Sharing
idEaS/
CrEaTing
valuE/Part Two:
Annual Report andAccounts 2008/09

The BBC Executive’s
review and assessment

BBC EXECUTIVE’s REVIEw And AssEssmEnT 2008/09/

BBC PURPOSES / financial performance / the year
AT A GLANCE / DIRECTOR-GENERAL foreword /delivering creative futures / PARTNERSHIPS /020/
	Performance

Objectives / television / RADIO /FUTURE MEDIA & Technology / journalism /commercial /084/
	GOVERNANCE
Executive board /summary Governance report /094 /Responsibility
Operations /104 /	Financial statements

Overview / Risk outlook / highlights / auditors’
STATEMENT / summary financial statement / ifrs /contact us / other information /Overview/

002/
OVERVIEW

001

OVERVIE

Overview/

003

W/

004 /	BBC PURPOSES/
005 /	financial performance/
006 / THE YEAR AT A GLANCE/
008 /	DIRECTOR-GENERAL foreword/
012 / delivering creative futures/
014 /	PARTNERSHIPS/

Overview/
purposes and financial performance/

BBC purposes/

Overview/

004

The BBC’s six public purposes – built on
our principles to ‘inform, educate andentertain’ – underpin all that we do, andhelp us to focus on offering everyone in
the UK memorable and distinctive content
and services that enrich their lives. Somehighlights from this year included:
Citizenship

The BBC has a worldwide reputation for its
reportage and analysis of the world we live in. Our
UK-wide, international, national and local channels
and services cover a wide range of stories tailored
for a diverse range of users. This year we led theagenda on the banking crisis and recession,and the Money Matters advice roadshow to
Manchester to explain the impact of the credit
crunch to individuals there. Others are planned.

Learning

The BBC promotes and supports formal andinformal education for children, teenagers andadults across television, radio and the web. People
with a passion to learn – the school student
needing online revision help with Bitesize or the
young man wanting to brush up on his Francis
Bacon so he can impress on a big date – will findengaging, entertaining and challenging content at
the BBC. Our tie-up with Tate Britain on Francis
Bacon last year is, in fact, just one of a range ofcreative partnerships that is taking existing content
to new audiences.

Creativity

The BBC offer includes unique and innovative
content that entertains and engages audiences.
Live music is key to our music offer – from
Elbow on Radio 2 to hip hop on BBC 1Xtra.
We commemorated the 250th anniversary ofthe death of Handel with a week of in-depth
programming: highlights included Radio 3’s Messiah
from Westminster Abbey. And we marked the250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns
with new recordings of some of his works. We
will be doing more poetry in the year ahead.

Community

The UK is an incredibly diverse place, and we aim
to reflect this diversity at national, regional andlocal levels. We offer services in English, Scottish
Gaelic and Welsh, and programmes in over 30
languages from Bengali to Urdu. For communities
united more by an enthusiasm than a geographicalor linguistic heritage, we offer output like Antiques
Roadshow and Songs of Praise, and websites
where people can meet and chat like The Archers’‘Mustardland’. Not to mention Radio 5 live for all
sports fans, and local and nations radio for Saturday
football commentary.

Global

Our global news services provide independentand internationally respected news and analysis toaudiences around the world, covering key stories
like the Mumbai terrorist attacks and the Israel/
Gaza conflict. On a lighter note, Radio 2 covered
major music festivals like Glastonbury and the bestinternational artists like Burt Bacharach at Electric
Proms and U2. BBC Worldwide launched a Spanish
language CBeebies, taking the best of UK content
to new audiences.

DigitalDigital switchover is now under way in the UK,with the whole UK due to be fully converted by
2012. BBC Online is used by 22 million each week,
and now listen to our radio services via digitalplatforms ten million. ‘Extending the benefits ofdigital to all’ means we support the people whoare last to adopt new technology, as well as thefirst. Up to seven million people aged 75 or over,disabled or living in care homes will be offered help
to switch to digital TV between now and 2012.

Financial
performance/

LICENCE FEE COLLECTION

BBC WORLDWIDE

We want to make it easier for people to pay
their television licence – online and telephonetransactions now account for over one thirdof the total, and have helped us keep collectionand evasion costs at 2007/08 levels.
Licence fee collection/evasion %
06/07
07/08
08/09

9.2
8.7
8.7

LICENCE FEE SPEND IN THE NATIONS
and regions

Spend outside London is down very slightly yearon-year as we deliver efficiencies and implement
plans to make 50% of our network television
production outside London by 2016 – up fromjust over one third this year.

Licence fee spend in nations/regions £m
06/07
884
984
07/08
948
08/09

Despite difficult trading circumstances for theindustry, BBC Worldwide increased its sales toover £1billion for the first time (including its shareof joint ventures and intra-group sales), however
its statutory profit was down – partly due tocontinuing investment as well as cost write-offs
in relation to the collapse of Woolworths and theCompetition Commission’s rejection of Kangaroo,
its video-on-demand proposal.
BBC Worldwide statutory profit
before interest and tax £m
06/07
07/08
86
08/09

Efficiency savings

We started our new efficiency programme in
April 2008 – and have already saved £237million(£192million net of costs). We have a target toachieve 3% cumulative savings of £1.9billion, which
will be re-invested in better content and services.
Gross efficiency savings £mProjected

2,000

530

1.9bn

08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13

Total

SPEND IN THE CREATIVE ECONOMY

Once more, we spent over £1billion in the UK’s
creative economy – commissioning programmes
from independents (37% of total eligible hours
over the year) and collaborating with othercreative partners.
Spend in creative economy £bn
06/07
07/08
08/09

1,500

470
1,000

390
500

1.1
1.1
1.1

111
118

0

300
237

005

Overview/

Commercial companies are accountable
to shareholders. In the same way wehave a responsibility to deliver value formoney to licence fee payers, managing
our income efficiently and ouroutgoings prudently, especially inan uncertain economic environment.

Overview/
THE YEAR at a glance/

THE year at a glance/006

BBC services are designed to complement eachother and offer viewers, listeners and users
choice, range and variety. Not all services arefor all audiences but all audience members
should be able to find something to inform,
educate or entertain them when and where
and how they want.

Overview/

NETWORK television/

NETWORK radio/

Future media/

Journalism/

Less than

BREAKDOWN OF
bbc spend/

295
(9%)
177
(5%)

£m

588
(17%)

Each UKhousehold pays
less than 39 penceper day FOR ALL
BBC SERVICES

2,336
(69%)

69%
Reach/%

3,396

television
radio
online
other

8.00
2.01
0.61
1.01

69
17
5
9

11.63

100

Radio

Future media

Just over £2 (17%) of the monthly
household licence fee is spent on radio.
The ten UK-wide networks cost just
£1.25 in total.

Just 5p in every pound of licence fee
is invested in BBC Online, home toour extensive news and sport websites,
and BBC iPlayer.

5%

Costs per user hour/p spenD by serviCe/£m(UK population who use service
each week)

BBC 1xtra
BBC 6 MusicBBC 7
BBC Asian network

Total

17%

Just over two thirds of the licence fee
is invested in television programmes
and services, equal to £8 per month
per household.

BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 4
BBC radio 5 LiveBBC radio 5 Live sports
Extra

2,336
588
177
295

%

For more detail see Note 2 in the financial statements.

Television

BBC One
BBC Two
BBC Three
BBC Four
CBBC
CBeebies
BBC HDBBC ALBA*

television
radio
onlineother£(how much to deliver service to users)(Total content spend)

007
6.8
7.5

77.6
57.4

1,142
451
10.6

18.7

16.8

7.8
5.2
8.0
0.6
0.4

9.5
1.8
7.0
29.4

21.3
26.1

87
55
36
16
2
3

Overview/

39p

P

0.6
0.5

33

3.9

40
40

6.3
19.1

1.3

11.9

86
57

2.3
2.6

1.4
1.1
1.2
1.7
0.8

3
7
7
5
9

4.5
3.4
2.0
6.9

(COST PER USER REACHED)
BBC online
BBC red button**

BBC News channel
BBC Parliament
BBC English local radio
BBC radio Scotland
BBC radio NAN Gàidheal
BBC radio wales
bbc radio cymru
BBC radio
ulster\foyle

9.7

43

112

2.7

25

13

8.1

8.4

48
18.5

0.3
18.6
21.6 (includes RnG)

2.9

109
7.1

25
18.2

5.0

17.8

11.5

6.4
35.6

3

4.4

* BBC ALBA is currently only available via Digital Satellite. It is not available to cable or Freeview households.
** The audience measurement metric changed in January 2008; the 2008/09 figure is more robust than historically reported comparators.

4
13
12
15

OVERVIEw/
DIRECTOR-GENERAL
Foreword/

Overview/

008

This has been one of the busiest years
in the BBC’s history. A year of creative
success across all our services. A yearof decisive advances on the road to fully
digital broadcasting. But it was also ayear which showed what can happen if,even for a few thoughtless minutes, theBBC forgets its values or the people who
own it and pay for it, the British public.
But I want to begin with a different theme. A few
weeks ago, as part of a brilliant season celebrating
poetry across television, radio and the web, Simon
Schama presented a kind of love letter, in the formof a television documentary, to the poet John
Donne. As well as Donne’s sonnets and otherpoems, the programme touched on Donne’s
religious prose – notably No man is an island.
This year we have committed ourselves irrevocably
to the belief that no broadcaster – and certainly
not the British Broadcasting Corporation – is an
island. In its own right, the BBC is one of the mostformidable and respected broadcasters in theworld, but the BBC should never forget that it is
only one part of a wider media environment. Overthe past 12 months, we have focused as neverbefore on our responsibilities to that wider world.
In the UK, as around the world, commerciallyfunded media have been wrestling with the twin
challenges of structural change – driven by thedigital revolution and the competition that has
followed in its wake – and the impact of an acutenear-term recession. As a result, many companies
are fighting for their lives. Rather than sit back andrely on the relative security of the BBC’s licence fee

income, we’ve asked ourselves what we can doto help sustain, not just the rest of the public
service broadcasting system, but the rest of the
UK media sector.
Partnerships are not a new idea for the BBC. For
decades, we’ve been jointly developing technologies
in partnership – DAB and many of the technicalstandards behind Freeview are examples – withcolleagues and competitors across the industry.
But in 2008/09, not least in response to theGovernment’s Digital Britain agenda, the BBC greatly
increased its focus on a range of partnerships fromways to support alternative sources of regional news,
to new digital platforms, to new cultural alliances
to open up fresh creative opportunities and newarchival treasures to the British public. We’ve signed
agreements with partners ranging from ITV plc
to Arts Council England.
The partnership agenda points to a new more
open, more porous BBC. But that must never
be at the price of any diminution of the qualityof the programmes and services we offer to ouraudiences. In fact, this was a vintage year for BBC
output, from the largest set-pieces like the Beijing
Olympics and Paralympics – which went beyond

Overview/009“In its own right,
the BBC is one of
the most formidable
and respectedbroadcasters in
the world, but
the BBC should
never forget that
it is only one partof a wider media
environment.”
MARK THOMPSON/
DIRECTOR-GENERAL/

Overview/
DIRECTOR-GENERAL
Foreword/

Overview/

010“The partnership agenda points toa new more open, more porous BBC.
But that must never be at the priceof any diminution of the qualityof the programmes and services
we offer to our audiences.”“Audiences want to be
surprised, inspired, moved,sometimes even shocked
by what they see and listen
to, but they want it all tobe underpinned by strong
values of dignity, honesty
and trust.”

For our journalists, serving hundreds of millions ofpeople in the UK and around the world every day,it was an extraordinarily busy and successful year.
As I write this, the wisdom of the decision to launcha new Persian television news service towards theend of the year is plain for all to see.
Our digital services had a year of startling growth.
The iPlayer, launched just three months before
the year began, became a regular, essential partof the viewing and listening lives of millions oflicence payers. Video became much more widely
available across our website and users responded
immediately – so much so that we had served
more video by the end of the opening ceremonyof the Beijing Olympic Games than we did during
the whole of Athens just four years earlier. Our
mobile services broke numerous records. Digital
television switchover, one of the biggest engineeringand public information challenges the BBC has everfaced, got off to a solid start.
But it was also a year of intense controversy about
the BBC. Controversy about our place in the futureof public service broadcasting – where both BBC
Trust and Executive made, and continue to make,the case that unique receipt of the licence-fee iscritical to maintain the BBC’s political and editorial
independence. Controversy about my decision,as the BBC’s Editor-in-Chief, not to broadcast
the proposed DEC emergency appeal for Gaza –a reminder that strict adherence to the principleof impartiality, which we know is what the British
public expect and demand of us, sometimes leads

to difficult and disputed decisions. And controversy,
above all, about an edition of The Russell Brand
Show which went far beyond all acceptableboundaries, not just of taste, but of behaviour
and respect to others.
We took immediate steps to minimise the chancesof anything like that happening on the BBC again.
But extensive consultation with the public in thewake of the Brand affair has also made it clear tous that the public do not want the BBC to lose its
nerve or its willingness to back the best writers andperformers and producers when they want to takecreative risks.
This is the central challenge the BBC faces –a challenge which is just as relevant and importantin the digital world of 2009 as it was when the
BBC first started commissioning ground-breaking
comedy and drama before World War II: torecognise that there are absolute boundaries andto ensure that we always stay within them, but also
to accept that audiences don’t want the BBC toplay safe either. They want to be surprised, inspired,
moved, sometimes even shocked by what they see
and listen to, but they want it all to be underpinned
by strong values of dignity, honesty and trust.
It’s a difficult line to walk, but at its best the BBC
can rise to the challenge with confidence andpanache. That’s what we did in so much of what
we broadcast in 2008/09. And it’s what we intend
to go on doing in the years to come.

Mark Thompson
Director-General
18 June 2009

011

Overview/

outstanding coverage of sport itself to reveal
some of the myriad faces of modern China – tooutstanding television dramas like Criminal Justiceand Little Dorrit – to some of the best themed
seasons of programmes we’ve ever broadcast.
The way the BBC marked the Darwin anniversary,for instance, showed what we can achieve in
inspirational knowledge-building when we use
our services and the great reservoirs of creative
talent of our own programme-makers and our
independent partners in concert.

Overview/
delivering creative futures/

Delivering creative
futures/
The BBC is privileged to be able to tell
the stories of our audiences. We reflect
their experiences, and report the newsand events that shape their world.

Overview/

012

As their world is changing, so too is ours – we have to adapt to changing audience
expectations. For example, BBC iPlayer helps to bridge the gap for many between
linear broadcasting and embracing the on-demand world, and we are using mobile
technology to reach, in particular, younger audiences who are traditionally lesslikely to use BBC services. Such initiatives represent part of our six-year Delivering
Creative Futures strategy, a fundamental part of our root and branch restructure
aimed at cutting costs to enable sustainable investment in new and innovative
content and services.
A framework of measures was developed to support the delivery of the six primary
Delivering Creative Futures objectives and to ensure that efficiency savings do not
adversely impact what we offer audiences.The BBC Trust approved this frameworkin November 2007.
We have a broad range of commitments designed to support us as we deliver
our public purposes, and as outlined in the Trust’s review of our year.This is thefirst year of reporting performance against these particular key performancemeasures.The BBC Executive feels that although the signs are encouraging, witheach metric across the BBC remaining steady or improving slightly, it is too early
to say whether performance is robust or if the changes are established. We willcontinue to monitor performance, and will report more fully in the Annual Reportfollowing the National Audit Office’s independent assessment in 2010.

In Part One of the Annual Report, the Trust provides a more comprehensive review of the BBC’s
performance against the six Delivering Creative Futures objectives. These are the main highlights.

I

M

The BBC reached an average of 93% of the
UK population each week last year, the sameas the previous year. The reach figure by service
is given in the following pages.

One third of respondents (34%) agreed strongly
that the BBC is High Quality, up slightly from lastyear. This is a stretching target and going beyond
the requirement only to agree that the BBC is High
Quality which attracted support from a total of
66%. The BBC’s average score out of ten
for high quality also rose slightly to 6.4.

Weekly pan-BBC reach %
07/08
08/09

Scoring 8+/10 for High Quality %
07/08
08/09

Maintain value among highapprovers and improve value
among low approvers

Average score /10 for High Quality
07/08
08/09

34
6.3
6.4

The proportion of people who agreed strongly
that BBC television is ‘original and different’ has
shown the biggest performance increase, up 4%
from last year to 36%.
BBC television is original and different %
32
07/08
08/09

36

Restore Trust in output

The average score out of 10 for ‘I Trust the BBC’has risen to 6.0 for the 29% who strongly agreewith the statement (also up slightly year-on-year).
Scoring 8+/10 for ‘I Trust the BBC’ %
28
07/08
29
08/09
Average score /10 for ‘I Trust the BBC’
5.9
07/08
6.0
08/09
This target stretches beyond the requirement
only to agree with the statement ‘I Trust the BBC’,
which attracted support from a total of 57% (upfrom 55%). The proportion of those who trust
BBC News is higher still at 78%.

There was a slight improvement in perception
among both groups year-on-year.
Scoring 8+/10 for Overall Approval %
07/08
08/09

36
37

Scoring 1-4/10 for Overall Approval %
13
07/08
12
08/09

Efficiency savings

We started our new efficiency programme in
April 2008 – and have already saved £237million(£192million net of costs). We have a target toachieve 3% cumulative savings of £1.9billion, which
will be re-invested in better content and services.
Gross efficiency savings £mProjected

2,000

530

1.9bn

08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13

Total

1,500

470
1,000

390
500

0

013

Overview/

32

93
93

300
237

OVERVIEW/
PARTNERSHIPS/

Adding value
throughpartnerships/

Overview/

014

For at least the last 50 years, the UK
has enjoyed a dynamic and diverse
media industry where the BBC, fundedby the licence fee, has survived andthrived alongside an energetic andcompetitive commercial sector.

Together, they have been a flagship for British
creativity, encouraged social and political debate,and earned a reputation for outstanding andobjective journalism. And been the envy of
the world.

