Scrap BBC governors, say MPs

A committee of MPs has condemned the BBC Board of Governors as a bunch of part-time amateurs threatening the future of the Corporation.

Parliament's National Heritage Select Committee, which yesterday released its long-awaited report, The BBC and The Future Of Broadcasting, says the corporation cannot expect to survive in the coming age of new digital channels and interactive TV if it continues to be managed by part-timers with no knowledge of broadcasting.

Instead, the committee, which is chaired by Gerald Kaufman, wants to see a hands-on executive chairman appointed by the Secretary of State for National Heritage who is backed up by a professional board of governors.

At present, the BBC's Board of Governors is comprised of the great and the good, such as former trade union leader Bill Jordan, Lord Lennox, a former ambassador to Spain and Margaret Spurr, a former headteacher.

"The present governors were no doubt an extremely worthy collection of people, Mr Kaufman told BBC Radio 4's The World At One.

"But in this cut-throat world of huge expansions in broadcasting, it is simply inappropriate for the BBC to go on being run by a part-time group of the great and the good."

The BBC said its governors were custodians of the licence payer's interest and not a Plc so no change was needed.

As well as professional directors, the report recommends that the Board of Governors should lose its right to regulate the BBC on taste and decency matters. It wants an external regulator like the Independent Television Commission which oversees Channel 4 and ITV.

But the committee does not believe now is the time to move to a single regulator, covering the BBC and the commercial sector. It wants a simpler body in ultimate control of the corporation.

The report also recommends that the BBC should be able to borrow from banks for expansion without the debt adding to the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement and thereby contributing to the Government's debt. "We believe it should be run as a business. But we want the public service nature of its activities to be safeguarded, and that is why we recommend the external regulator" said Mr Kaufman.

The report casts doubt on the long-term future of digital terrestrial broadcasting. In January, ITV broadcasters Carlton Communications and Granada linked up with Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB and the BBC to apply for three digital frequencies that could start broadcasting 30 channels into British homes from next year.

The report concludes that the digital system has will only last for a short period because of its inability to supply truly interactive TV services such as video-on-demand.

The committee also said the funding formula by which Channel 4 pays the ITV companies millions of pounds every year should be ended as soon as possible. But the MPs dismissed calls for Channel 4 to be privatised."We are at a loss to understand why there is any consideration whatever of privatising Channel 4," the MPs said.