Lord Hall says BBC’S ‘old ways’ must change

THE BBC cannot go back to its “old ways” after the coronavirus crisis, and must learn to do things “more simply” and “spend money more wisely”, the outgoing director general has said.

Lord Hall of Birkenhead added that a big debate on funding the national broadcaster was coming as it was in line to lose £125 million during lockdown.

Speaking on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said the BBC needed to look at how other countries fund media companies and find a “fairer way” to pay.

He explained: “I hope that there will be a big debate about the best way of funding the BBC. I hope, even when I’ve left, I can take part in that debate, and we should look at the easiest way to pay, learn from what happens in other countries. Are there fairer ways to pay? But the underpinning for all that is the idea of a BBC which is providing something for everyone.”

When asked if a smaller BBC would be a better BBC, with some news shows taken off air, and not making bigbudget dramas, he said: “What I think we’ve got to do is learn from that – there’s stuff we’re doing there that we can take forward into the future. We shouldn’t go back to the old ways.”

Lord Hall said 92 per cent of the organisation was working from home during the pandemic, and the broadcaster had launched its biggest ever educational programme and was also working with arts organisations.

Plans to stop free TV licences for over-75s had been delayed until August, Lord Hall said, and would be reviewed by the board nearer the time.

The director general, who is due to leave in the summer, said that younger audiences had been coming back to the BBC during the lockdown, and the iplayer and Sounds apps would be developed, but not at the risk of abandoning older audiences.

When asked whether a row over equal pay was a stain on his time at the organisation, Lord Hall said: “I hope that to be solving those issues is how I will be judged.”