The new media landscapeWe were the first country to have a national
broadcaster, and more recently one of the firstto develop many of the new technologies andplatforms that are now revolutionising the rangeof media available to our audiences, from thelaunch of multichannel satellite television and
DAB radio in the 1990s, and BBC iPlayer more
recently. The UK has also spent more on original,
free-to-air programming than any other European
country, becoming the leading European exporterof TV programmes in the process. All of thishas helped this country evolve an extraordinarilyrich broadcasting environment, both for theviewer and listener, and for programme makers,
advertisers, media companies and othercommercial stakeholders.
The licence fee has always played a major role inthis, both by enhancing and broadening consumer
choice, and by funding types of content that might
not be readily financed by commercial operatorsor might be at best limited. Comedy is expensive
to develop – and is high risk: without the licencefee we may never have had TW3, Monty Python,Not the Nine O’Clock News or Little Britain pushingboundaries. We may not have had the scale ofsome of our best costume dramas like Pride &Prejudice, Cranford or Little Dorrit. And landmark
cultural and educational series like Civilization orLife on Earth – where the return on investment inaudience terms does not in itself justify the highinvestment of time and money – would not havedelighted audiences.
The licence fee allowed the BBC to set abenchmark that others had to match. British
audiences expected – and still expect – the best.
But now new challenges are forcing unprecedentedchange, and testing some long-held assumptions
about the way UK broadcasting should operate.
As in so many other areas of public life there are
two key factors at work here: the impact of newtechnology and economic reality.
In little more than a decade digital has shifted froma ‘nice to have’, to being the primary technology
driving the broadcasting agenda. From the BBC’s
perspective, digital now underpins everything
we do at each stage of the programme-making
process, as well as the way that content isbroadcast, re-packaged and sold. And it opens
up opportunities in everything from educationand training, to business and commerce, to public
engagement in the democratic process.
At the same time, digital has already transformed
the wider broadcasting sector, blurring theboundaries between traditional forms of media,
and making it harder to segment audiences, either
in national, behavioural or demographic terms.
As a result, the whole UK broadcasting sector
needs to become more agile, more efficient andmore responsive, and that includes the BBC. We
are all having to work much harder to competewith all the different forms of entertainment andRobot character ‘Digit Al’promotes digital switchover andthe Switchover Help Scheme.

Yet the context for these exciting developments
could not be worse. Recessionary pressures havedrastically reduced advertising revenues, making life
less certain for the commercial sector. Although net
advertising revenue should pick up again when theeconomy starts to recover, it is realistic to assume
that advertising spend will never reach its historiclevels again, which may threaten the continuing
profitability of some of the major players, andmake others unsustainable in the long term.

More information on our initial
Freesat partners can be foundon their websites:www.freesat.co.uk
www.harvardplc.com
www.panasonic.co.uk
www.humaxdigital.com/uk
www.arqiva.com
www.it-solutions.siemens.com

Our own position is very different: we know thelicence fee gives us unique privileges, and that we
enjoy steadier and more predictable revenues
than the rest of the industry as a result. We havealways taken our responsibilities seriously – wehave been the major industry trainer, for example
and last year provided training to over 20,000 fromthe commercial sector free of charge – but weneed to do more to sustain a stable and successful
broadcasting industry across the whole of the UK.
And we can only do this if we play a more active
and collaborative role than ever before.
If we are going to support the creation of highquality content, and deliver even better value
for licence fee payers, we will need to evolve
new approaches to co-operation that may wellchallenge many of our established ways of working.
But we are confident we can do this. After all, we
can bring a great deal to both creative and technicalpartnerships, from access to unrivalled resources
and services across the country, to provenR&D expertise.

Sharing our expertise with others
Freesat – the new free-to-air satellite service for the UK –was launched in May after several years of planning and extensive
collaboration between the BBC and partners Freesat UK Ltd,
Digital TV Group (DTG) Testing Ltd and a small initial groupof receiver manufacturers Panasonic, Humax, and Harvard(previously Alba plc).
We brokered our own technical knowledge and a rangeof competing expectations of the platform from all Freesat
stakeholders to create the technical specification which all Freesat
stakeholders must now follow. This specification is now freely
available to any manufacturer that wants to enter the Freesat
market – provided its final product is approved by independent
test house DTG Testing Ltd.
We worked closely with all parties – in particular the
manufacturers to understand the potential capabilities of theirproducts, and with Freesat to understand their requirements
for new features to enhance the user experience. We refinedthese often conflicting inputs, helping to debug problems, toget the products to prototype stage. We then involved Siemensand Arqiva to get the first transmissions on air.
This was 6 May 2008 – since when approximately 400,000
Freesat receivers have been sold. More manufacturers are getting
on board, and from an initial three partners, there are now six
Freesat receiver manufacturers with products in the shops, andmore to come.
The BBC has more or less taken a back seat now, and our role
has reduced. However, we still offer technical advice and areoccasionally required to update the specification with new features.

015

Overview/

communication now available, which is having a
profound effect on what we make, how we makeit, who we make it for, and who we sell it to.

BBC Writers Academy
Our BBC Writers Academy is the only course in the worldthat guarantees writers the opportunity to work on prime time
television. Established in 2005 and run annually, each Academy aims
to create a pool of writing talent to work on some of BBC One’s
best-loved and most popular shows: EastEnders, Casualty, Holby Cityand Doctors (shown here).
Students learn the tricks of the trade that work, and experience
all aspects of drama production from editing to scheduling. But
more importantly for them, they get to enjoy masterclasses fromthe best in the business, including writers such as: Tony Jordan(EastEnders), Jimmy McGovern (The Street), Dominic Minghella(Robin Hood), Jed Mercurio (Bodies), Tony McHale (Holby City),
Ashley Pharoah (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes); as well as leading
directors such as: Bharat Nalluri (Spooks, Tsunami) and Dearbhla
Walsh (Little Dorrit).
Since its inauguration five years ago, 25 out of 32 graduates havegone on to gain full-time work in writing for TV, including 14
who are now established as core writers on continuing BBC
drama shows.
The next Academy course starts in September. Places for 2010
will be advertised in April that year on the BBC writersroom
and BBC Jobs websites.

016

Overview/

The BBC is always on the lookout for fresh, new, talented
writers and we do everything we can to get their voice heard
and their work produced for BBC film, TV and radio – fordrama, comedy, and children’s programmes. If you havea script you want to send in, then you can do this via
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/writing/submissions.shtml

T
EnTERTAInmEnT

COmEdyChIldREn’sdRAmA

knOwlEdGE

TOTAl shARE
Of wOCC

2007/08

2007/08

2007/08

2007/08

2007/08

2007/08

2008/09

2008/09

2008/09

2008/09

2008/09

2008/09% ChAnGE% ChAnGE% ChAnGE% ChAnGE% ChAnGE% ChAnGE

64% 62% 100% 45% 66% 74%
59% 76% 70% 59% 75% 73%-5%-1%+14% -30% +14% +9%
Note: The WOCC (Window of Creative Competition) is a creative space open to both in-house and independent producers, and is in addition to the
25% independent quota.

K

Putting it into practice

We believe that partnership will be crucial to thedevelopment of the UK media sector over the
next few years. The BBC Trust shares this belief,
and has asked us to look at how we might do thisin a way that would benefit both licence fee payers,
and UK public service broadcasting as a whole.
They are particularly keen that we should look atcollaborations with smaller firms and institutions,as well as our larger peers, and that more ofthese should be with organisations based outside
London, as we are currently doing with Bradford’s
National Media Museum and Glasgow’s Science
Park, workplace to CBeebies’ eponymous
fictional character Nina from Nina and the
Neurons and one of several locations for CBBC’s
Do Something Different.
So we have identified and researched a series of
specific partnership proposals, and have developed
more important possibilities for the future:• using our know-how to create a common
digital production standard for the whole UK
broadcasting sector that includes both archiveand production tools. Sharing such technology
should generate significant cost savings foreveryone involved, and would open up many
new creative opportunities.
• at the same time, we have already announced
that we want to share not just the technology,
but also the brand and look and feel of iPlayer,
which has been such a success for the BBC.
This could deliver real and sustainable
benefits to other broadcasters and content
owners, offering them substantial savings ondevelopment costs of their own stand-alone
sites, to increased audience access and higher
advertising revenues. If successful, we could
potentially end up with a ‘federation’ of ondemand public service broadcasting services
on iPlayer, with each broadcaster exploiting
its own rights as appropriate.
• we are also looking at ways in which the global
scale and reach of BBC Worldwide could be used
to generate revenue for other UK public service
broadcasters, while its ability to deliver sustainablevalue to licence fee payers is protected.
These are in addition to our proposed
collaboration with ITV on regional news, andour work with other broadcasters on internetconnected and High Definition TV.

At the end of 2008, Deloitte assessed all these
proposals, as well as a number of other smaller
initiatives, and they estimated that by 2014 theseideas could generate over £120million of additional
benefits each year for the UK’s other public service
broadcasters. Some of this would come fromnew revenues, and some from reduced costs,
or avoiding the loss of existing revenue streams.
Alongside these proposals we are also exploring
partnerships with the wider media industry, as partof our response to the government’s interim Digital
Britain report.
For example, we are investigating whether there
might be more we can do to support Britain’s
newspaper industry, which is one of the mostcompetitive in the word. From this summer thiswill include training for local newspaper journalists,
including free access to our College of Journalism
online editorial training resource, and might beextended to include more online links, and more
syndication of online content. Radio journalists too
will have access to this training. And in addition to
our existing good working partnerships on digitalradio and DAB that date back several years, weare now proposing a series of new projects withcommercial radio including the development ofa standard interface for all digital radios which
could handle both live and on-demand listening,
and the creation of an online digital radio player
which would offer high-quality live streamed radio
services from the BBC and other commercial
and community radio operators. These plans havebeen broadly welcomed across the commercial
radio sector.
By bringing the UK’s media providers together
we can deliver increased public value by offering
audiences open, simple-to-use, common digitalstandards and platforms.

Looking ahead

The UK broadcasting industry started this century
with huge advantages over its main foreigncompetitors. Even in the face of a recession the
UK still enjoys a unique public service broadcasting
ecology, and can draw on a strong track recordof digital innovation. The BBC is at the heartof both, and is opening up its resources andexpertise to third party partners in a way it
has never done before.
This is good for us, and good for them. But mostimportant of all, it is good for our audiences.

017

Overview/

Table 2/ Top indies
based on spend
TV

T
Total
2008/09£m

2007/08£m

2006/07£m

Independent TV, radio
and online productions

435

479

414

External programme
facilities and resources

265

248

271

Acquired programmes
transmitted

101

90

88

Artists, contributors
and copyright

305

299

299

BBC Performing groups

23

22

28

1,129

1,138

1,100

Creating productive
partnerships: advantages
and challenges

Overview/

018

Many licence fee payers are unaware how muchof their money is already invested by the BBC in
the wider creative economy. More than a third of
all licence fee income is spent on contracts withindependent producers and other suppliers, andmost of what remains pays directly for creative
talent and creative content. This has been thecase for many years; what we are contemplating
now is a far more comprehensive and extensive
commitment to partnerships, which could makea real difference to broadcasting in the UK.

Chart 1/ Spend in creative economy £bn
06/07
07/08
08/09

1.1
1.1
1.1

We spent £435million with the external
independent sector in television and radio
production and new media last year, just partof the total £1.1billion that we invested in thewider creative economies.

Our audiences tell us that these genres are still
important to them, and so we have a responsibility
to do what we can to protect and promote them.
Hence our recent memorandum of understanding
with ITV, which explores how we can pool our
regional news resources and infrastructure to help
sustain regional news on ITV. This might include
sharing our eight main news centres in England andWales, and accommodating most of ITV’s small andmedium-sized bureaux at our own regional andlocal offices. We are exploring how this could be
used to support other providers of regional news
were current obligations to change.

While retaining the strong direct link between thelicence fee and the BBC, the advantages of suchan approach are obvious: it spreads the benefitof the licence fee investment even more widely, itoffers a stable source of investment for the creative
economy even in a recession, and it supports thecreation of first-rate content that the market alone
might not otherwise deliver.

This is just one good example of the value to begained from partnerships. But our approach also
carries challenges and risks, even if they are lessimmediately apparent. If we are going to increase
our partnership work substantially we needto do it in a way that does not result – even if
unintentionally – in negative or adverse conditions
for other stakeholders, especially other media
players and programme makers.

Even in good times there are some areas
where the commercial broadcasting sector will
never want to participate – the numbers do
not stack up and so the potential return does
not justify the investment – but these are often
areas that the BBC sees as central to its own
output: if children’s programming, live music, andorchestral performance still flourish in the UK, it
is largely because of the BBC. And whether as aconsequence of the downturn or not, there aresigns that local and regional news, international
newsgathering, indigenous television drama,
comedy, and serious documentary may all befacing similar pressures.

We already have a history of profitablepartnerships with independent writers, producers
and programme makers, which has given us classics
from comedy Birds of a Feather to entertainment
with University Challenge and debate with Question
Time; there have also been a number of successful
technological joint ventures, like PAL, NICAM
stereo, Freeview and Freesat. Indeed, we havealways taken a lead role in the development andpromotion of collective standards, technologies
and platforms for the UK’s public service
broadcasters, and we have always shared ourown technological advances and advantages
with other industry players.

Supplying the BBC
We aim to choose all our strategic suppliers carefully,
to ensure that they have a specific expertise and deliver
value for money.
ongoing relationships have existed for many years with, forexample, service providers that are directly critical to our
broadcasting activities, such as arqiva, siemens and ses
astra who provide and maintain our distribution networks.
all our supply arrangements are managed through our
specialised procurement teams, to ensure we comply
with the relevant regulations, and use industry-standard
terms of trade. information on all our procurement
needs – including new tenders – can be found on
www.bbc.co.uk/supplying

As we expand our work in this area through newpartnerships we hope to help develop futuretechnologies and services which can be used notjust by the BBC, but by other broadcasters andmedia players, and in turn benefit our audiences
and licence fee payers. For example, our R&D
laboratories are working with ITV and BT todevelop a simple, open standard for internet TV.
If approved, this will allow people to use services
like iPlayer, ITV player, and YouTube in theirliving-rooms, as well as on their PCs. We are also
involved in developing the new standard for HighDefinition on digital terrestrial TV, and collaboratingin other cutting-edge broadcast and internet
protocol technologies.

Overview/

019“The digital age offers remarkable
opportunities to widen access toobjects through online resources.
The planned History of the World
website will be a unique and innovative
partnership between the British
Museum and the BBC, utilising
the story-telling power of objects
to engage both a UK and a global
audience with world history. I am
delighted to be working with the BBC
across the UK to deliver this hugely
exciting and ambitious project.”
Neil MacGregor, Director,
The British Museum

Opening up the archives
The UK’s many cultural and artistic archives are a priceless national
resource, but many of them have not always been easily accessible
to the public. We are working with some of the country’s
foremost museums and art collections to put their treasures
online, and so make their broadcast material available to a muchwider audience across the whole UK, both for learning andeducation, and for entertainment.
For example, from September to January this year we linked up
with Tate Britain on a Francis Bacon retrospective to mark thecentenary of his birth – archive footage from the BBC which had
never been broadcast before is still viewable on the Tate’s website.
In the coming year the British Museum is partnering with Radio 4
to create a multimedia package around a History of the World in 100
Objects, we have plans to make the Arts Council’s collection offilms available on BBC Online, and we have a new partnership with
the British Film Institute which will explore new ways of making
archive material available on the widest possible range of platforms,
and develop new industry standards for managing, storing anddistributing content.

022 / our objectives/
028 / television/
046 / RADIO/
064 / FUTURE MEDIA & Technology/
070 / journalism/
080 / commercial/

PerforPerformance/021

mance/

Performance/
Our objectives/

A PORTFOLIO OF DISTINCTIVESERVICES DESIGNED TO MEET
THE NEEDS OF OUR DIVERSE
AUDIENCES.
From the hugely popular BBC One – watched by four outof five people in the UK every week last year – and Radio 2(the most popular national radio station in the UK with over
13 million listeners) to those with smaller audiences such as
BBC Parliament, CBBC and Radio 3, each drawing in its own
discerning and loyal audience to its distinctive offer – the BBC
seeks to connect with as many UK viewers and listeners as
it can at some point each week.
We are funded by a licence fee – so it is only right that eachhousehold gets value back from us for their investment,
and we are pleased to report that, last year, we werewelcomed by 93% of the UK population into their homes
in an average week…

Performance/022

Performance/

023

MEMORABLE AND ORIGINALPROGRAMMES THAT STAND OUT.
…that 93% of British people who come to our content eachweek have a wide range of interests and passions, and ourambition is to offer them a range of programmes and content
that they cannot find anywhere else.
So whether it’s programmes that capture the mood of thenation – from the millions of viewers who secretly watch theEurovision Song Contest (not to mention those who listenedon Radio 2 or via BBC iPlayer) – or unique and original dramawith Little Dorrit or programmes that unite communities
of interest like Antiques Roadshow, shown here, or Songs ofPraise or live sport – 42 million watched our coverage of
the Olympics and a million more people visited our sports
websites than in a normal week – we want audiences toknow that the BBC has something distinctive that they want
to experience, and that we are worth visiting.

Performance/
Our objectives/

Performance/024

Quality AND QUANTITY:
AUDIENCES EXPECT BOTH.
Both on television and on radio, the BBC offers a rangeof programmes and titles that the market, left to its own
devices, would not provide. Standout programmes this year
included Baroque, shown here, and The Art of Italy, both fromBBC Four, and the widest range of live performance foundanywhere:The Proms, Electric Proms, Glastonbury,T in thePark. Elbow in concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra
was the most successful digital music project in BBC history
with nearly one million requests to see the concert via Red
Button. And over half of all music output on BBC Radio 3
is either live or specially recorded.

025
Performance/

Radio 4 comedy is peerless – except perhaps on BBC
television, which adapted two original Radio 4 series fromthis year – I’ve Never Seen Star Wars and Genius. BBC One’s
perennially popular My Family is on its ninth series andstill draws in around eight million viewers each week.
During 2009 it will mark its 100th episode, only the third
British sitcom in recent years to reach this milestone.
The others were also from the BBC: Birds of a Feather
and Last of the Summer Wine.

Performance/
Our objectives/

Performance/

026

Value=REACH+QUALITY+IMPACT
DELIVERING VALUE IS NOT JUSTABOUT SPENDING LESS.
But while we aim to spend carefully – we have improved
our performance and our efficiency every year since 2000 –cost cutting does not in itself deliver value.
Last year we invested £1.1billion in the UK’s creative
economy – more than ITV and Channel 4 combined overthe same period. Just one of our great successes is In The
Night Garden, made by Ragdoll for CBeebies. It became
our most popular pre-school programme ever as soon as
we started showing it two years ago. And through BBC
Worldwide, we have been able to license and sell a rangeof toys and DVDs that help us make money on the brandand deliver a return to licence fee payers for their investment
through us in programmes and content. BBC Worldwide
also sells programmes and formats, and last year sold all
100 episodes of In The Night Garden to China, where
Igglepiggle and friends will be seen by an estimated 300
million children later this year.

Performance/027

Performance/
Television/

Performance/028“Great programmes and sympathetic schedulingaren’t enough any more. Digital and 360 degreecommissioning extend our options and help us
to better meet the modern viewer’s needs.”
Jana Bennett, Director of Vision

How we did last year
How ouRseRVICes1 dId

wHaT THIs Means

ReaCH

85%

48 million people in the uK (85% of the population) watch bbc television each
week, more than watch any other television broadcaster, including one in five
who watch bbc three, and the nine million who watch cbeebies and cbbc.

QualITY

64%

nearly two thirds of programmes (64%) across bbc one, two, three and fourscored a high appreciation score of 80 and above – up by over a quarter on
the previous year, signalling a recognition by audiences of increasing quality.

