The Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) has written to Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, and to the BBC’s Director General Mark Thompson, to express the industry’s deep concern that the BBC would be allowed to launch such services without prior scrutiny.
David Newell (pictured), director of the NPA, highlighted the BBC Trust’s “current attitude and inaction” and questioned why they were “refusing even to examine the BBC’s plans prior to launch under the Public Value Test, when they know that the BBC will be launching such applications in direct competition with commercial operators’ paid-for or ad-funded applications for their online services?”
He wrote: “The BBC Trust’s apparent acquiescence in the BBC’s damaging expansion is even more concerning in view of the clash between the BBC’s proposals and the BBC Online Service Licence’s key characteristics and remit requirements that ‘BBC Online should, at all times, balance the potential for creating public value against the risk of negative market impact.’”
The NPA letter points out that the BBC had “a history of assuring its competitors that it is merely developing its existing services, rather than launching competing new services or effecting a significant change, so regulatory oversight is unnecessary.” Such assurances were offered over the BBC Local proposals but, when ultimately subjected to a PVT, these were turned down on public value grounds after a finding of negative market impact by Ofcom.
Newell added that the BBC’s proposals for entry into the Smartphone applications market must be subjected to a detailed evaluation under the Public Value Test by the BBC Trust, before the BBC begins to roll out the apps in the UK or globally.
Background Notes
The BBC announced (17.02.2010) that it is to launch ‘a new range of applications that will deliver BBC Online services to a range of mobile devices’, commencing with ‘mobile applications for BBC News and BBC sport on a wide range of smart phones’ starting with a BBC news application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch in April 2010. These are to be followed on RIM (Blackberry) and Google (Android) operating systems later in the year. The BBC states that all applications will be free of charge and the BBC Worldwide version will feature advertising.
Core public services BBC News and BBC Sport to be repurposed for a wide range of smartphones, including iPhone, Blackberry and Android mobiles
About the Newspaper Publishers Association
The NPA says: “The NPA is the trade association for British national newspapers and its role is to represent, protect and promote the national newspaper industry. Its current members are Associated Newspapers, Evening Standard, Financial Times, Guardian News & Media, Independent Newspapers (UK), MGN (Trinity Mirror national titles), News International and Telegraph Media Group.”
