sense of humour. An eye for the ridiculous
is needed more than ever in the new broadcasting utopia where
communications regulator, Ofcom, set up in 2003 with a remit to
'de-regulate', has been invited to abandon its market orientation and
take on the BBC with a remit to 'secure the provision of *more*
*distinctive* output and services' para 1.3).[\[1\]](#_ftn1){#_ftnref1}

As Ofcom developed its Operating Licence for the Corporation, despite
extensive public consultation it was clearly looking over its shoulder
at the looming spectre of government interference. Culture Secretary
Karen Bradley had already insisted on *more* quotas for specific genres
than originally proposed [\[2\]](#_ftn2){#_ftnref2}.  So on Friday
13^th^ October '*distinctivity'* carried the day.  The document declares
that 'The Mission \[note the capital M\] of the BBC is to act in the
public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of
impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which
inform, educate and entertain.' (1.15). So far so good -- but the trap
is in that sneaky word, 'distinctive'. This is expanded to mean that the
BBC's services 'should be distinctive from '*those provided elsewhere'.*
The document goes on to emphasise that this means '*substantially*
*different* to other comparable providers across each and every UK
Public Service both in peak time and overall' (1.28 my italics). 
Clearly this is code for programmes which are important but won't win
audiences away from the BBC's so called 'public service' commercial
rivals. Those broadcasters retain the right to maximise audiences, but
this is something the BBC should work at *not* doing.

'*Songs of Praise* isn't actually *about* ratings' declares *W1A*'s Head
of Governance, trying to explain John Reith's principles to a junior who
had never heard of him.

The principles are important because 'if we're not careful it would all
be *Strictly, Top Gear* and various types of *Bake Off...* and I don't
think that's what Lord Reith had in mind' (2.4.2014).  The choice of
*Top Gear and* *Bake off* was prophetic -- although problems with *Top
Gear* were already on the radar. A junior staffer was asked to look
through four years of the series and note the number of times that
JereBLEEP BLEEPson said the word 'tosser'.  (In the spirit of the
chaotic world of *W1A,* the incompetent intern who spent all night on
the task, forgot to write down the time codes).  But Head of Values is
determined to focus the minds of his committee on the BBC's *purpose*.
'To secure our future and values, please write down one word that comes
into your head when you think of the BBC'.  Blank looks all round ....
or perhaps 'it might be the smell which greets you when you come into
the building ....'

In *W1A* this senior committee is constantly struggling to cope with
incomprehensible instructions, reorganisations and changes of policy,
while having to deal with major cock-ups (two assertive personalities
are booked to front the same series \[26.3.2014\]; the much-vaunted
security system mal-functions so that the dignitaries are locked in when
a royal visitor is due \[23.4.2015\]).

In the real world, what the perceptive *W1A* describes as 'the more for
less initiative' is in place. The licence fee is frozen and the pressure
on the BBC's income is greater than it has ever been.  The BBC badly
needs a *W1A-*style 'Head of Distinctivity' to deal with the situation
... or perhaps it should be campaigning for the right to broadcast
programmes which are *not* distinctive ... (*Bake off?*... er ... *Top
Gear?*?).

Why can't the Corporation simply go ahead and make the undistinctive,
run of the mill, everyday programmes it has long excelled at? 
Programmes which are popular, competitive and often innovative. Looking
back over a long history of programmes in which the routine is
interleaved with the remarkable, it's not at all easy to identify which
fall into the 'distinctivity' category (*EastEnders?  Casualty? Who do
you think you are?*) *...*

It seems that 'distinctive' is a word that has replaced 'public service'
as a description of programmes that are 'worthy' or which 'compensate
for market failure'. It's used to refer to a programme or a genre, such
as children's programmes, that commercial companies decline to make
because they would not be profitable (unless, of course, the BBC had
first taken an unlikely format and built it into a block-buster).
Confining the BBC to distinctivity is an instruction not to compete -a
way of ensuring that it doesn't challenge its commercial rivals.

'Distinctivity' (as I will continue to call it), together with a frozen
licence fee, clearly means cheaper programmes. After all, spending too
much and attracting too big an audience (think of *Blue Planet*) can
easily be described as 'unfair competition'.  Distinctive *and*
popular!  Wow!  It's not surprising that, when you log in to the new BBC
Membership website (My BBC now required to access iPlayer), you are met
with the impressive presence of David Attenborough. He embodies BBC
values; integrity incarnate -and indestructible. At least *he* will not
be bought. However, the television environment is changing. In a world
where *Bake Off* is substantially the same, whether on the BBC or
Channel 4, programmes and personalities are less and less identified
with broadcasters ... (Didn't even David Attenborough make a Sky series
recently ...?).  And, it seems, that even at the BBC, market values have
triumphed.