IMPaCT

110

Value

7.1p

bbc television won over 110 awards last year, from an international emmy
for David suchet’s lead performance in Maxwell and bafta’s for Cranford andandrew marr’s History of Modern Britain, to festival rose d’or for bbc two’s
Kombat Opera Presents… and a Grierson award for science documentary
Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives.

the average cost per viewer hour (the total cost of programmes divided bynumber of viewer hours) across our portfolio of ten uK-wide television services
is in line with the bbc one and bbc two figures, and highlights the overall value
delivered to licence fee payers by our distinctive mixed portfolio offering.

T

1

figures are based on services, in line with the service licence regime monitored by the bbc trust.

029
Performance/

MeTRICPerformance/
Television/

Television/
I

Performance/

030

BBC One remains Britain’s most popular channel and, across peak
hours, BBC Two continues to expand its reach to younger adults.
BBC Three has enjoyed a 10% growth amongst younger audiences,while reach on BBC Four continues to grow steadily. Our awardwinning children’s channels, CBBC and CBeebies, have held theirlead in a very competitive marketplace and BBC HD has witnesseda highly successful first year.
Freshness, invention and originality are found across our schedules.
Highlights in drama include Kenneth Branagh’s portrayal of Kurt
Wallander; memorable performances from Andrea Riseboroughand Lindsay Duncan, revealing two key periods in Margaret
Thatcher’s political life; the chilling House of Saddam; and Being
Human, created for BBC Three’s audiences on television and online,
and one of our most popular shows on iPlayer.
Across factual programmes, it is the big, bold ideas that are engaging
our viewers. Stephen Fry and Simon Schama each delivered his
own unique perspective on events in America in the run up to
2008’s historic elections, while natural history spectaculars, like
Lost Land of the Jaguar and Yellowstone, impressed. Feature-length
documentaries, The Fallen, Arena’s The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil
Spector, and Oscar-winning Man on Wire, produced in partnershipwith the UK Film Council and Discovery Films, proved just how
impactful documentary can be. Arts remain a priority.
We are the UK’s largest investor in original comedy. This year, we’ve
supported new and fresh approaches, such as the critically acclaimed
Outnumbered on BBC One, using children’s improvisation to develop
situation comedy for the first time. Right across the portfolio ofchannels we’re able to give room for comedy entertainment to
grow: QI and Gavin and Stacey, two successes on BBC One this year,
were concepts that originated and flourished on BBC Two and
BBC Three respectively.

It has been a year of innovation and invention for us as we are
creating new ways for audiences to experience our output beyond
the traditional linear broadcast, making our content more accessible
and delivering a richer experience to them. As a result, we have
won a host of major awards: the quality of sites such as Survivors
Interactive, our climate change product Bloom and CBBC’s MI Highhas been recognised worldwide. From Britain from Above, a Digital
Emmy Award winner, to The Darwin Season, we have delivered
complementary learning journeys on television and online. And forsome of our biggest events, this year really has felt like a coming ofage: from the Beijing Olympics to the first truly digital Red Nose
Day, audiences are engaging with our content in fresh ways.
Major contributions to the UK-wide networks also came fromcolleagues and suppliers across the UK. Sesame Tree was a
new series for young children about diversity and personal
development themes from Northern Ireland, which got a laterbroadcast on network television. From Wales, the Doctor Who
drama team worked with independent Shine and BBC One tolaunch a new series for Saturday nights, Merlin. And Scotland’s
A History of Scotland, co-produced with the Open University,
had a successful run on BBC One in its home nation before
an outing on BBC Two network.
Our plan is for 50% of production spend to be outside London
by 2016, from outside London by 2016, including 17% from Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland in line with the proportion of UK
population who live there.

BBC networks have the broadest range of programme genres of all UK broadcasters.

factualeducation (formal)
news and weather
current affairs
entertainment
sport
children’s
Drama
film
music and arts
religionbbc one2008/09
2007/08
1,993
2,021
–
6
2,330
2,400
237
206
638
481
755
603
475
496
937
1,114
638
690
91
109
104
105

bbc two
2008/09
2007/08
1,854
1,757
440
785
850
559
287
260
594
681
915
951
1,673
1,619
507
322
635
819
315
315
34
30

bbc three
2008/09
2007/08
1,427
1,333
–
–
32
32
167
126
1,160
1,170
27
25
–
–
364
329
206
184
72
71
–
5

bbc four
2008/09
2007/08
991
969
4
2
12
6
160
194
168
274
–
–
–
–
441
340
190
204
1,255
1,251
25
15

230

236

292

295

114

110

71

78

Total network hours (excl. opt-outs) 8,428

8,467

8,396

8,393

3,569

3,385

3,317

3,333

continuity

Performance/

031

Table 4/ BBC network television hours of output by genrePerformance/
Television/

BBC One aims to be the UK’s most valued television
channel, with the broadest range of quality
programmes of any UK mainstream network.
We offer a wide range of programmes, andare the BBC’s primary outlet for major UK andinternational events.

Performance/

032

R• Over the course of the year BBC One’s average
weekly all hours reach was 77.6%/44.0 million(2008: 78.2%/44.1 million). In peak hours(6pm–10.30pm), BBC One repeats were at 8.2%
(2008: 8.3%). We were also the only terrestrial
channel to improve performance in peak timeover this period.
• Around 60% of programmes on BBC One
had an appreciation score 80+ and above.
• Our average cost per viewer hour was constantat 6.8p (2008: 6.8p).
Some highlights from last year included:

Fresh ideas

T

New and distinctive ideas are the lifeblood of BBC
One. We continue to invest heavily in British comedy.
Wallace and Gromit’s A Matter of Loaf and Death wasan outstanding success with a record 16.2 million
people watching on Christmas Day (overall viewing
levels on the day were the highest since 1999). Freshcomedy included Sunshine, written by Craig Cash,and Life of Riley and the Old Guys from BBC Scotland.
The unique and award-winning Outnumbered
returned for a second series.

We worked with other BBC channels to bring thebest in comedy to a wider audience, migrating BBC
Three’s multiple award-winning Gavin and Stacey and
QI from BBC Two into our schedules. The Gavin andStacey Christmas Special had 7.2 million viewers anda 39% share of 16–34s. QI also did well at attracting
younger viewers averaging 20% share of 16–34s,
three share points above channel average.
Last Choir Standing was a different entertainment eventthat truly reflected diverse communities across the
UK. Fifteen amateur choirs, ranging from the Welsh
outfit Ysgol Glanaethwy to gospel singers Revelation
showcased their talents on peaktime BBC One.

High quality and ambitious
drama

Our drama included distinctive and ambitious pieces
such as The Diary of Anne Frank, Wallander, A Short
Stay in Switzerland, Criminal Justice and Fiona’s Story. We
successfully reached out to a younger audience withseries such as Saturday evening’s Merlin (6.3 million,
27% share) – and are keen to offer this audience
more from across the genres. No 1 Ladies’ Detective
Agency was particularly popular with diverse
audiences, getting a 29% viewing share amongst
African and Caribbean communities, almost double

Accessible factual programmes

It’s been a strong year for science with titles like Super
Doctors with Lord Winston and Michael Mosley’s
Make Me… through to Charles Darwin and The Treeof Life (watched by over six million). Building on thesesuccesses, we will introduce a new peaktime scienceshow from late 2009.
Alongside series such as Nature’s Great Events,
we introduced innovative formats that attracted
younger audiences to natural history – both Tiger Spyin the Jungle and Lost Land of the Jaguar performed
particularly well for this genre with 25–44 year olds
(20% and 21% share respectively of this group, in linewith general peaktime average).
Popular arts, culture and history are key to ourschedule, and this year included Jeremy Paxman’s
take on The Victorians, The Story of the Guitar and thereturn of acclaimed arts strand Imagine.

Major year of sport

2004/05		
2005/06		
2006/07		
2007/08		
2008/09		

R

9.7%
8.9%
8.4%
8.3%
8.2%

the average share of non-soap drama amongst
these audiences.
In Daytime, we were the only UK channel tocommission original drama, with Doctors andthe five-part series Missing, both produced
in Birmingham.

Distinctive and popular
journalism

We provided high-quality news on weekdays at
1pm, 6pm, 8pm and 10pm to meet a range ofdifferent audience needs – plus further analysis andinvestigative journalism elsewhere in the schedule.
We set the agenda and brought difficult topics
to a broad audience, but also created change.
Following Pedigree Dogs Exposed the BBC suspended
the televising of the dog show Crufts. And after
Panorama’s expose, Primark: On the Rack, thecompany reacted swiftly by dropping suppliers foundto use child labour. A news-reactive Panorama special
examining the Shannon Matthews case drew anaudience of 5.8 million.
The ONE Show reports each weekday from aroundthe UK and continues to grow in popularity. The
audience across the year averaged 4.5 million/22.5%,
up nearly two share points on the average for theslot prior to launch.
We introduced a new documentary slot at 10.35pm
on Tuesdays to report on contemporary Britain, andour weekly regional opt-out current affairs gives ouraudience an insight into stories of real significanceto their home area.
Current affairs in our daytime schedule included
a week of NHS-themed programmes and thereturn of Missing. Augmented by five new dramas,
Missing Live attracted sizeable daytime audiencesof 1.1 million, (24.3% share) and was directly
responsible for seven missing people being found.
We consolidated our consumer journalism slate witha refreshed Watchdog, a new series of Rogue Tradersand new series Rogue Restaurants.

033
Performance/

Table 5/ BBC One
peaktime repeats

Sport is perennially popular with our viewers andthis was a big summer for BBC Sport. Last year
our audience to the Wimbledon men’s final peaked
at 12.7 million viewers. Although none of thehome nations featured in Euro 2008, our coverage
attracted an average of over five million viewers
and a particularly high 28% share of 16–34s. The
Olympics achieved an average 35% share, and ourbiggest daytime audience in over eight years. And
we marked the moment the Olympics were handed
over from Beijing with the London 2012 Party with
one in three of all TV viewers at the time tuning
in to BBC One (32.9% share).
This year we relaunched both Watchdog and
The ONE Show as true multiplatform propositions
with their websites at the heart of the editorial
content of the television shows. We will continue toincorporate different applications – from message
boards to masterclasses – into our websites toenhance the audience experience, and draw innew viewers.
In the year ahead, we are also aiming to deliver
programmes that extend our appeal and broaden
our range of viewers. The new peaktime Countryfile
will address the issues and concerns of under-served
rural communities; new drama Small Island will reachout to ethnically diverse audiences; and our new
science show will appeal to younger 25–44 year
old viewers – all key groups that we would liketo serve better.

Performance/
Television/

BBC Two brings programmes of depth andsubstance to a broad audience. It originates
the greatest amount and range of factual
programming of all our channels, combinedwith distinctive arts, comedy and drama.
Arts, comedy and drama

T

Performance/034• Over the year, BBC Two’s average 15-minuteweekly reach to viewers remained strong
57.4%/32.6 million (2008: 57.6%/32.5 million).
Despite increasing competition from digitalchannels, we maintained our all hours shareamong 25–44 year olds (6.4% versus 6.5%
in 2008).
• Over two-thirds of programmes on BBC Two
had an appreciation score 80+ and above during
the year.
• Cost per viewer hour last year was up year-onyear to 7.5p (2008: 7.0p).

R

Building knowledge

Table 6/ BBC Two
peaktime repeats
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09

32.5%
27.4%
30.1%
29.3%
32.6%

From John Prescott: The Class System and Me to An
Island Parish, we celebrated the rich diversity of lifein the UK. Wonderland presented glimpses of theextraordinary lives of ‘ordinary’ Britons while thedebilitating impact of dementia was documented
in Terry Pratchett: My Life with Alzheimer’s.
Bruce Parry’s award-winning series Amazon
documented his epic journey from the Peruvian
Andes to the Atlantic coast, while new series Explore
combined distinctive travel journalism with intelligent
analysis of international current affairs. Peter Owen
Jones witnessed religious devotion in action for
Around the World in 80 Faiths and Across the Andes:
Beyond Boundaries followed the progress of disabled
mountaineers tackling some of the world’s mostchallenging peaks.
History landmarks included World War II: Behind
Closed Doors and A History of Scotland, which averaged
1.5 million and 2.2 million viewers respectively.
One-off specials such as Timewatch: Stonehenge andHadrian’s Wall represented a highly distinctive offer,particularly on Saturday evenings, where we haveseen a year-on-year share increase of 5% in thishighly competitive part of the schedule.

Our line-up of contemporary live musicalperformance – including Later… with Jools Holland
and the Electric Proms – featured a diverse range ofperformers like The Stereophonics, The Killers andAl Green. Classical music series Maestro attracted
audiences of over 1.7 million in peak time, and was
one of our most talked about series of the year.
We maintained our commitment to arts journalismin The Culture Show – which also found a new,extended home in our peaktime schedule, wecelebrated British originality in British Style Genius,
and we went behind the scenes during the makingof Wayne McGregor’s new ballet Infra.
In comedy, we complemented established favourites
like Mock the Week and Never Mind the Buzzcocks
with Jonathan Harvey’s touching and highly original
sitcom Beautiful People. With an average of 1.2 million
viewers, it will return for a second series.
Our dramas – notably the critically acclaimed
House of Saddam – tackled some of the mostimportant stories of our times. Einstein and Eddingtonpresented viewers with a new interpretation of thedevelopment of one of the most important
ideas in science: the Theory of Relativity; and Moses
Jones probed the lives of Ugandan migrants inmodern London.
In the year ahead, we will chronicle the effects of thecontinuing economic downturn with a documentary
series Recession Britain and a drama inspired by thecollapse of Lehman Brothers. We’ll also offer Andrew
Marr’s Age of Churchill and a complementary featurelength drama inspired by Churchill’s life in politics.
Our science landmarks How The Earth Made Us andSolar System will give viewers a fresh insight into theorigins of human life and our planet, while Pyschoville,
a new series by the creators of The League of
Gentlemen, and the medieval misadventures ofaccident-prone action hero Krod Mandoon promise
to strengthen the comedy line-up on BBC Two.

BBC Three is dedicated to innovative British
content and talent. The channel aims to provide
a broad mix of programmes aimed primarily at
younger audiences.
News, current affairs andtopical issues

R• BBC Three’s average 15-minute reach in all
homes was up to 18.7%/10.6 million (2008: 17.3%/
9.7 million). Among our target audience of
16–34’s reach was also up, to 26.0% (from 23%).
• Nearly one third of BBC Three’s programmes
during the year (31%) had an appreciation score
80+ and above.
• Cost per viewer hour for the year was 10.6p(down from 12.9p in 2007/08).

New UK talent

We have a key role in nurturing new talent, as
demonstrated by the successful migration of themulti award-winning Gavin and Stacey to BBC One.
We employ a diverse range of UK talent frompersonalities such as Jamelia and Alesha Dixon to
the youthful cast of Scallywagga. In comedy, The
Wrong Door combined new British writing talent
with innovative use of cutting-edge CGI technology.
Coming of Age was a new sitcom written by 19 year
old Tim Dawson and featured six new, young
comic actors.

Taking creative risks

In drama, our mould-breaking Being Human
garnered large young audiences (average audience of
930,000 and 6.3% share of 16–34s – high for a digitalchannel) and critical acclaim. Originally a one-off
pilot, a series was commissioned on the strengthof innovative scripts and strong viewer response
to exclusive online video ‘prequels’ ahead of launch.
Listening to our audiences is key to our successwith our target age range.
Not all risks bring in big audiences, though. Our Belief
Season, which included the documentary Deborah 13:
Servant of God, was creatively vibrant but did not pullin viewers to the channel. Even so, it is importantthat we commission such bold content others would
not attempt.

The hourly 60Seconds Bulletins brought neatly
packaged news content to 5.3 million viewers eachweek. Current affairs strand Mischief covered issues
from housing to gang culture; the Born Survivors
season looked at teenage pregnancy, child carers
and self-harm. BAFTA-nominated documentary
series Blood Sweat and T-shirts allowed us to explore
globalisation and its impact on the developing world.

Interactive innovation

Our development as a multiplatform network has
led to a range of innovative projects. Born Survivors’
mix of minisodes and online content has been used
as a model across the BBC. And we syndicated
BAFTA-nominated Bryony Makes A Zombie Movie
to other websites – it had over half a million viewers
on YouTube.
BBC Three’s priority is to continue delivering
distinctive, high quality programming that will bevalued by our young target audience. Where Our
Food Comes From will look at food provenance andthe developing world. We will also be focusing on
young people and vocational skills with a new factual
format – Young Butcher of the Year. More new andoriginal comedy is on the way with The Gemma
Factor, and We Are Klang.

035
Performance/

TPerformance/
Television/

BBC Four aims to be British television’s mostintellectually and culturally enriching channel,
offering a distinctive mix of documentaries,
performance, music, film and topical features.
T

Performance/

036

reacH

7.8%
16.8p
cost Per
vieWer Hour

• BBC Four’s reach continues to grow steadily.
In the 2008/09 our weekly 15-minute reachaveraged 7.8%/4.4 million (2008: 7.0%/4.0 million).
• BBC Four has the highest appreciation scoresof all BBC television networks – just under
three quarters of its programmes (73%) had
an appreciation score of 80+.
• The average cost per viewer hour was stable
at 16.8p (2008: 16.7p).
Last year we broadcast over 3,300 hours ofprogramming across the range of genres, excluding
sport and children’s output, but including:Distinctive output anddiverse agenda

Seasons of programmes exploring subjects aseclectic as the Medieval Period, Literacy, Motoringand Japan delivered rich content and deeper
knowledge to BBC Four audiences last year.
Our season of programmes on Britain’s first female
Prime Minister included Margaret Thatcher: The Long
Walk to Finchley, which attracted just over a million
viewers on its first outing alone. The drama wasthe centrepiece of the season, with other highlights
including The Thatcher Years, The Falklands Play, anda special edition of Dinner with Portillo.
In science, programmes such as The Story of Maths,
Big Bang Night and Science and Islam, provided someof the channel’s most ambitious programmes ofthe year.
A wide range of programmes on the visual arts
included art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon’s
celebration of The Art of Italy, and Waldemar
Januszczak’s examination of the cultural legacyof the Baroque.

Classical music featured prominently last year.
There was extensive coverage of the annual BBC
Young Musician of the Year competition, 17 concertsfrom this year’s BBC Proms, two Mahler symphonies
conducted by Russian maestro Valery Gergiev andthe definitive film biography, The Passions of Vaughan
Williams, on the life of a towering figure in twentiethcentury British music.
Popular music fared well on the channel too.
Programmes here included the feature-length
documentary Prog Rock Britannia, a season devoted
to American Folk, film profiles on Quincy Jones andNeil Young, and coverage of Jazz and World musicfrom Glastonbury.

