Arts and history give way as BBC turns to ‘high impact’ content
THE BBC has cut its original arts programming by half over the past decade, as the corporation fills its schedule with repeats and focuses on “high impact” entertainment.
In 2010, the BBC broadcast 305 hours of original shows about the arts.
By last year, that figure had fallen to 154 hours, according to figures published by Ofcom. History programming dropped by more than a quarter, from 814 hours to 595.
Comedy saw an even greater decline, from 225 hours in 2010 to 102 hours last year. Music programmes fell most sharply, from 239 to 93 hours.
And, in 2020, there were only 437 hours of original children’s shows, down from 705 hours in 2010.
In these genres, all categorised by Ofcom as “at risk”, 89 per cent of programmes shown on the BBC’S television channels were repeats.
Ofcom warned that this proportion could increase even further following the corporation’s move to turn BBC Four into a repeats channel.
The figures appear in Ofcom’s annual review of the BBC. The regulator noted that director-general Tim Davie’s strategy is to focus on “high-impact content”, meaning shows that can bring the nation together in high numbers. This is unlikely to include arts and history.
The BBC said “at-risk” genres make up 54 per cent of its television hours, more than its competitors.
However, publication of the report comes a week after Mark Bell, the BBC’S arts commissioning editor, said it must make “TV that people want to watch” rather than “esoteric arts chat”.
Mr Bell said his job was to “find things that will play at eight o’clock and appeal to all sorts of broader audiences”.
A decade ago, the BBC broadcast arts programmes such as the Culture Show, and BBC Four was the home of original documentaries.
BBC Two’s current arts programming includes Between the Covers, a book show in which comedians and actors discuss their favourite reads.
Elsewhere in the report, Ofcom said that audiences “consistently rate the BBC less favourably for impartiality” than they do on any other measure.
Ofcom said the corporation has a good record of complying with impartiality rules – but many viewers and listeners do not believe that to be the case.
The report said: “Some audiences tended to base their perceptions of the BBC’S impartiality on what they think about the BBC more generally.
“For example, in our qualitative research, we heard that views were influenced by the BBC brand, its funding mechanism and its portrayal in the wider media.”
The research found that only 55 per cent of BBC television news viewers rate it very highly. For listeners to BBC radio news and users of the BBC web- site, that figure was 61 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.
Ofcom was also critical of the BBC’S lack of transparency over its complaint process.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The report is clear that more people consider the BBC to be impartial than any other broadcaster.”