‘David and Goliath’ battle as BBC fights for survival against US companies
British public service broadcasters are in a “David versus Goliath” fight for their future, the director-general of the BBC Tony Hall is set to warn.
Against a backdrop of global brands and a media landscape becoming increasingly dominated by a handful of businesses on America’s west coast, Mr Hall will say storytelling that reflects “the lives and passions of our own square mile” is what truly appeals to audiences.
Mr Hall will set out how he believes the values of public service broadcasters matter “more than ever” in an era of persistent fake news and ahead of a post-brexit landscape.
He will tell staff at the Television Centre on Wednesday: “Today, Netflix and Amazon are available in over half of British homes.
“They are services that are admired and trusted and yet, on average, the great majority of television output viewed in the UK each day is still British content, even among younger audiences.
“So don’t let anyone kid you that British programming no longer matters to our audiences, even younger ones.
“Instead, we know audiences in the UK are still drawn inexorably to storytelling that reflects the lives and passions of our own square mile.” About 83 per cent of independent production companies in the UK were either UK or European-owned about ten years ago, the BBC said.
Today US multinationals own about 60 per cent.
Acknowledging the BBC was “maybe” not the biggest kid on the block any more, Mr Hall will still claim “nobody is fighting harder for Britain and for our audiences”.
UK public broadcasters will be able to thrive as long as reform is sped up to keep pace with the current challenges, he will say.
Mr Hall will say: “The country needs a BBC that helps society understand itself better, that explores our nation’s differences passionately and robustly, that projects British creativity and values globally, that reminds us every day of the things we hold in common, not just the things that divide us.”