A global perspective

With films such as Roman Polanski: Wanted andDesired; Operation Iraqi Film-maker and Shot in Bombay,
our international documentary strand Storyville told
stories of ethical, cultural and political complexity.
For our Traveller’s Century season, the explorer
Benedict Anderson followed in the footsteps of theesteemed travel writers Eric Newby, Laurie Lee,and Patrick Leigh Fermor, while The Thirties in Colour
showcased rare, previously unseen and historicallyimportant footage shot all over the world.
Over the year we gave UK television premieres to
26 international movies in many different languages.
In a single night dedicated to the German film
director Werner Herzog, we screened someof his greatest films, including Aguirre Wrath ofGod, Fitzcarraldo, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
and Nosferatu The Vampyre. Our major series ofprogrammes on Japan included many acclaimed
feature films, including the period drama Gohatto,
the road movie Kikujiro, and the comedy Ping Pong.
In the year ahead, programmes will include a monthlong Poetry Season (in partnership with BBC Two),complete with studies of the Anglo-Saxon classic
Beowulf, the Middle English masterpiece Sir Gawain
and the Greene Knighte, and a six-part series on theinspiration that great poets have derived from the
British landscape. New documentaries will coversubject-matter as varied as ancient African history,
computer technologies and playground games.

The CBBC channel offers a distinctive mixedschedule for 6–12 year olds. We aim to encourage
each child to strengthen his or her existing
interests and develop new ones.

R• CBBC is still Britain’s most popular channel foryoung children, in a highly competitive multimedia
market, with 32.2% reach among kids aged 6–12
(Disney: 26.7%). Our average 15-minute weekly
reach to all viewers aged 4+ was 5.2%/2.9 million(2008: 5.6%/3.1 million).
• CBBC was the BAFTA Children’s channel of theyear this year.
• The average cost per viewer hour was stable at
9.5p (2008: 9.6p).
Last year we launched the CBBC iPlayer and our
output included:

Helping children tounderstand themselves andthe world around themHelping children to understand their place inthe world and be active citizens is a key priority.
Highlights this year included Who Wants To Be A
Superhero, Beat the Boss and My Wish, giving children
a voice and hearing their ambitions.
Newsround has now opened its Manchester bureau,
ahead of our move to Salford. It provides 105
minutes of high-quality news live each week thatencourages its viewers to assess the facts andmake up their own minds. Election, CBBC’s criticallyacclaimed leadership challenge, engaged 6–12 year
olds in the political process on television and on
the web.

Informal learning

Serious Oceans took a group of children around theSouth African Cape. Sam and Mark’s Guide to Dodging
Disaster used unique footage from the BBC’s Natural
History Unit, mixing live action, archive and blue
screen to show the popular duo battle nature andperilous situations – they drew in 3.2 million viewers.

Popular entertainment shows have included thenumerical quiz show Get 100 and Gastronuts
encouraged children’s interest in the importanceof food and diet through wild culinary adventures.
SMART taught about the techniques of famous
artists; it averaged just under four million viewers.
Me and My Movie was our unique film making
experience for children – the winning entry was
unveiled at the Children’s BAFTAs.
Laughter is a central part of CBBC. Programmessuch as Legend, Sorry I’ve Got No Head and TMi
continue to inspire young audiences in creativeand innovative ways.

Fresh and original approaches

CBBC is the only significant investor in UK-produced
programming for this audience. We commissioned
over 60 hours of new, originated drama last year,
including UK drama with distinct UK voices – series
like The Sarah Jane Adventures, Roman Mysteries andTracey Beaker, and the one-off drama based on theJacqueline Wilson novel Dustbin Baby. The Revenge
Files of Alistair Fury won the Children’s BAFTA for
drama, one of six we won last year.
We offer a safe online experience for children
through our personalised online space MyCBBC
and pre-moderated web pages. Our multiplatform
commissioning process means that many of our
television programmes extend their offering into theonline space. Escape from Scorpion Island and MI Highboth delivered online gaming.
Next year, we will strengthen the delivery of our
citizenship purpose (identified in the BBC Trust’s
Review of Children’s Services) through a newcommission – Tronji – which will encourage children
to discover their own particular skills and use them inproblem solving situations and with more Newsround
specials on subjects like bullying. Online, newcommission Gamebuilder will provide a toolkit thatenables children to create, publish and share theirown online games.

037
Performance/

TPerformance/
teLevision/

CBeebies offers a mix of high quality, mostly UKproduced programmes designed to encouragelearning through play in a consistently safe
environment for children under six years old.
Learning through play

T

Performance/

038

reacH

47.5%
1.8p
cost Per
vieWer Hour• CBeebies remains the UK’s most popular channel
for 0–6 year olds in digital homes, with 3-minuteweekly reach to its target age range on average
47.5% (Nick Jr: 19.8%). Our average 15-minuteweekly reach to all viewers aged 4+ was
8.0%/4.5 million (2008: 7.7%/4.3 million).
• Our average cost per viewer hour last year
was 1.8p (2008: 1.9p).
Highlights for the year included:

New and imaginative ideas

CBeebies is the key investor in original programmingfor under six-year olds in the UK – spending£12.4million last year on original UK content, morethan any other broadcaster.
Returning strands this year included the art,
drawing and discovery animation Louie and the
BAFTA award-winning In The Night Garden, one offour BAFTAs won in 2008. New shows included
a familiar face in a new guise Postman Pat SDS,
the vibrant pre-school animation 3rd & Bird andChuggington, which opens children’s imaginations to
new discoveries and the true meaning of friendship.
We aim to explore new avenues for pre-school
television. June saw the launch of the multiplatform
initiative EcoBeebies, introducing our youngest
audiences to nature and the environment. 186,000
viewers watched the special launch edition Easy
Peasy EcoBeebies. The Green Balloon Club on televisionand the Green Stars Club online led the content.
We commissioned our first ever comedy-drama forpre-schoolers Grandpa in My Pocket, starring James
Bolan. Other new comedy included the sitcom
Nuzzle and Scratch. We have built a strong record
in educational entertainment, with programmes
including Something Special. We also continue toengage our youngest audiences in storytelling.
Derek Jacobi narrated Bedtime Story over the
Christmas period and Rob Brydon read during
Comic Relief Week.

We work with pre-school specialists to create
learning opportunities for our viewers. Content
is carefully crafted to stimulate a child’s interest ina range of subjects including mathematics, literacy,
art and music appreciation.
We originated over 100 hours of new programming
last year. New shows included the beautifully animatedmusical animation 3rd & Bird from award-winning
Little Airplane Productions. TellyTales brings to life
fables and fairytales featuring real children and using
their own artwork for the backgrounds, and LazyTown
Extra builds on the talents of Magnus Scheving as
Sportacus in a new sports magazine format.
Mister Maker inspired creativity, Numberjacks
introduced audiences to problem solving and Space
Pirates brought musical styles and compositions toscreens. Kerwhizz, a ground-breaking, multimedia
entertainment show launched in October and the
comedy puppet show Big and Small encouraged preschoolers to become more aware of the different
views around them and so learn to be moresensitive to the needs of others.
The CBeebies website remains one of the BBC’s
most visited online sites – with just over 780,000
UK visitors each week – and is an integral part ofour brand. We will continue to use and developinteractive platforms to encourage the audience
to engage in its offer more deeply, specificallycommissioning a high quality fun literacy series.
A key priority for the coming year is to address
the recommendations in the BBC Trust’s review
of our service and to consider options for the futureof CBeebies radio by exploring different models
of audio content creation and distribution.

The BBC HD channel offers a mixed genre scheduleof programming in High Definition (HD) format,
most of which has been originated by the BBC’s
other television channels – BBC One, BBC Two, BBC
Three, BBC Four, CBeebies, CBBC and BBC Red Button– and which we either broadcast simultaneouslywith them, or as a repeat.

• This is the first full year of channel operation;
we reached the target nine hour/day service inMarch 2009 by when we had built average weekly
15-minute weekly reach to 528,000.
• The cost per user hour for the service was 7.0p
(2008: n/a).
Our service licence was granted in April 2008. We
had no service licence priorities for the year, but did
have a role to play in ensuring that the relevance andappeal of programmes from the BBC’s television
channels were maintained as consumer expectationsfor HD content grow.
During the year, our focus was on:

Supporting high quality
and original programming

DaiLy Hours9
7.0p

cost Per
vieWer Hour

Our output covered all television genres, fromdrama to documentary, film to comedy, children’sto sport, entertainment to major national andinternational events.
Programmes included Saturday night entertainmentshows such as Strictly Come Dancing, I’d Do Anything,and Last Choir Standing. We also captured many key
milestones for the first time, including live coverageof the US presidential inauguration.
Over the last year, BBC HD has attracted morethan 9% of all viewing in homes with access to HD
for programmes such as Hustle and Nature’s Great
Events. Other highlights included Tiger Spy in the
Jungle and Yellowstone in natural history, and in drama
Wallander, Tess, Diary of Anne Frank and, for children,
Dustbin Baby. We offered full coverage of all BBC
Two’s ten Proms, as well as a range of Electric Proms(seven in total), and November’s ceremonies of
Remembrance.
Sport dominated our summer schedule, with
Wimbledon, European Football Championships,
the Olympics and Paralympics. Our coverage of
the Beijing Olympics won the 2008 HD programmeof the year award.

Nurturing UK talent

We supported new commissions like BBC Three’s
Being Human and comedies such as Freezing, Beautiful
People, and Trexx and Flipside. We have showcased
programmes produced across the UK: Saxondale
and Massive (Manchester), Gardener’s World andDoctors (Birmingham) and A Question of Genius and
A History of Scotland (Glasgow), one episode ofwhich was among the most watched programmesof the week.
BBC HD will work to extend the range of content
available in HD in the UK, focusing particularly on
factual and factual entertainment areas. We aim tocontinue to grow reach for BBC HD, and we will
launch the channel on the Freeview platform assoon as technological upgrading is completed.

039
Performance/

TPerformance/
Television/

BBC Alba offers a distinctive coverage of subjects
as diverse as live contemporary and traditionalmusic, football and children’s programming.
Originated programming reflects and supports
Gaelic culture, identity and heritage to Gaelic
speakers and to those learning the language(or who might wish to learn).
It also offers an outlet for some archive material.

R

Performance/

040

T• BBC ALBA launched in September 2008,
and has had a weekly reach in Scotland of
4%, with an average audience of 220,000.
Full annualised audience figures will be available
for the 2009/10 Annual Report.
• BBC ALBA’s average cost per viewer hourfor the period it was broadcasting was 29.4p.
We had no specific service licence priorities for
2008/09. Our business priority this year was
to establish the service among our core target
audience, with our distinctive offer of daily news
and content for younger viewers.
Our 30-minute news bulletin, An Là, is broadcast
each weekday evening and offers viewers inclusive
coverage of Scottish, UK and world events.
Our children’s programming – which also doubles
as learning content for younger viewers – andbi-lingual programmes, such as Cuide ri Cathy,
offered a valuable access point for new speakers
and those interested in learning the language. Our
use of links between Gaelic radio, television andonline resources offered audiences a uniquely richprogramme and content offer.

In building towards a weekly reach of 250,000 –from fluent speakers to beginners – we will look
to reflect a wide range of aspects of Gaelic life andculture in our programming and content across
2009/10. Factual series and style documentaries,
such as Trusadh, will feature personal stories from
communities across the country; and music, live
and recorded, from key music festivals featuring
established new bands and musicians, will featureprominently in the schedules, seeking to link with
our audiences’ interest in home-grown musicaloutput and talent.

ofcom/As well as being answerable to licence payers via the BBC
Trust, BBC television is also subject to a number of programme
production quotas from Ofcom, which can require a delicate
balancing act as we try to deliver best value to licence fee
payers while at the same time meeting a regulatory obligation.

2008
London65.1%
scotland
3.7%
Wales
3.6%
northernireland0.6%
total nations 7.9%

2007
67.4%
3.3%
2.7%

midlands
3.9%
n. england
8.9%
s. england
14.2%
total regions 27.0%

4.1%
10.2%
11.9%
26.2%

total nations
and regions 34.9%

32.6%

0.4%
6.4%

total
regional
base
100.0% 100.0%
Based on Ofcom definitions,by calendar year.

Table 8/ ofcom tier 2 quotas

Quota

2008
actualindependent production quota
Hours of qualifying programmes acrossall channels
25%
Hours of qualifying programmes on bbc one 25%
Hours of qualifying programmes on bbc two 25%

37%
31%
45%

regional programme making
spend on qualifying programmes
Hours of qualifying programmes

35%
33%

		
30%
25%

network news and current affairs programmes
Hours of news on bbc one
1,380
1,557
Hours of news on bbc one in peak
275
276
Hours of current affairs on bbc one
and bbc two
365
520
Hours of current affairs on bbc one
and bbc two in peak
105
111
levels of original Production
bbc onebbc one in peakbbc two
bbc two in peakbbc threebbc three in peakbbc fourbbc four in peakcbeebies
cbbc channel
bbc news 24
bbc Parliament

70%
90%
70%
80%
70%
70%
70% approx
50%
80% approx
70%
90%
90%

regional Programming		
Hours of regional programming
6,580
Hours of programmes made in therelevant area
95%
Hours of bbc one news
3,920
Hours of bbc one news in peak
2,010
Hours of non-news programming in peak
1,030
all non-news programmes adjacent to peak
355

86%
99%
82%
95%
86%
78%
84%
81%
81%
79%
97%
97%
7,212
99.9%
4,799
2,355
1,060
375

Chart 2/ Network television reach versus
main competitor groups %The UK has a dynamic television broadcast sector,
with no one player dominating the market to thedetriment of others. UK audiences expect – andvalue – choice and quality, and exercise that choice.
All BBC Television
07/08
08/09

85.0
84.6

Total other channels
07/08
08/09

70.6
75.0

All ITV
07/08
08/09

75.4
75.1

All Channel 4
07/08
08/09

66.6
66.7

All five
07/08
08/09
All Sky
07/08
08/09

42.8
44.4
32.5
35.2

We exceeded all our Ofcom quotas once more last year.
Note, however, that these figures are the BBC’s own
assessment. Ofcom will formally report on our performancein its Communications Market 2009 Review, due to be
published later in the year.

Note: Performance against Statements of Programmes Policy 2008/09 can be found on the website bbc.co.uk/annualreport041
Performance/

Table 7/ TV
programming spend
by Region as a % ofeligible spendPerformance/
Television/

NON-NETWORKBBC TELEVISION/
Wales: promoting learning to broad audiences

BBC oneThe BBC in Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelandalso offers more bespoke national services toviewers. Each week, programmes are made by eachof the three nations to complement the networked
BBC One schedule in terms of distinctiveness,breadth and quality – but which are designed toreflect and support national culture within thenation. These programmes displace or replacecontent otherwise available on BBC One network.
Each of the three nations is expected to fulfil the
expectations of a national service licence. These are
written to ensure that our Nations’ offers remain
consistent each year, and reflect the key issues anddevelopments affecting the lives of audiences there.
Last year, the specific priorities noted for BBC One
in the Nations were:

Performance/

042

Table 9/ All BBC television
spend outside London– Network and Nations
and Regions
The table shows our spend
on BBC television programmes
made in the Nations
and Regions.
08/09 07/08£m £m
england329 339
northern ireland 36
36
scotland
98
97
Wales
53
60
516 532

Scotland: history project

A third of people living in Scotland (1.6 million)
watched the landmark television series A History of
Scotland. Produced in partnership with the Open
University, it had an average audience of 526,000
and a further 210,000 tuned in to the Sunday
evening repeat. The series was also broadcast on
BBC Two network in early 2009 and each of the fiveepisodes averaged more than two million viewers,
making it one of the channel’s most popular Saturdaynight network shows since the turn of the year.
The series was complemented by schools’ television,concerts by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,
radio programmes and an accompanying website,
incorporating audio guides around sites of historicalinterest and video clips from BBC Scotland’s richprogramme archive.
Next year our priorities include increased coverageof business news, and coverage of the UK andEuropean elections, as well as a focus on developing
and showcasing new comedy and drama.

In 2007, Coal House captured the imagination of
our viewers. Last year we extended this andCoal House at War brought 1944 in a south Wales
mining community to life and made modern history
accessible to audiences of all ages. Stripped fourtimes a week over three weeks, the series wasparticularly successful in attracting young families.
In the week-long series Hospital 24/7, BBC Wales
opened the doors of the largest teaching hospital in
Wales, revealing the personalities and specialists thatdeliver core health services in Wales.
Looking to 2009/10, our priorities include new
pre-watershed drama to attract a broader audience
profile and to continue to act as a powerhouse for
new talent.

Northern Ireland: coverage of the Northern
Ireland Assembly and political issues

We reflected a changing and sometimes complex
news agenda, including the work of the Northern
Ireland Assembly. Our investigative current affairs
strand Spotlight looked at the impact of the economic
downturn and the continuing extent of community
divisions, including a special report on the fatalshootings in Antrim and Craigavon. BBC Newsline
improved its audience share and undertook anumber of theme-based reports on social issues andconcerns – some of them suggested by membersof its e-panel. Audience appreciation scores for BBC
Newsline remained consistently higher than thoseachieved by comparator news programmes. We
delivered 491 hours of television news and current
affairs in 2008/09.

“Making programmes with the best
existing and emerging local talent
for our viewers is a privilege. We
actively support local creativity
and skills training in order toextend our national talent base.”
Menna Richards, director,
BBC Cymru wales

We explored events from the recent past in
documentaries about the Maze escape and theestablishment of the civil rights movement in
1968. These programmes were broadcast as partof a new television schedule which included
landmark local programming in peak time. Other
commissions sought to reflect the diversity ofcommunity life and included an affectionate portraitof a group of children and their enthusiasm fordisco dancing in Disco Babes, a Season Ticket Special
on local Olympians and Dying for a Drink whichlooked at issues around alcohol misuse and its
cost to individuals and society. Our non-news
local programming for BBC television audiencesin Northern Ireland achieved an average shareof 28.1% – a modest increase on the 2007/08.
In the year ahead we will examine a broad range ofpolitical and non-political issues and developments
across our news and current affairs programming,
including the continuing effects of the Troubles, local
education, teenage parents and suicide.

BBC Two

BBC Two in Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelandalso provide opportunities for targeted programmingthat meets the needs and interests of local audiences
across the range of genres. Last year only BBC
Scotland had a specific priority for BBC Two:

Scotland: well-being programmes for theover-50s

In an innovative programme initiative, we partneredwith The Big Lottery Fund to produce PrimeTime,a six part series to celebrate and promote healthand well-being for the over-50s in Scotland. With
£3million available to the most deserving projects,
150 groups, from across Scotland applied: 18 madeit through to the finals with six eventually chosen by
public vote. Supported by a dedicated media literacy
campaign, the series attracted an average weekly
audience of 75,000.