Far from becoming more 'distinctive' and different in its approach, the
Corporation has become sneakily -or not so sneakily- commercialized,
fitting in with the new television landscape like all the rest. In
particular, it has set up BBC Studios as a 'for profit' production
company. Instead of the famous wock (sorry WoCC -Window of Creative
Competition- the quota of programmes which must be put out to tender and
not produced in-house) virtually *all* programmes must now be tendered
for. BBC Studios must bid against other independent production companies
-presumably including all those super-Indies owned by Warner Brothers
and other American/global giants. Meanwhile BBC Studios can pitch to
other broadcasters. In addition, last week *Broadcast* magazine reported
that BBC Studios are to merge with BBC Worldwide -the BBC's commercial
distribution subsidiary which is already funded by advertising.  How
long before the domestic BBC supplements its income by advertisements.
What price distinctivity then?

::: {#attachment_5108 .wp-caption .alignleft style="width: 310px"}
[![BBC 3's
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BBC 3's logo
:::

With the new, competitive world in mind, over in *W1A* the Head of
Values has employed a PR consultant to promote 'Brand BBC'.  She is
always present at the important 'Way Ahead' Task Force Group and the
Damage Limitation meetings, and advises the committee on stunts and
promotional campaigns. ("This 'BBC' logo is too complex for the online
future! It has too may *letters*! What about simplification -- try
'III'").  As it happened the BBC did exactly that -more or less- when it
chose II! for BBC 3's logo when it went online. (And *W1A* itself is now
available on Amazon -at a price).

Within a context in which competition and monetary values dominate, it
looks as if the demand for 'distinctiveness' can only mean one thing.
Try to make programmes that are dull and boring -that are specially
designed *not* to attract an audience.  The new Head of Distinctivity,
when he or she is appointed, is going to have a tough job.  He or she
will have to wrestle with the paradox that, if a programme is popular,
it cannot, by definition, be considered 'distinctive'. But in a world
where all programmes are made by independent production companies
(including BBC Studios) competing for the highest bidder, it really
won't matter whether they're broadcast on the BBC or another channel,
and whether they move for one broadcaster to another. (Unless, that is,
some awkward performers refuse to go along with the move!).

In its final programme *W1A's* BBC launched a new online presence, BBCMe
to much celebration at New Broadcasting house, led by its public
relations consultants, now called Fun Media. A position of Director of
Purpose was created to replace Head of Values and Director of Better,
and the previous executives were moving on to more lucrative positions
in the USA. The narrator reflected 'perhaps now it looks as if some kind
of future for the BBC is finally underway...but who will be in that
tomorrow and what it will hold for them, no-one knows' (23.10.2017).

Applications are invited for a new Head of Distinctivity.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Patricia Holland**, Bournemouth University, is the author of
*Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s: the challenge to
public service* with Hugh Chignell and Sherryl Wilson Palgrave 2013. See
also:
[http://www.nosuch-research.co.uk/](http://www.nosuch-research.co.uk/){target="_blank"}.
Her most recent book is [*The New Television
Handbook*](https://www.routledge.com/The-New-Television-Handbook-5th-Edition/Holland-Curran/p/book/9781138833517){target="_blank"}.
Routledge 2017.

 

#### Footnotes:

[\[1\]](#_ftnref1){#_ftn1} Ofcom Operating *Licence for the BBC's UK
Public Services* 13.10.2017

[\[2\]](#_ftnref2){#_ftn2}
<https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/17/labour-accuses-culture-secretary-over-bbc-and-ofcom-interference>

Thank goodness for

 W1A

(2014-17), the now defunct satire on life at New Broadcasting House first launched in the run-up to the BBC’s traumatic renewal of its Royal Charter (‘Don’t forget it’s a

 Royal

Charter’ declared ‘Head of Values’ in the hour-long special which kicked off

 W1A

’s second series (BBC2 23.4.2015)). Now that Charter Renewal and all its attendant upheavals are in place, lets hope that the Corporation

Postagens de Rogue Scholar

‘HEAD OF DISTINCTIVITY’ NEEDED