Programmes not available
anywhere else

Each of the nations also supplied a broad rangeof programmes – from arts to drama, from live
performance to history, from comedy to politics –that engaged with and delighted their viewers acrossall our channels and services.
In Scotland, the three part World According to RobertBurns drew an average audience of 180,000, withplaudits from viewers, many of whom told us theyfound the series to be original and different. It
formed part of BBC Scotland’s celebration of the250th anniversary of the birth of the bard which
included a comedy ‘mockumentary’ and a BurnsCeltic Connections concert on BBC One Scotland,
special programming on Radio Scotland and the firstaudio recordings made to an online archive of the
600 plus poetic works of Burns, with contributions
from HRH Prince of Wales, the First Minister andother well-known figures.

043
Performance/

Northern Ireland: reflect changes and diversityof Northern IrelandPerformance/
Television/“The BBC provides comprehensive
services in each nation whichview the world from a sharedperspective with their audiences.
We reflect our part of the UK
back to itself.”
Ken MacQuarrie, Director,
BBC Scotland

Performance/044

In Wales, our childhood season What Are We Doing
to Our Kids? explored a range of contemporarysocial issues, and included the series Changing Lives
which saw teenage siblings swap homes for a week,
exposing contrasting approaches to discipline, dietand housework. Peaktime documentary, One Family
in Wales highlighted the often corrosive impact
of poverty on childhood and levels of personal
aspiration. A quarter of a million viewers in Wales
saw this challenging programme. The South Wales
Valleys-based sitcom High Hopes, written by Boyd
Clack, returned and the final series of long-running
drama Belonging once more proved popular.
The landscape and history of Wales is important toour heartland audience, and last year we explored
Secret Wales while Big Country reflected life in thethree national parks of Wales. Monty Python’s
Terry Jones followed John Ogilby’s trail throughWales – he was the man who in 1675 produced theworld’s first road atlas. Using new technology andan array of experts, layers of the Welsh countrysidewere peeled back to expose some surprising
Hidden Histories.
BBC Northern Ireland developed a new series
for young children about diversity and personal
development themes. The Sesame Tree project
was brought to our screens in association with
Sesame Street Workshop and produced by local
independent company Sixteen South. Other
learning-related output included Na Doai, an
Irish language series for 3–5 year olds.
Irish language output became a more consistentfeature of our weekday evening schedule andincluded a mix of drama and magazine-styleprogrammes. Ulster-Scots output included afurther series of A Dander with Drennan. All of ourprogramming in this area reflects the additional
commitments arising out of a review exercise
initiated by the BBC Trust.

The work of the Northern Ireland Assembly andlocal political developments were covered as partof Stormont Live and within Hearts and Minds. Its
combination of reports, extended interviews andcontributor comments remains popular with local
audiences and reaches a secondary audience witha later repeat screening on BBC One.
New talent, programme ideas and production
techniques have been showcased in the 10pm slot
on Friday evenings, as part of our commitment toreaching younger audiences with programming thatreflects their lives and interests and which provides
opportunities for new talent and innovation. Slotshare among 16–24s went up from 4.1% to 4.6%.
The BBC has different priorities for audiences in
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Some ofthese are given below. For more information about
our services in each Nation, or for up-to-theminutes news, weather and sport information,
check out their websites.
In the year ahead:
BBC Scotland will look to address this year’sslight share underperformance on BBC Two
with programming that connects closely with ouraudiences in Scotland, including documentaries The
Scots Who Made the Modern World, The Lighthouse
Stevensons and Walking Wounded, which will follow
the personal stories of the rehabilitation into societyof recent Scottish war veterans. New comedy anddrama will also be a feature of the schedules andwe will broaden our range of sports coverage with
programmes such as Sport Monthly.
See www.bbc.co.uk/scotland
BBC Cymru Wales’ series Telly Tales, cocommissioned with CBeebies, was created bychildren for children. It uses innovative animationand live action techniques to bring popular folkstories from around the world to life for the childrenof today. We will continue to seek out further
opportunities for innovation.
See www.bbc.co.uk/wales

Daily drama Pobol y Cwm remains S4C’s mostwatched programme – weekday audiences wereat their highest levels for six years (50,000).
In America 08: Dewi Llwyd ar Daith, the Newyddion
presenter, travelled the breadth of the USA to
discuss the Presidential Election with Welsh
speaking Americans.
New children’s programming included magazine
Mosgito and a children’s version of Mastermind called
Mastermind Plant Cymru, with the familiar black chairand format.
The Welsh language interface to the BBC iPlayer
was launched, offering most of our Welsh language
television programmes after S4C’s exclusive sevenday window.
In the year ahead, the news provision will be
extended to provide a regular news service
throughout the day with additional daily andevening bulletins.

BBC Cymru Wales on S4C

We contribute more than ten hours ofprogramming to S4C each week. Highlights
this year included:
Daily news service Newyddion and Ffeil (news forchildren), both saw increased audiences.
Pawb a’i Farn (Question Time) averaged 36,000
viewers: we adapted the format for Radio Cymru.
131 hours of the National Eisteddfod, including
some Red Button content. The week’s Top 20
most watched programmes on S4C were all fromthe BBC.

Table 10/ bbc network and local television hours of output from the nations and regions
the table shows where 2008/09 originated programmes were made and broadcast.
london (er only)
2008/09

england(excl. london)

2007/08 2008/09

northernireland2007/08 2008/09

scotland2007/08 2008/09

Wales

2007/08 2008/09

total

2007/08 2008/09

2007/08

first transmission:
originated programmes network
bbc

–

–

844

963

9

10

193

139

74

92

1,120

1,204

independents

–

–

848

948

5

21

50

93

27

15

930

1,077

bbc aLba in-house

–

–

–

–

–

–

194

–

–

–

194

–

bbc aLba independents

–

–

–

–

–

–

394

–

–

–

394

–

sub-total

–

–

1,692

1,911

14

31

831

232

101

107

2,638

2,281

first transmission:
originated programmes nations and regions
bbc

316

314

3,797

3,760

564

556

657

723

580

642

5,914

5,995

independents

13

13

54

61

98

101

152

134

140

124

457

433

sub-total

329

327

3,851

3,821

662

657

809

857

720

766

6,371

6,428

total

329

327

5,543

5,732

676

688

1,640

1,089

821

873

9,009

8,709

note: based on ofcom definitions and therefore excludes news and foreign productions.

045
Performance/

BBC Northern Ireland will seek to consolidate
recent scheduling developments and to maintainthe diversity and appeal of our indigenous minority
language programming. Stormont Live will remain
an important feature of our output and will becomplemented by developments associated with
the BBC’s Digital Democracy project. Local comedy
talent will be showcased in a new television series
and we will continue to explore how BBC Two canfacilitate new and innovative programming aimed
at more specialist audiences.
See www.bbc.co.uk/northernirelandPerformance/
Radio/

Performance/046“Even in a world of growing choice, our focus
on outstanding quality means that BBC radio
remains at the heart of millions of people’s lives
and central to our culture.”
Tim Davie, Director of audio & Music

How we did last year
how ouRseRVices1 did

Reach

66%

two thirds of all radio listeners (66%) tune in to BBc radio each week – around
one in four listeners go to radio 4, our most distinctive speech radio service andthe biggest commissioner of original drama by hours in the world: 661 hours lastyear. radio 3’s audience grew slightly to two million last year.

Quality48%

nearly half (48%) of all programmes on BBc radio (including output on nations
and local radio services) had a high appreciation score of 80+, up from
42% the previous year.

impact

115

Value

1.6p

1

what this means

BBc radio services, orchestras and presenters won a host of awards last year
– over 115 in total – including a walpole award for radio 3’s Proms coverageand the midem opera award for the BBc symphony orchestra’s recordingof Janáček’s The Excursion of Mr Broucek. simon mayo was the Broadcasting
Press guild award’s radio Broadcaster of the year, while sony’s uK stationof the year went to radio 4.

the average cost per listener hour (number of hours of programmes divided bynumber of listener hours) across our portfolio of radio channels is 1.6p. our mostexpensive services, by this metric, are the important and unique national language
services radio nan gàidheal and radio cymru; the cheapest – notwithstanding
the amount of live music they each offer – are the popular radio 2 and radio 1.

figures are based on services, in line with the service licence regime monitored by the BBc trust.

047
Performance/

metRicPerformance/
Radio/RADIO/
2008/09 was a strong year for BBC network radio,with nearly 60% of all adults in the UK (29.8 million)
tuning in for at least 15 minutes each week.

Performance/048

The consistency of this performance with previous years reflects
the distinctive and high-quality content the BBC offered toaudiences across our portfolio during the year.
The highlights of our 2008/09 output have included a sell-out
Proms season, a succession of landmark factual programmes on
BBC Radio 4 – including Big Bang Day, broadcasting live from thecontrol room at CERN as the Large Hadron Collider was switchedon – high-impact social action campaigns on BBC Radio 1 andBBC 1Xtra, and exceptionally detailed, in-depth reporting on the
UK and global economic situation across our stations. BBC Radio 3
had a year of outstanding programming with 600 full concerts andoperas, and 40 new dramas.
Realising the enormous benefits digital listening can offer toaudiences remains a key priority for BBC Network Radio. Our
digital stations have continued to develop and ten million people
now listen to our services via digital platforms each week. We havecontinued to develop our online and interactive offering, integrating
our radio services into iPlayer and building a varied portfolio of
podcast services including popular shows such as Radio 4’s Friday
Night Comedy as well as offerings such as the Arts and Ideas
podcast from Radio 3’s Night Waves. Last year we had 7.6 million
podcast downloads on average each month in the UK – and afurther ten million or so globally as listeners everywhere gained
access to the best of UK speech and music audio content.
In the next 12 months and beyond, subject to Trust approvalin some instances, we will be collaborating with providers ofcommercial radio companies on a range of projects aimed at
growing the market and ensuring that radio as a whole has
a voice in the new media environment.

We will, for example, work to establish an online radio player thatenables listeners to access all UK-originated radio from a single
location on the web, and we shall seek opportunities to increase
access to the player through syndication to other websites (suchas social networking sites). At the same time, the BBC will set up
a new industry forum with the leadership of the UK’s commercial
radio sector. We will use BBC expertise and technology to benefit
the sector as a whole and, together, we will continue to give ouraudiences a high-quality and diverse choice of listening.
Overall, during 2008/09 BBC network radio has continued to
inform, educate and entertain listeners with an exceptional breadthand quality of output, and we shall continue to extend our creative
ambition across all our services over the coming year.
The Russell Brand Show on Radio 2
Two editions of The Russell Brand Show from October elicited nearly 43,000
complaints. the BBc trust’s editorial standards committee found that there
had been a number of serious breaches of the BBc’s editorial Guidelines.
a subsequent investigation by ofcom resulted in fines of £80,000 (forunwarranted infringements of privacy) and £70,000 (harm and offence).
since then action has been taken across the group to strengthen editorial
controls. the areas we have been looking at include:• strengthening compliance processes• additional production support in some production areas• clearer accountability and referral• new guidance for talent-owned Independent production companies• bespoke training
This review is ongoing and we will be re-visiting all our processes ona regular basis.

All BBC Radio
07/08
08/09
All Commercial Radio
07/08
08/09
Virgin AM/FM*
07/08 4.9
08/09 4.3
Classic FM
07/08 11.3
08/09 11.0
TalkSPORT
07/08 4.8
08/09 4.8
* Now broadcasting under the Absolute brand.

66.3
65.6
62.1
61.6

Table 11/ BBC Network Radio hours of output
by genre
The table shows the number of hours of each genre
broadcast in total from all our radio stations.
Music
News and weather
Sport
FactualCurrent affairs
Drama
Arts
Entertainment
Religion
Schools
Children’sPresentation
National Opts
Total hours

2008/09

2007/08

40,626
12,138
4,408
2,103
2,542
4,529
904
6,435
1,118
128
1,484
2,000
286
78,70140,54012,127
4,517
2,059
2,511
4,660
927
6,620
1,114
168
1,373
2,084
258
78,958As a result of changes in the classification of some entertainment
programmes the comparatives have been restated.

We welcomed the National Audit Office’s review
of radio production efficiency last year, which
recognised that some savings have already beenachieved. However, we are determined to increase
efficiency further, without compromising the qualityof our programmes. We will be reporting progressto the Trust on this next year.

049
Performance/

Chart 3/ BBC radio reach versus maincompetitor groups %Performance/
Radio/BBC Radio 1 aims to offer a high-quality service
for young audiences combining the best new
music, a comprehensive range of live studiosessions, concerts and festivals, and tailored
speech output.

R• Last year, average weekly reach to the station
was 21.3%/10.8 million (2008: 21.5%/10.8 million).
We play a particularly important role in engaging
younger audiences with BBC Radio, and reachamong our target 15–29s was 42.4%.
• Last year around one quarter (23%) ofRadio 1 programmes had high appreciation
scores of 80+.
• The average cost per listener hour was constant
at 0.6p (2008: 0.6p).
Highlights from the year included:

Innovation and creativity

Key projects included Radio 1 Presents Metallica,
visualised radio experiments including ScottCam
and The Chris Moyles Show during January, a Bank
Holiday ‘takeover’ of our daytime output by somespecialist presenters, and the International Radio 1
documentaries focused on the music and culture ofa series of foreign city and countries. We developed
more in-depth coverage of UK and internationalfilms in Edith Bowman’s weekday show, a morecomprehensive ‘blog’ online and several moviethemed days.

Performance/

050

Younger audiences

Our collaborations with BBC Switch included the first
Switch Live music event which saw 4,000 under-18s
enjoy a varied live line-up of UK and international
acts – we broadcast performances and backstage
interviews on the night. We also re-vamped theSwitch website, linking all elements of the Switch
family including the radio and TV editions of
The Surgery.
Top: Country Acid House
from Alabama3 formed
part of our coverage
from Glastonbury.
Middle and bottom: Radio 1’s
Big Weekend 2008, fromMaidstone in Kent. One of
the many live events we wereinvolved with this year.

Social action

For three weeks across August and September,Radio 1’s Alcohol Experiment looked at the risksof excessive drinking. Surgery presenter Aled Jones
drank twice the recommended daily amount of
alcohol for the course of the experiment, reporting
the short-term ill-effects of excessive alcohol
consumption on air and in an online video diary.
A careers campaign in November featured a range
of celebrities, including Sir Alan Sugar and LouisWalsh, talking about their careers and answering
listeners’ questions. We also ran a high-profile
money and finance campaign in January.

More content across the web

Alongside our own website, we continue to seek
opportunities to exploit the web as a whole. We
offered free ‘Christmas Presents’ – exclusive BBC
session and live lounge performances, each available
to download for 24 hours – and had around 600,000
UK downloads over the 12 days. We have an active
presence on several third-party sites, including
Facebook and Bebo, and we explore opportunities
to syndicate audio and video where it is appropriate
to do so.
In the coming year we shall ensure that BBC Radio 1
continues to engage with the next generation ofyoung listeners, with initiatives including an under18s club tour in the summer and a second Switch
Live event in the autumn, alongside social action
campaigns that we will run in conjunction with
Switch and BBC 1Xtra.

BBC Radio 2 brings listeners a broad range of
popular and specialist music with a particularfocus on British talent and live performances,complemented by speech output that covers current
affairs, documentaries, religion and the arts.
Commitment to UK comedy• Radio 2 remains the UK’s most popular radio
station with average weekly reach to the station
last year of 26.1%/13.3 million (2008: 26.2%/
13.2 million).
• Nearly two thirds (63%) of Radio 2 programmes
had a high appreciation score of 80+.
• The average cost per listener hour in 2008/09
was constant at 0.5p (2007: 0.5p).
Last year our priorities included:

British songwritingR

We explored and celebrated British songwriting
throughout the year. The Great British Songbook
was launched at a live event in November, withthe performers – The Feeling, Duffy, Adele, James
Morrison and Keane – all including a cover track intheir sets that was featured in daytime programming
the following week. We took the initiative online
with video interviews with new and emerging artists(such as Gary Go and Daniel Merriweather), and in
March we offered the Great British Songbook Player,
showcasing all the online content in a single easy-toaccess module.

Live performance

Our live events covered a wide range ofperformances, from the large scale events of Proms In
The Park and the Blackpool Lights to intimate sessions
at the Maida Vale Studios. There were outstanding
concerts from the likes of Neil Diamond, and Elbow
in concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra (themost successful digital music project in BBC history,
with nearly one million requests to see the concert
via Red Button). Other live music was featured inprogrammes such as Big Band Special, Friday NightIs Music Night and in programmes from Bob Harris,
Dermot O’Leary and Paul Jones, contributing to 260
hours of live music per year.

We have extended our commitment to UK comedy
talent, seeking out a new generation of performers
whilst developing new formats with establishedartists. We featured emerging talents including Jason
Byrne and Miranda Hart, and one-off pilots with
Rhod Gilbert and Ivan Brackenbury, whilst returning
strands included Clive Anderson’s Chat Room, Out To
Lunch, On The Blog and The Blagger’s Guide.

Speech programmes

Alongside our music and comedy programmes,
our listeners have enjoyed a wide range of speech
content this year. Our presenters interviewed
personalities including the Prime Minister and theleaders of the other major political parties, ABC’s
Martin Fry and Scottish folk star Dick Gaughan.
Meanwhile, our music documentaries covered thefull range of popular genres and their social context,
with highlights this year including actress Sue
Johnston’s exploration of the history and impactof the song You’ll Never Walk Alone during ourLiverpool Season; Paul Gambaccini’s six-part series
Jac Holzman’s Elektra Story charting the history of theinfluential US label; and comedian Lee Mack’s Soup
in a Basket that looked back to the 1960s heyday
of Northern clubs.

Programming for special
audiences

Once again, we broadcast programmes linking
British servicemen overseas with their families in the
UK. As in previous years, Jeremy Vine’s final show
before Christmas featured Jeremy and Canon Roger
Royle reading special messages from families to their
loved ones and service personnel sharing their own
Christmas plans. We also broadcast a special editionof Chris Evans’ show live from the army base at
Dhekelia in Cyprus, hosted by the Princess of Wales’sRoyal Regiment, Second Battalion.
Next year we plan to extend our focus on jazz, with
documentaries celebrating the 70th anniversary of
the founding of Blue Note Records and the life ofBillie Holiday, as well as programmes exploring thework of artists including Miles Davis, Benny Goodman
and Nat King Cole.

051
Performance/

Top: Elaine Paige with one ofher Sunday afternoon guests,
singer Johnny Mathis.
Bottom: Performances thisyear included Neil Diamondin concert for Radio 2 Live.

Performance/
radio/BBC Radio 3 centres on classical music, aroundwhich we provide a broad offering of jazz, worldmusic, arts programmes and drama; we also placea strong emphasis on musical performance fromacross the UK.
Speech and Ideas

Top: There are five BBC
orchestras, plus the BBC
Singers – the UK’s only
full-time professional choir.
Middle top: Bands Tuungand Tinariwen recording
a session for Late Junction.
Middle bottom: World Rootsin China included music fromthese Uyghur musicians.
Bottom: Presenter, writer andproducer Suzy Klein, pictured
outside the Royal Albert Hall,
home of the BBC Proms.

Performance/

052

R

Our speech programmes regularly offeredinternational perspectives, particularly through thebroad agenda of Night Waves and contributions to
the pan-BBC China Season, including reports fromremote areas on threatened musical cultures. Rites
of Spring considered aspects of the season in music
and speech, ranging from a new nature-inspiredcommission to consideration of global warming.
The third edition of Free Thinking, a festival of ideas
examining contemporary issues, provided a forum
for public engagement with our ideas output. Staged
in the 2008 European Capital of Culture, Liverpool,audiences were able to debate with public figures,such as Trevor Phillips and Tony Benn. In preparation
for the event, Radio 3 broadcast provocative dailyreflections from leading thinkers, Free Thoughts.
• Last year, reach to Radio 3 was 3.9%/2.0 million(2008: 3.7%/1.9 million).
• Radio 3 has the highest appreciation scores of all
BBC radio networks – 82% of its programmes
had an appreciation score of 80+.
• The network’s cost per listener hour was stable
at 6.3p (2008: 6.4p).
Our highlights during 2008/09 included:

Musical performance, British
culture and creativity

We broadcast over 600 complete concerts andoperas from venues and festivals across the UK andbeyond, and used major anniversaries as a means ofdeepening engagement with British culture. The 50th
anniversary of Vaughan Williams’ death was reflected
through new insights and Proms concerts, while –400 years after his birth – John Milton was celebrated
in an extended season, including a complete readingof Paradise Lost. The Proms provided deeper context
for music performances through Proms Plus, a daily
series of related talks and discussions. We sought
to develop public creativity by extending the New
Generation Artist Scheme and by providing spaces
for audience participation, for instance through‘Pianothons’ in various UK centres.

Original drama

In another wide-ranging year for drama, we
broadcast over 40 new productions, including works
by Racine, Marlowe, Lorca and Lampedusa, as well as
contemporary drama about Piper Alpha, the Good
Friday Agreement and the 7/7 bombings.
During 2009/10 Radio 3 will focus particularly onfour leading composers who had close associations
with the UK: Purcell (b.1659), Handel (d.1759), Haydn(d.1809) and Mendelssohn (b.1809).

BBC Radio 4 uses the power of the spoken word
to offer programming of depth which seeks toengage and inspire, with a unique mix of factual
programmes, drama, readings and comedy.
• Last year, average weekly reach to Radio 4 was
19.1%/9.7 million (2008: 18.7%/9.4 million).
• 59% of Radio 4 programmes had a highappreciation score last year.
• The average cost per listener hour last year was
stable at 1.3p (2008: 1.3p).
Our priorities during the year included:

Reporting the economy

As the global economic downturn deepened, dailynews and weekly current affairs programmes offeredcontinuing coverage and analysis, while challenging
prominent figures on their record. Evan Davis’s arrival
at Today was welcomed, both for his distinctive tone
and for his expertise in the biggest story of the year.
Listener numbers increased by about a quarter of amillion year-on-year to 6.7 million in Quarter 1 2009,
the programme’s highest weekly reach figure in overseven years.

Innovative comedy

New formats included Act Your Age, with different
generations of comics pitting their wits against eachother, and I’ve Never Seen Star Wars – a twist on thechat show, hosted by Marcus Brigstocke in which
guests such as Phil Jupitus, Barry Cryer and Dame
Joan Bakewell undertook a set of activities for the
first time. The format has already been adapted
for TV, as has another original radio format, Dave
Gorman’s Genius.

Top: H.H. The Dalai Lamainterviewed by Evan Davisof the Today programme.
Middle: Marcus Brigstocke,
host of Radio 4’s I’ve NeverSeen Star Wars (now alsoon BBC Two – shown here).
Bottom left: John Tusa, who
presented 1968 Day by Day
daily for six months.
Bottom right: Cast membersof The Ragged Trousered
Philanthropists, Andrew Lynch’s
adaptation of Robert Tressell’scelebrated masterpiece.

Landmark factual
programming

World on the Move, the most ambitious radio natural
history project ever, was a 34-part series of live
reports on animal migrations across five continents.
September’s Big Bang Day saw our schedule focus
on the switch-on of the world’s largest particle
accelerator, with unique access to the control roomat CERN and extended coverage of the event
alongside related comedy and drama programmes.
The website had 252,000 unique users. An extensive
season of programmes about 1968 rememberedand debated a turbulent year, and included 1968
Day by Day, a four-minute archive-based programmepresented by John Tusa and broadcast daily for six
months. The weekly omnibus achieved a 18.4% share,a record in the slot.

High impact drama

Our drama continued to attract big names including
Jim Broadbent, Johnny Vegas and John Prescott in
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Juliet Stevenson,
Jeremy Irons and Bill Nighy. The Hunchback of Notre
Dame was a unique collaboration with Graeae, thedisabled-led theatre company. We experimented withvisualisation (via Red Button) in The City Speaks. Overthe year we extended our range of podcasts, achieving
72,000 downloads for the sci-fi drama Torchwood,a record for a one-off BBC radio programme.
In 2009/10, Americana, a new weekly series, will offer
fresh perspectives on the culture and politics of the
US. We will also launch a large scale drama project:a dramatisation of the complete series of George
Smiley novels by John le Carré, with Simon Russell
Beale as the master spy.

053
Performance/RPerformance/
Radio/BBC Radio 5 live broadcasts live news and sport 24hours a day, covering events as they happen in anaccessible style that embraces contributions fromour listeners.
Developing investigative
journalism

Top: Victoria Derbyshire,presenter of the weekday
morning show.
Middle: Gabby Logan waspart of our Wimbledon team,bringing daily live coverageof the tournament.
Bottom: Simon Mayointerviews Prime Minister
Gordon Brown.

We launched the new investigative programme
Donal MacIntrye, which has built the profile of
our investigative journalism and engaged a wider
audience. Topics investigated included social housing
fraud with reports from Reading, Northampton,
Exeter and Northern Ireland; the sex industry,
with an unusual report on women who pay formale escorts; the complex tax practice of ‘carousel
fraud’ which costs European taxpayers an estimated£170billion each year; and an investigation into
places which have become no-go areas forambulance crews.

Innovative sports coverage

Performance/

054

reach

11.9%
cost Per
listener hour2.3p

• Last year, average weekly reach to BBC Radio 5
live was 11.9%/6.0 million (2008: 11.7%/5.9 million),with 1.3 million listeners who listened to noother BBC Radio station. We have thehighest proportion of digital listening (25.8%)of all BBC stations that are also available
via analogue broadcasts.
• The average cost per listener hour in 2008/09
was 2.3p, constant on 2008 figures.
In 2008/09 highlights included:High-quality and distinctive
news output

We have created a core news team to provide
bulletins and coverage of breaking news tailored toour audience. Our coverage of the US presidential
election provided a unique perspective to ourlisteners by basing our coverage outside Washington
D.C., and by capturing the stories and opinions
of voters from across the US and of black listeners
in the UK. Our programming on the economic
downturn explained the issues underneath thetechnical language, including the two hour-longspecials Fighting The Credit Crunch which provided
immediate practical advice in response tolisteners’ questions.

We provided live coverage of all 47 medal-winning
performances by Team GB at the Beijing Olympics.
During the event, reporters made a series of special
short films and placed them on our website and on
YouTube. A special ‘Behind the Scenes’ programme
and podcast explored how coverage of major
sporting events is made. Elsewhere, the Football
Player, a customisable online service aggregating all
the latest news on teams around the UK, launchedin August and accumulated almost a million uniqueusers and 7.5 million page impressions by the endof March.
In 2009/10 5 live will offer innovative multiplatform
sports content around the key events of the year,
including Wimbledon and the Winter Olympics, andwe will make even more sports content available
on the Red Button, mobile and online. We will also
develop new ways to foster audience participation,with a particular focus on coverage of the next UK
General Election.

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra is a part-time networkthat provides additional sports coverage using
rights already owned by the BBC, to deliver
greater value to licence fee payers.
In 2009/10 we shall increase our focus on promoting
digital listening by providing high-quality and distinctive
programmes that are unique to digital radio, including
coverage of every ball of the Ashes series and special
coverage of the first-ever Ashes test in Wales, andan increased focus on Football League coverage.

R• Radio 5 live sports extra’s weekly broadcast andlistening hours vary across the year in accordancewith the sporting calendar. On average during
2008/09, the channel had a 15-minute weekly
reach to adults aged 15+ of 1.4%, equal to
0.7 million (2008: 1.5% or 0.7 million).
• The average cost per listener hour was stable
year-on-year at 2.6p (2008: 2.4p).
Our priorities last year included:

The home of cricket

We have continued to develop and promote thestation as the home of cricket on BBC Radio. In
particular, we developed a new style of ‘access allareas’ cricket commentary for the Twenty20 Finals
Day at the Oval in July, called ‘3-D cricket’, withcommentators placed on the boundary edge and in
the players’ dug-outs as well as in the commentarybox. We also provided full commentary on the
England team’s high-profile one-day and Test seriesin India and the West Indies.

Promoting 5 Live Sports Extra

We have identified new ways to build awareness ofthe station and increase its audience, broadcasting
replays and highlights loops from major live sporting
events – including boxing world title fights, the US
Open men’s tennis and Formula 1 Grands Prix – forlisteners unable to listen at the time of the original
broadcast. This new form of content has provenpopular with audiences – over 270,000 listened to
Formula 1 from Melbourne via iPlayer – and has
given us further opportunities to promote thestation from Radio 5 live.

055
Performance/

Top: Cricket commentator
Jonathan Agnew.
Bottom: We are the homeof cricket on BBC radio.

Performance/
Radio/BBC 1Xtra plays the best in contemporary blackmusic, with a strong emphasis on delivering highquality live music and supporting new UK artists.

Social action campaigns

Top: Jay-Z headlining theSaturday night at Glastonbury.
Bottom: MistaJam on weekday
evenings – featuring the top 10s.

• Last year, average weekly reach to BBC 1Xtra
was 1.1%/0.6 million (2008: 0.9%/0.5 million).
• The average cost per listener hour was stable
at 4.5p (2008: 4.8p).
Highlights have included:

Breakfast and early-evening
schedule
Performance/

056

reach

1.1%
cost Per
listener hour

4.5p

1Xtra Breakfast and MistaJam’s early evening
programme are now firmly established as key
showcases for the network and create focal points
for our audience. Trevor Nelson’s show is a highprofile entry point to the station for listeners at thestart of the day, whilst MistaJam provides a ‘key tothe underground’ to deepen audiences’ engagementwith contemporary black music. BBC 1Xtra’s
audience profile is thus distinct from many traditional
radio stations, with two ‘peaks’: one in mid-morningand another in the evening.

Live music

Our live music coverage included Jay-Z’s much talkedabout headline performance at Glastonbury, as well
as extensive highlights from the Notting Hill andLeeds carnivals. We supported up-and-coming talentthrough a series of sessions throughout the year; anda HomeGrown Introducing tour, featuring new anddeveloping UK artists.

We have worked with Radio 1 and BBC Switch toincrease the impact of our social action campaigns.
As with Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra’s Alcohol Experimentexamined the dangers of excessive alcohol
consumption for three weeks during August and
September, and a campaign focusing on personal
finance in January featured breakfast presenterGemma Carney attempting to survive on a strict
and limited budget.

Building the station’s profile

We have increased awareness of the station over theyear by sharing content and expertise. In particular,
Trevor Nelson’s Saturday evening show is broadcast
on both BBC 1Xtra and Radio 1 simultaneously,
and we have shared programming from key events
including the coverage of Glastonbury and theNotting Hill and Leeds carnivals.
Next year we aim to increase the impact of our social
action campaigns, and we are planning a special on-air‘takeover’ project for the autumn in which a group ofyoung people will be invited to undergo training andthen participate in the station’s output and share theirperspectives on modern black and urban culture in
the UK.

BBC 6 Music aims to engage with lovers of
popular music by offering the best of the BBC
sound archive alongside current releases
outside the mainstream, complemented bymusic news and documentaries.
• BBC 6 Music’s reach has increased steadily overthe last few years and climbed to a record 681,000
in the final quarter of 2008/09. Overall lastyear’s average weekly reach to the station was
1.2%/0.6 million compared to 1.0%/0.5 million
during 2007/08.
• The average cost per listener hour in 2008/09
was down year-on-year to 3.4p (2008: 3.9p).
Our priorities last year included:

New British artists

We have continued to foster new British artists
across our output, with 80% of artists recordedby 6 Music being British and 90% of the newmusic on Tom Robinson’s Introducing originating inand recommended by UK listeners. In addition,
the Tom Robinson Unsigned show exclusively uses
content from artists’ websites, whilst the live
performances broadcast via The Hub are aparticularly distinctive feature of our offer.

Live music

Over the year we broadcast 330 new sessions,nearly half of which were commissioned fromoutside London (including regular performancesfrom Manchester for the Marc Riley show), and we
explored new ways of enhancing the traditionalsession format to create exciting multimedia
experiences for our audience. In particular, thevisualisation of Paul Weller and Adele’s Hub Combo
performance was viewed on Red Button by over
530,000 people, 300,000 of whom stayed for an
average viewing time of 29 minutes – almost thefull session.

Top: Tom Robinson presents
BBC Introducing, with internet
finds, sessions, interviews
and tips.
Middle: Adam Buxton and
Joe Cornish, presentersof Saturday morning show
Adam and Joe.
Bottom: Steve Lamacq plays
new music and classic tracks.

Social action

We addressed listeners’ concerns relating to the
housing market with the Gimme Shelter campaign
during November, responding to our audience’s
priorities by focusing on first-time buying and renting.
Presenter Jon Richardson underwent an online
diagnosis of his potential as a first-time buyer, whilst
Steve Lamacq explored the issues raised by sharing
properties with friends, with Matthew Priest of
Dodgy and The Bluetones’ Mark Morris.

Music news and documentaries

Our music news service provides a comprehensive
view of developments in music, including news of
releases, concerts and wider industry developments.
In order to make our content available when andwhere listeners find it most useful, we recently
introduced a daily podcast, and have ensured that
our online content is distributed as widely as possible
through more extensive links with BBC News online.
We will work with BBC newsgathering colleagues
across the UK to develop our music news service
in 2009/10, tailoring bulletin services to match thechanging needs of our audience at different timesof the day, potentially leading to changes in the styleand format of delivery.

057
Performance/RPerformance/
Radio/BBC 7 is a speech-based digital radio service
offering comedy, drama and readings mainly
from the BBC archive. We also broadcast
programmes for children.

R• BBC Radio 7 reach is consistently the highest
performing of our digital-only stations, averaging
1.7% last year compared to 1.6% during 2007/08(0.9 million listeners, up from 0.8 million listeners
year-on-year).
• Radio 7’s average cost per listener hour in
2008/09 was down to 2.0p (2008: 2.4p).
Last year our highlights included:High-impact seasons

We have worked on improving the impact of ourprogramming by increasing co-ordination with otherBBC services. In early 2009 we ran a science fictionseason in collaboration with Radio 3 and Radio 4,
including the new commission Planet B, which waswell received and generated nearly 25,000 podcast
downloads. A second series has been commissioned
for 2009/10. We also participated in pan-BBC Charles
Darwin programming, with The Beagle Diary andVoyages of Descent. In addition, the winning playfrom the Peter Tinniswood Drama Awards
was included in our output commemorating
90 years of Remembrance, as part of pan-BBC
Remembrance coverage.

Performance/

058

ComedyTop: Kirsten O’Brien,
one of the presentersof Big Toe Books.
Bottom: Archive content
included Simpson and Galton’sclassic Hancock’s Half Hour.

During the year we launched the new series I Did It
My Way, a new format to explore the BBC’s archive.
Established comedy performers and writers including
Roy Hudd, Andy Hamilton and Graeme Garden
introduced and discussed five of their archive comedy
programmes. We commissioned a further 20 hours
of new comedy, mostly from artists new to radio,
and we introduced Witty and Twisted, a comedy
competition for new talent.

Children’s programming

In June, we amended our output aimed at younger
listeners to offer an innovative three hour CBeebies
branded show every day, featuring songs, quizzes,
games and simple picture-book/TV tie-in stories.
Additionally, the daily one hour Big Toe Books offers
older children stories by popular children’s authors
such as Jacqueline Wilson, Roald Dahl and Michael
Morpurgo. In order to serve the CBeebies audience
better, the programme was moved to an earlymorning slot in April 2009.

Co-ordination with key events
around the UK

We are continuing to improve our engagementwith the UK’s nations, regions and communities
by scheduling programmes to coincide with major
local events. Among a range of initiatives, we sharedprogramming with BBC Radio Scotland during two
weeks of the Edinburgh Festival; partnered with BBC
Merseyside for our Liverpool Season, tying in with
the European Capital of Culture celebrations; andrecorded a preview programme and interviews withperformers at the Leicester Comedy Festival.
Over the coming year we will schedule seasonsthat deepen audiences’ appreciation of the workof writers and artists who have made major
contributions to UK culture, including a John
Mortimer season introduced by his son, Jeremy,
and a celebration of the work of Alan Bennett
to mark his 75th birthday.

BBC Asian Network offers challenging debate,
informed journalism, music, sport, entertainmentand drama to audiences of British Asians fromdifferent generations.
Music and entertainment• Reach to BBC Asian Network has declined overthe past year, averaging 0.8%/0.4 million last year
compared to 1.0%/0.5 million during 2007/08.
• Asian Network’s average cost per listener hourover the year was constant at 6.9p (2008: 6.9p).
We have faced a number of challenges in fulfillingthese aims over the past year, but have alreadytaken several major steps to enable us to serve ouraudiences better, with a particular focus on improving
two key areas of our schedule:News

Top: The Adil Ray Show atbreakfast offers a mix of music,
chat and entertainment.
Bottom: Music, star interviews
and reviews with Raj and Pablo
in Love Bollywood.

Our comprehensive news service targets original
and distinctive stories at young British Asians. The
agenda is set during our breakfast news bulletins,and expanded into The Wrap, two 30-minute news
programmes at 12.30pm and 6pm on weekdays.
Many of the stories feed into wider BBC coverage,
for example on British Asians turning to surrogacy inIndia and the impact of illegal downloads on the Asianmusic industry.

Breakfast programming

We re-launched the weekday breakfast programme
in January 2009 to improve its reflection of theeditorial breadth of the station and enable it toconnect more fully with the audience. In line with thenew overall approach for the station as a whole, itaims to make the station’s output inclusive, engaging
and light, with humour and spontaneity, and broadand national in outlook. Since the re-launch, theprogramme’s reach has increased slightly to 0.3%
from 0.2% (by about 20,000 listeners).

Drama

Our daily soap Silver Street is set in a Midlands Asianurban community, enabling us to bring together
different cultures and generations in stories thatcover relationships, family, business, sport and religion.
Recent story lines have featured one character’s
search for his estranged family in Pakistan, a band
recording rock versions of Bollywood hits, and acharacter performing the Hajj (Muslim pilgrimage
to Mecca). We transmitted the 1,000th episodelast year.
This year we shall continue to refresh the weekdayschedule with a new early programme, a later startto Breakfast and a time slot swap between thedebate and arts/entertainment shows. We shall also
increase our coverage of key news stories relating toand affecting the UK’s Asian communities, including
commissioning 15 new documentaries.

059
Performance/R

We revised and re-launched the weekend schedule
in May 2008, to incorporate broader coverage of the
key music and entertainment genres. This included a
new Breakfast show, followed by a shorter and more
focused Love Bollywood on Saturdays and Sundays.
And we launched a new music request show on
Saturday afternoons.

Performance/
Radio/

Nations and Regions
radio/BBC Local Radio in England• BBC Local Radio in England had an average weekly
reach of 18.6%/7.1 million (2008: 18.7%/7.5 million
in local transmission area).
• We produce and broadcast around 250,000
original hours of live radio each year at an average
cost per hour of £0.4k and cost per listenerhour of 2.9p – both steady on the previous year(£0.4k and 2.7p).
BBC Local Radio is a primarily speech-based serviceof news, information and debate. There is a strongemphasis on interactivity, and audience involvement.
Our aim is to inspire, inform and entertain, helping
our audience to engage with the BBC and get themost out of being a part of their local community.

Attracting underserved audiences
Performance/

060

BBC Local Radio in England is aimed at audiences
which the BBC does not always reach effectively with
its other services. Last year we had an average weekly
audience of 7.1 million over the year, over one thirdof whom (2.8 million) heard no other BBC Radioand one in five (1.5 million) heard no other radio atall. We are working to improve our offer to current
and potential audiences, standardise and share bestpractice and create a distinctive and attractive soundacross our portfolio. We aim to build our audiencesize back to eight million in the next five years.

Continuing to improve information services

Speech journalism sets us apart from local
commercial providers, and all our 39 stations are
speech-only during the key breakfast period. Ourlisteners tell us they value highly our information
services (giving an average AI of 7.9/10) – and thisyear we further developed each of our news,
sport, weather and travel services. For example, wecreated a new weather service with more staff toincrease and improve output, and we establishedmore informative travel bulletins at the heart of ourbreakfast and drivetime programmes, from Cornwall
to Newcastle.

radio inRd
As well as a unique local radio content offer, we also
reacprovide local multimedia and regional TV output with

Embedding Local Radio in ourmultimedia proposition

daily news and our weekly current affairs programme
Inside Out, both on BBC One peaktime. We haverecently begun a process of driving our audience
more efficiently between these three offerings, using
radio, TV and the web to support each other tooffer the most dynamic and effective service to ouraudience. We will report on how successful this has
been in next year’s Annual Report.
Our ambition for the year ahead is to work toincrease BBC Local Radio audiences in Englandback to eight million. Each of our stations is crafting
its own service plan – under the umbrella of ourmaster Service Licence – which covers, among otherthings, sharing best practice behaviours and talentmanagement strategies. We aim to build listener
numbers with improved editorial and presentationalline-ups.

BBC Radio Scotland• Radio Scotland remains Scotland’s most popular
speech based radio station, and increased its
reach year-on-year to 21.6%/932,000 (2008:
21.5%/918,000).
• The average listener spends nearly seven and a half
hours with us each week. Cost per listener hour
was down to 7.1p from 8.5p the year before.
Radio Scotland offers a speech-led service for adults,
covering a wide range of genres and reflecting theissues, events, culture and interests of the peopleof Scotland, and addresses matters of UK andinternational significance from a Scottish perspective.
The channel’s service licence commits us to a rangeof priorities that are designed to ensure that our offer
remains consistent as we try to meet this challenge.

Chances to debate issues and ask questions

Our audiences increasingly expect greater
opportunities to understand, interrogate andcontribute to debate on the decisions that shapemodern Scotland and impact their lives. In response,Radio Scotland extended the Morning Extra strand,
offered live debate with politicians, commentatorsand opinion formers in Riddoch Questions and theflagship news programme, Good Morning Scotland
saw its average weekly listenership increase.
The Business, which offers a focus on local, national
and international business news, First Minister’s
Questions, now on MW and DAB on Thursdays,

18 %
2.9p

r
hour

radio
scotland
reach

21.6%
7.1p
cost Per
listener hourTable 12/ All BBC radio
spend outside London– Network and Nations
and Regions
The table shows the cost of
BBC radio programmes madein the Nations and Regions.
08/09 07/08£m £m
England
130 136
Scotland
31
35
Wales
25
27
Northern Ireland 16
15
202 213“Local and nations radio is
where listeners can holdtheir political representatives
to account, or engage civic
leaders in debate.”
David Holdsworth, controller,
BBC English regions
Impartial news and analysis

and political editor Brian Taylor’s daily blog havefurther strengthened our output, as has the monthly
Investigations strand.

Produce new comedy and drama, andencourage new writing

Drama and comedy are particularly popular with
our radio audiences. Eleven new dramas werebroadcast in 2008, including works by Liz Lochheadand Alexander McCall Smith. Innovative comedy
was a feature across the year, with new sketch shows
North by North North and Ellis & Clarke, the four part
comedy drama No Hard Feelings, with John Gordon
Sinclair and Armando Ianucci’s reflections on his early
career in The Radio Scotland Years.
In the year ahead, we intend to increase the impactof our original journalism by increasing our local
investigatory documentaries to an average of two
per month, with phone-ins to follow each and online
blogs to offer more opportunities for audiences
to comment and contribute. Subjects will cover
public policy, crime, health, education, economics
and politics.
Our commitment to new comedy will be maintainedand drama, from new and established writers, willfeature in our schedule across the year.

Radio nan Gàidheal• Last year Radio nan Gàidheal reached 69% of all
Gaelic speakers in Scotland in an average week• The average cost per user was 18.2p (2008: 21.5p).
Radio nan Gàidheal aims to deliver a comprehensive
speech and music service for Gaelic speakers,
reflecting the issues, events, cultures and interests ofthe people of Scotland from a Gaelic perspective andthrough the medium of the Gaelic language. We are
Scotland’s only dedicated national radio service for
Gaelic listeners, offering a wide range of traditionaland contemporary content that reaches out toaudiences of all ages, from news and current affairs
programming to comedy, music and documentary.

Radio Wales• BBC Radio Wales is the only national radio station
for Wales in the English language, with morelisteners than any other Wales-based station.
Last year we had an average weekly 15-minutereach of 17.8%/444,000 (2008: 17.9%/437,000).
• The cost per listener hour to Radio Wales wasstable year-on-year at 5.0p (2008: 5.3p).
Radio Wales is a speech-led service for adults,
covering a wide range of genres and reflecting theissues, events, culture and interests of the people ofWales. Our programmes focus on local and national
concerns, but also address matters of UK andinternational significance.

High-quality, distinctive and topical debates

The economic challenges facing Wales in therecession have been widely discussed from business,
political, and consumer viewpoints in Good Morning
Wales, Wales@work, the lunchtime phone-in andJamie and Louise. As part of our involvement in the
pan-BBC Wales multiplatform project ‘What are
we doing to our kids?’ we invited young people fromacross Wales to guest edit the phone-in and tolead debate.
Our community reporters have added to thegeographical coverage of Wales with a range of
local accents and stories, bringing local and personal
texture to stories that are relevant to our listeners
across Wales.

061
Performance/R

We offer a unique daily news service. In current
affairs issues, we lead a complementary week ofspecial programming across all BBC platforms that
focused on this key topic and the impact of spiralling
prices on Scotland’s rural economies. Recorded on
location, our programmes were complemented by,among others, items within BBC Two Scotland’sEòrpa, the Gaelic radio and television children’s
programmes Aileag and Dè a-nis? and Radio nan
Gàidheal’s Thought for the Day.
Our coverage of the European elections in June willseek to consider, in particular, those issues that impact
on the Highlands and Islands, as well as on Gaels
wherever they may live.
Learning opportunities, for young and old alike, will bethreaded throughout our schedules across the year
and we will continue to find different ways of linking
radio, television and online platforms further to enrich
our audiences’ involvement in our output.

Performance/
radio/

Multiplatform projects

Performance/

062

Coal House at War saw a series of programmes from
Blaenavon, Brecon, Pwllheli and Swansea – as wellas coverage across daily output. The BBC WalesChildhood season featured across daily programmes
and long form features. The content is now publishedpermanently online. Iolo Williams has been a regularvoice on Radio Wales with a companion series tothe multiplatform project Not in my Nature; as thepresenter of short form features on the station.
The Rhod Gilbert Show, Celtic Heartbeat and drama
Aberystwyth Mon Amour are among our mostrequested podcast content, and The All Things
Considered and Scrum V podcasts continue toperform well. The Evening Show published online aseries of exclusive performances from Welsh artists.
Next year, we will concentrate on maintaining the
growth of the 45–64 target audience for listeners
living and working in Wales, consolidating our new
daytime schedule. We will use presentation talent togrow new audiences and embrace new technology
to support this.

Radio Cymru• BBC Radio Cymru is the BBC’s national Welsh
language radio station for Wales. Last year, thestation reached 6.4%/158,000 of all listeners
in Wales in an average week (in line with
6.2%/151,000 the previous year). 32.7% of fluent
Welsh speakers.
• The cost per listener hour for Radio Cymru wasdown from 13.2p in 2008 to 11.5p last year.
BBC Radio Cymru is a comprehensive speech andmusic radio service for Welsh speakers, covering awide range of genres and reflecting the issues,
events, culture and interests of the people of Wales.
Our programmes focus on local and national
concerns, but also address matters of UK andinternational significance.

Independent news, current affairs andpolitical programming

In 2008 we extended our access and public debate
programme Taro’r Post, and moved it to an earlier
time in our new afternoon schedule. Listener
numbers have increased. Our breakfast and drivetime
news programme Post Cyntaf and Post Prynhawn
continued to perform well, retaining audience appeal
despite a highly competitive environment. Post Cyntaf
remains our best performing show, with an averageof 45,000 listeners each morning.

New for 2008 was a Radio Cymru and S4C
television simulcast of a debate about climate change.
Current affairs programme Manylu ran a series ofwell attended public debate programmes during
the year, recorded on location all over Wales. The
continuing debate in Westminster and the Welsh
Assembly regarding Legislative Competence Orders
has been a regular feature within news and current
affairs programmes during the year.

Reflect the diverse communities
and cultures of Wales

Religious affairs programme Bwrw Golwg reflects
the diversity of faith groups in Wales, with features
on Ramadan and a discussion on the faith festivalsof December. Live coverage of key events included
the National Eisteddfod, the Urdd Eisteddfod, theNational Young Farmers Eisteddfod and Gwyl Gerdd
Dant Cymru. Events coverage was enhanced bymore multiplatform content than ever before, which
did particularly well at the National Eisteddfod in
Cardiff where our results service attracted around
11,000 unique users each to our Welsh language
and English language services.

Support established talent and introduce
new talent

We have reflected the growing popularity of choirs in
Wales with our own competition for the Radio Cymru
Male Voice Choir of 2008. We broadcast 12 newplays, a six part drama series and 12 classical musicprogrammes featuring the BBC National Orchestra
of Wales, including two concerts to note the openingof the BBC Hoddinott Hall at the Wales Millennium
Centre in Cardiff. New bands and musicians werealso supported through session recordings, a Battleof the Bands competition and Gwobrau RAP Radio
Cymru (Rock and Pop Awards judged by the musicindustry in Wales).
We will continue to prioritise new ways of working
by using digital and interactive technologies creatively
to offer enhanced radio programmes which will also
be used to attract new listeners.

RBBC Radio Ulster/Foyle• Over 2008/09 BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle
maintained an average weekly 15-minute reach of
35.6%/501,000 (38.6%/533,000). Our popularity
helps to drive higher levels of local radio
consumption in Northern Ireland relative to the
UK average. Our listener profile is broader thanother BBC radio and commercial comparators
and we attract a large and diverse cross-sectionof the Northern Ireland audience.
• The average cost of BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle perlistener hour was stable year-on-year at 4.4p
(2008: 4.5p).
BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle is a speech-led service
that covers a wide range of genres and reflects all
aspects of contemporary life in Northern Ireland. We
combine extensive coverage of local issues, interestsand events – live music to topical debate – withcoverage of national and international developments.
Our distinctive service engages, and reflects theneeds of, the whole community.

Explain the Northern Ireland Assembly

Table 13/ BBC radio
hours from the nations
and regions (networkand local)
08/09 07/08
London8,760 8,784
England
246,172 255,081
Scotland
14,860 13,588
Wales
16,073 16,572
Northern
Ireland
9,357 9,329
295,222 303,354

A range of programming, including Talk Back,
Inside Politics and Today at the Assembly reflected
the work of the Northern Ireland Assembly andlocal political developments and issues including:the long interruption to meetings of the Executive;
continuing debate about post-primary education; anddevelopments relating to the devolution of policing
and justice.
More general programming reflected the impactof economic difficulties on local communities andreaction to the recommendations within the
Eames-Bradley report on Troubles’ legacies.
Our discussion and other programmes about
political issues retain their popularity with listeners
and audience peaks in our daytime programming
generally coincide with news sequences andlistener-led discussion strands, including theperennially influential Stephen Nolan Show.

Reflect the interests and concernsof listeners across the region

We undertook an extensive programme of 55
outside broadcasts from locations throughout
Northern Ireland in the summer. Sports coverage
included rugby, soccer, GAA and motorcycling fromthe North-West 200, as well as the achievementsof local athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics.
Editorial priorities and commissioning arrangementsfor our Ulster-Scots output were reviewed andIrish language programmes featured a number ofcommunity-based events. Religious life and themes
were reflected in different ways, including
William Crawley’s series on the Book of Genesis
In the beginning...

Support formal and informal learningand social action

Rhythm and Rhyme was a specially commissioned
week of programmes and features to coincide with
National Poetry Day. Learning Tea Break explored
media literacy issues for an older audience whilst
More Musical Mysteries and Hurley Burley Radio
addressed the curriculum needs of younger listeners.
A record number of local schools took part in
BBC School Report and we undertook a numberof projects and events as part of other BBC-wide
initiatives, including Breathing Places and Raw. BBCNI’s
Community Bus was additionally involved in work
to record and celebrate the work of volunteers
and community organisations.

Showcase local arts activities andencourage new talent

New and established musical talent was showcasedin programmes including ATL and Strike up the Band.
Ulster Orchestra programming included the annual
Proms in the Park event and a series of summer
concerts – all of them aimed at engaging the broadest
possible audience with classical music. We alsocelebrated the work of local writers Seamus Heaney,
John Hewitt and David Hammond and launched a
new 50-part series on the story of Irish literature.
Folks on the Hill returned with its parody of issues andpersonalities at Stormont and new comedy included
Colin Murphy’s Great Unanswered Questions.

Develop and promote digital andonline content

A key objective for us is to develop and extend
listener engagement across our schedule using newtechnologies. We plan to do more of this in 2009/10,
as well as continuing our variety of ‘old technology’
community-based and face-to-face events.
Over the coming year we will seek to refresh our
weekend schedule, taking account of audience needs
and availability while maintaining the diversity of our
output, with greater emphasis on live programmingand more opportunities for audience interactivity as
part of our Saturday morning output.

063
Performance/RPerformance/
Future media & Technology/

Performance/064“It’s about creating an environment where ideas
can flourish, and then taking the best of themand making them work for audiences.”
Erik Huggers, Director,
Future Media & Technology

How we did last year
how ouRseRVices1 did

Reach

43%

Quality70%

impact

400k

Value

7.6p

1

what this meansover 22 million people visit BBc online each week – just over two out of every
five people online in the uK, and up by over one third year-on-year. many now
come to us to experience the benefits of BBc iPlayer. almost ten million use BBc
red Button to enhance their television experience every week, one in four of
those with digital television.

BBc red Button offers complementary and supplementary content not available
elsewhere – from live coverage of wimbledon’s outer courts to up-to-the-minutelocal weather and travel information, including the ever-popular flight information.
with a 70% appreciation score, BBc red Button is consistently higher scoring
than competitor services sky text and digital teletext. BBc iPlayer won a Prix
italia during the year for Best cross media Public service.

BBc iPlayer launched on BBc online in 2007 and now averages over 400,000
visitors every day, transforming the way people watch and listen to BBc
programmes. it is still growing. BBc red Button is home to our access services –ensuring that those viewers who rely on subtitles, audio description or signing
can opt-in to these services and get more from their television.

combined, BBc online and BBc red Button cost 7.6p per user reached.
most costs are driven by BBc online, where individual user costs were
down to 9.7p from 13.2p in 2008.

Figures are based on services, in line with the service licence regime monitored by the BBC Trust.

065
Performance/

metRicPerformance/
Future media & Technology/

Future media &Technology/
Audiences are central to our thinking.
Working integrally with the BBC content
divisions, We deliver the BBC’s range ofdistinctive content to them in innovative andcost-effective ways that suit their evolving
needs in today’s interactive, on-demand world.

Performance/

066

The media industry is experiencing fundamental changes driven bytechnology. The importance of digital media services is growing at a
rapid pace, playing a key role in audiences’ lives and their relationshipwith the BBC. Our digital future will be IP enabled, social androoted in an always-on broadband connected world. The BBC
is leading the industry in developing new innovative services.
We have a proud history of technical innovation – since foundation,
we have pioneered a whole range of services and products suchas colour TV, NICAM Stereo, DAB, Ceefax, High Definition TV,
and Red Button. We launched bbc.co.uk when the Internet wasin its infancy and have since built a series of digital services for web,mobile and red button.
Today, 43% of the UK’s online population access our sites every
week, making us the UK’s biggest online content destination. Since
BBC iPlayer launched on Christmas Day 2007, on-demand media
consumption has become mainstream. By March 2009 total views
had passed 390 million and iPlayer was available on a wide range
of devices including computers, television and mobile phones.
During the year, we continued to refresh BBC Online, redesigning
our homepage, adding customisation, more video streams
and improvements in search and navigation. BBC Mobile grewsignificantly to 4.1 million users each month on the back ofpersonalised services like News, Sport, Weather and iPlayer.
BBC Red Button continued to bring interactivity to the TV sets
in Sky, Virgin Media, Freeview and, since 2008, Freesat homes.
Just under ten million adults use the Red Button every week toaccess BBC text information such as news and weather, and record
numbers watched Olympics coverage on the service.

Our Digital Media Initiative will enable the BBC to move to digitalproduction. This long-term project will simplify multiplatform
delivery, ease access to archive material, and ultimately lead tolower production costs. The technology will also be opened
to the wider industry.
Partnership, developing technology and standards collaboratively,
allows us to share our innovation more widely. As a result, in achallenging economic climate, and a fragmenting, multiplatform
media landscape, our partners can focus their investment; and ouraudiences benefit from increased choice of content and services.
We have a range of plans to extend our partnership work this year,
and we remain aware of our impact on the wider market. We haveadopted stronger management controls to help us deliver morepositive benefits to our markets and licence fee payers.

Table 14/ All BBC online spend outside London
The table shows the spend on BBC online content made in thenations and regions outside London.
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland

2008/09
£m
11
5
5
3
24

2007/08
£m
9
6
5
6
26

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1922 British Broadcasting
Company – a private
limited company – isformed by group of leading
wireless manufacturers.
1927 First Royal Charter,and first BBC Prom from
Queen’s Hall, opening up
classical music to all – over
280,000 tickets were sold,from only £5, last year; 12
million viewers watchedlive on BBC televisionand via BBC iPlayer.

1932 Empire Service
launches, to become
the World Service,broadcasting impartial news
around the globe – with
238 million regular listeners
last year.
1932 Broadcasting House
opens, the UK’s first
purpose-built broadcast
centre – a refurbished
Broadcasting House isscheduled to re-open
in 2012, re-fitted for thedigital age.

1932 First regular serviceof high definition television,launches from Alexandra
Palace – the BBC’s digitalHD service launchedin 2008.

1940 Winston Churchill
makes his famous speech“This was their finest
hour…” on the BBC
airwaves.
1948 First televisation of
the Olympic Games from
Wembley – in 2008, theBBC’s coverage of the
Beijing Olympics reached
42 million people in the UK.

1951 First national
broadcast of The Archers,
the world’s longest
running soap.
1953 First total televisationof a coronation ceremony,
Elizabeth II: 22 million
people watch on newly
acquired TV sets.

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

1960 television centre
opens, the world’s first ever
purpose-built televisionbuilding – the first purpose
built digital broadcast
centre was opened at
Pacific quay in glasgow
in 2007.
1967 colour tv launchedon BBc two, the firstservice in the world – over
32 years after the BBc firsttrialled it.

1973 Morecambe and Wise
break records with their
Christmas special:
28 million viewers. The
peak audience in 2008
was 16.2 million, forWallace and Gromit.

1985 BBc alerts theworld to ethiopian famine,
triggering the live aid
concert which raises£60million. over the lastyear the Children in Need
telethon and sport relief
raised £20million and£59million on the nightof broadcast.

1990 Radio 5 launches
covering sport and news,
the first new network for
25 years.
1991 bbc.co.uk domain isregistered – BBC’s onlinetransformation begins.
With 22 million weekly
visitors, it’s the UK’s mostvisited content site.

2002 freeview launches
in partnership withcrown castle internationaland BskyB, saving thedtt platform.
2002 original BBc digital
television and radio stations
launches.
2007 BBc iPlayer launches– and has over 360 million
visitors between then andmarch 2009.

for more information on the technological and other developments that the BBc has been part of over the years, visit our history website atFc067
Performance/

BBC innovation over the years

Performance/
Future media & Technology/

BBC Online aims to promote the BBC’s public
purposes through the provision of innovativeand distinctive online content, and throughdistinctive propositions that reflect and extend
the range of the BBC’s broadcast services.

A• BBC Online’s average weekly unique users lastyear was 22.2 million (2008: 16.5 million). The US
Presidential Election comfortably broke audience
records with 9.2 million individual users viewing
73 million election pages on 5 November, aroundten times more than on the day of the 2000
US election (7.1 million) and nearly double 2004
(40 million).
• User costs were down this year to 9.7p (from13.2p in 2008).
Just some highlights from our year included:

Citizenship

Performance/

068

T

Newsround’s Election site took youngsters throughthe process of an election, with one user getting theopportunity to interview the Prime Minister. The
Today and Panorama sites both re-launched, and now
reach out to new, younger audiences via Twitter,
Facebook and Stumbleupon. By March, an average of
1.0 million users were visiting News blogs from oureditors and correspondents like Nick Robinson, Mark
Mardell and Robert Peston.
Our Remembrance site guided people to the many
local events marking the 1918 Armistice. Users
contributed memories and photographs of soldiers
to an archive of recollection of the First World War.

Formal and informal learning

GCSE Bitesize continues to perform very strongly
across the curriculum, with 0.4 million weekly users.
Our French and Spanish sites for beginners andintermediates were refreshed. For older users as well,
Britain from Above gives the opportunity to discoveror re-experience Andrew Marr’s series, and film
sequences presented by theme or location can be
downloaded and consumed at the user’s own pace.

High impact events

Our Autumnwatch and Springwatch sites celebrate
nature across the UK, encouraging users to sharevideo, photographs and observations They were fully
integrated to our Breathing Places campaign, aimed
at getting people involved in caring for their local
environment. Over the season, around 23,000 users
visited the Springwatch and Autumnwatch sites.
BBC Sport achieved its highest ever reach during
the Beijing Olympics, with 8.5 million weekly
unique users. ‘Tips and Tactics’ encouraged sports
participation. A range of external links encouraged
users to take their interest further, an importantlearning point for us in advance of London 2012.

A place for communities tomeet and share

Disability issues were covered on Ouch!, re-launched
to be even more accessible to its wide audienceand to provide more opportunities for users tocontribute their own stories and opinions. The site
receives an average of 20,000 weekly unique users.
The year also saw the iPlayer on PC extended tousers of Macs or Linux PCs, and an increasing rangeof mobile, hand-held and gaming devices also now
feature the service.
The BBC Trust reviewed our service last year, andwe are working to meet user expectations that theyhighlighted. New technical architecture will go live
during 2009/10, improving interactivity and enablingusers to shape their experience of BBC Online toa greater degree than before including helping us todeliver on our earlier promise to give our users theability to build their own playlists. We will also seek
to become more integrated with the wider internet,
making it easier for users to find our content, andimprove click though to external sites.
We believe that we have some of the mostdistinctive content and services available online – andin the months ahead we will launch refreshed services
in science, natural history and comedy, and our
Democracy Live site will seek to engage users withthe political processes which affect their lives.

BBC Red Button is the new name for BBCi, which
has been delivering interactive services to BBC
television viewers for ten years.
We offer all day, up-to-the-minute content andinformation, including news, weather, learning,
entertainment and interactive programming todigital television audiences.

Meeting audiences where theywant us to be• BBC Red Button is used by an average of 9.7
million UK adults weekly, 25% of those with digital
TV. Around one third of users do not access BBC
Online, making BBC Red Button an important
access point to digital platforms for these viewers.
• Cost per user hour was 2.7p in 2008/09.
Highlights from last year included:

Wide range of Sport

Top: Olympics coverage
included alternative eventsto those being shown on
the main BBC One and
BBC Two channels.
Middle: Electric Proms
returned for a second year,with concerts from Liverpool
and London.
Bottom: Formula 1 returnedto the BBC for the first timein 12 years – every on-track
session from the 17 2009
Grands Prix can be watchedon the red button.

An improved Sports portal was launched in time forWimbledon, offering an aggregated service. Sports
viewing figures were strong for Wimbledon andother perennial favourites football (Euro 2008), Darts,
Six Nations Rugby and Masters Snooker. Viewers
could also watch minority sports like MotoGP,
Women’s Open Golf and the Burghley Horse
Trials, not available anywhere else. Record numbers(11.8 million viewers) tuned in for our Beijing Olympic
coverage offering full on-demand Sports News and2,500 hours sporting event coverage across digitalsatellite, cable and terrestrial platforms.

The switchover from analogue to digital television isunderway, and we ensured that the first areas making
change had our full service available to them. As
part of the process, we have added new pages from
Ceefax including Community News with Read, Hear,
additional Business data including farm prices, andthe very popular Flight Arrival information, ensuring
viewers continue to get this content as they switch
over to digital TV.
BBC Red Button service was available on Freesat
from its launch in May, and has always been available
on digital satellite, cable and terrestrial.
In 2009/10 we will continue to work to improve
the overall performance of our service across all
platforms whilst continuing to offer a wide range ofinteractive programming from Formula 1 to Electric
Proms. With internet-connected TVs and devices
now arriving in the UK, plans are underway totake the very best of BBC Red Button content
and features onto these platforms.

069
Performance/APerformance/
Journalism/

Performance/

070“The quality and depth of news and information
available from the BBC – from politics andeconomics to Afghanistan to football –offers everyone something of value. ”
Mark Byford, deputy director-general

How we did last year
how ouRseRVices1 did

Reach

34m

Quality238m

impact74%

Value foR
money

8.4p

1

what this means
three quarters of the uK population use our news services each week, including
34 million adults who watch our weekday television news, 25 million individuals
who listen on the radio, and ten million who go online.

globally, our news services reach 238 million adults – more than any otherinternational broadcaster.

74% of uK respondents, when asked, said that their understanding of theeconomy had been improved by BBc news coverage. the economy was thebiggest news story of the year. robert Peston and other colleague’s coverage ofthe global economy and its impact in the uK continues to win awards. we wonnine out of the 15 rts awards open to us last year.

this is the combined cost per viewer hour for BBc news channel and BBc
Parliament. the overall journalism figure would drop further if we factored in theviewing figures from BBc one’s peaktime weekday bulletins: the 6.30pm nations
and regional programmes are the most popular news bulletins in the uK with
5.4 million viewers, and the 10 O’Clock News is the most popular uK-wide news
programme with 4.9 million viewers every night.

Figures are based on services, in line with the service licence regime monitored by the BBC Trust. The 75% reach figure given here excludes additional sports audiences.

071
Performance/

metRicPerformance/
Journalism/

JOURNALISM/
BBC journalism covers a wide range of news,
current affairs and sports output and services,and operates at local, UK-wide and global levels,in video, audio and interactive.

Performance/072

We provide the most watched, listened to and used news andsports journalism service in the UK – around four in five of the
UK population used us in a typical week last year – a year in which
the BBC won nine awards at the RTS Journalism awards, including
Scoop of the Year for coverage on the HBOS/Lloyds TSB merger
on the BBC News Channel – which was also named news channelof the year.
It was an extraordinary year for sport on the BBC, with outstanding
major event coverage and sports journalism. The quality andoriginality of our Olympic and Paralympic programming drew
praise from many quarters: 75% of the UK – around 42 million
people – watched at least 15 minutes of our television coverageand 11.8 million used the Red Button during the Games. 13.5 million
watched the Paralympics on BBC Television.
A new BBC Persian television channel launched in January,offering accurate and impartial news and information as well as
programming and interactive debates on key political, social andcultural issues for Farsi-speakers in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan anddiaspora groups around the globe. The BBC Arabic television
channel, now a year old, has broadcast 24 hours a day from January.
Early indications of an independent audience survey indicatesthat BBC Arabic television audiences have doubled the previous
combined radio and online total across the region.
We have led the field on many of the big stories, combining
strong reporting, commentary and analysis with breaking stories
and original journalism across all media to explain and analyse all
dimensions of the stories.

The UK and International news agenda was dominated by the
implications of the credit crunch, banking bail-outs and therecession. Our UK-wide, global and local outlets provided acomplete picture of the impact of the economic events andhighlighted the strength and depth of our economic and businessspecialist team. Research showed that around two-thirds of thosein the UK who expressed a preference thought that we had thebest coverage of the economy on television and on radio.
The US presidential election was a major global story throughout
the year. Our election-bus crossed the US over two months withradio, web and television journalists onboard seeking out andrepresenting the views of a wider America to the world. Researchshowed that 35% rated BBC as best for television coverage of the
US elections, compared to Sky’s 13% and ITV’s 10%.
In the last year, we have made significant progress on strengthening
UK-wide news coverage of the devolved nations, following a review
by the BBC Trust, and we are taking more opportunities to reflect
devolution and key political developments in the nations, to a
UK-wide audience. We responded to the recommendations of
the BBC Trust’s report on our reporting of the UK’s nations andregions in network television news, and are working hard to get anappropriate balance on screen. The Scottish political story of thesummer broke on The Politics Show when the leader of the Labour
party in the Scottish Parliament made her infamous ‘bring it on’ callfor a referendum on independence. And the importance of ourcoverage across the nations and regions was highlighted most vividly
in early February when nine million viewers tuned in to the 6.30pm
BBC One bulletins following the heavy snowfalls.
In the year ahead, we will build on our political coverage, launching
our Democracy Live website, bringing together for the first time
live and on demand video content from the UK’s key politicalinstitutions, as well as the European Parliament.

Performance/

073

Audiences still turn to traditional
programmes and platforms inenormous numbers:

At the same time, they are also
increasingly choosing BBC Newsvia digital services:• BBC news services and programmes are the most watched,listened to and used news services in the UK.
• the most watched UK-wide news bulletin is the BBC’s
Ten O’Clock News with 4.9 million viewers each night.
• our 6.30pm weekday nations and regional news bulletinon BBC One attracts 5.4 million viewers daily.
• from Newsbeat on Radio 1 to PM on Radio 4, half of the UK(52%, or 25 million individuals) listen to our news on theradio each week.

• BBC News Online reaches around ten million UK uniqueusers each week – up by 40% on the previous year.
• on average 7.5 million people visit our sports pages each
week, going up to 8.5 million during the Olympics.
• 11.7 million used the BBC weather site during February’s‘snow week’.
• our journalism content on mobile phones is now used byan average of 3.8 million, up from 2.9 million a year ago.

Adults watching
BBC television news
each week

Unique UK usersof BBC news
online34m

People listening
to BBC radio
news each week

25m

10 m

Global reachof BBC news
services238m

Performance/
Journalism/

The channel is the BBC’s 24 hour television news
service, providing comprehensive coverage andanalysis of the biggest and most significant
stories in the UK and internationally.
It aims to provide fast and accurate breaking
news, headlines every 15 minutes and regularsports, business and entertainment news.

• the unfolding global economic crisis, including a
World Economy on the Brink one-hour special,simulcast on BBC World News, World Service
Radio, and streamed on the BBC News website.

Top: US President Barack
Obama at April’s G20 summit
in London.
Bottom: Award-winningbusiness editor Robert Peston.

Reporting from Westminster
and the devolved parliamentand assemblies

Performance/

074

R• Audiences continue to grow. Average weekly
3-minute reach over the year was 7.5 million(2008: 6.6 million). Viewing figures for live
streaming of the channel have also improved.
• This year we regained the Royal Television SocietyNews Channel of the Year award, and won the
RTS Scoop of the Year for the Lloyds/HBOS story.
• The average cost per user hour was down yearon-year to 8.1p (2008: 9.1p).
There were two priorities for 2008/09:

International news

Table 15/ Weekly reach
The quality and variety of
our news offer draws in over
two-thirds more viewers eachweek than to our closest 24
hour news competitor Sky.
000s
BBC News channel
7,587
Sky News
4,429

We offered extensive coverage of the 2008 US
Presidential campaign, election and inauguration,and events surrounding the 2008 Beijing Olympics(sporting achievements and impact of the Games onrural and urban China). We responded quickly to theIsrael/Gaza conflict as it unfolded, with live location
presentation from Lyse Doucet, live reporting andfeatures from Jerusalem and at the Israel/Gazaborder, and – eventually – inside Gaza. Other
major stories of the year included:• the unrest in Zimbabwe, the elections andpower-sharing agreement (including John Simpson
reporting undercover inside the country).
• Mumbai terrorist attacks: Ben Brown presenting
from the city.
• Russia/Georgia conflict, including live broadcastingfrom Sevastopol.
• the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, including threedays of special broadcasting from aroundthe country anchored by George Alagiah.

Straight Talk with Andrew Neil is the only long form,
one-to-one political interview programme available
on UK channels. It runs three times each week.
We covered the resignation of the Labour leader
in Scotland and the election of a replacement. The
Scottish Government’s new legislative programme
was analysed in depth, and we ran the BBC Scotland
special on the Glenrothes by-election, and carried
the result live overnight.
Correspondents across England and Wales covered
local council elections. Huw Edwards anchored
coverage of the London Mayoral and Assembly
elections from City Hall.
In Northern Ireland, we ran coverage as thedeal was brokered for the power-sharing
Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly tomeet again at Stormont.
We offered live coverage and analysis from all threemain party conferences, as well as some coverage
from smaller parties’ conferences: Plaid Cymru, UKIP,
Green Party.
Our ambition is to continue to build our audience,
provide a wider range of international stories thanour main competitors, and to present live from thescene of major news stories and events aroundthe world. We will continue to cover the devolved
politics and institutions of the UK, reflecting thediversity of opinion and experience from aroundthe country.

BBC Parliament’s aim is to make accessible the workof the UK’s parliamentary and legislative bodies,and the European Parliament.
We are a unique service, committed to providing
direct unmediated access to parliamentary debates,
as well as analysing and setting in context theissues and politics behind those debates.

Coverage of devolved
institutions

We have introduced a weekday 11.30pm strand for
Questions in each devolved parliament and assembly,
in addition to our extended coverage on Saturdays.
We showed the debate which led to the rejectionof Scotland’s Budget and through Dragon’s Eye havereported the work of the Labour-Plaid coalitionin Wales. Live coverage included the Statementsin the Northern Ireland Assembly on the killingof two soldiers in Antrim.

Extensive coverage of the US
election campaign

R• BBC Parliament had an average weekly 3-minutereach of 0.45 million last year (2008: 0.38 million).
We broadcast round the clock, with 96% of thetotal hours originated on BBC Parliament.
• BBC Parliament saw a slight rise in costs per userhour last year to 18.5p (2008: 17.3p).
Our priorities for 2008/09, designed to help us meet
our remit, were:

Topical programmes and clear
signpostingThis year, more than before, we have used our
weekend schedules to cover the work of theparliamentary committees – for example, wehighlighted the work of the Treasury Committee
and three other parliamentary committees focusedon the banking crisis and recession.
In graphics and captions, we now show the predicted
timings for parliamentary events, including votes,
and we also run an on-screen moving ‘ticker’ of
information to alert viewers to upcoming urgent
statements. The ticker is signposted on the front pageof the channel’s website. Both changes enhance theviewer’s experience.

In partnership with C-SPAN we offered extended
coverage of the Conventions and of campaign trail
speeches. We showed all the presidential and vicepresidential debates in full. Former Bush Deputy
Chief of Staff Karl Rove appeared in an Intelligence
Squared debate on the motion: ‘George W Bush is
the worst American president of the last 50 years’.
In the year ahead, the focus for our planned editorialchanges on Westminster coverage will see us
continue to offer prominent and extensive coverageof the Committees investigating turmoil in thefinancial markets and the wider economy. We will
also improve our on-screen delivery of divisions(votes). Looking to Europe, we will give a clear accountof the issues facing the electorate to the European
Parliament in the UK and continental Europe.

075
Performance/

Top: The European Parliamentbuilding in Strasbourg.
Middle: Main chamber at theHouse of Commons.
Bottom: Newly elected Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher
arrives at 10 Downing Street
in 1979, part of our ’30 years
on’ retrospective.

Performance/
Journalism/

BBC Global News brings together BBC World
Service, BBC World News television channel, theBBC’s international facing online news services
in English, BBC Monitoring and BBC World Service
Trust, the BBC’s international development charity.

Performance/

076

Top: Wadeea Mansoor
presenting on BBC Arabic
television, distributed to North
Africa, the Middle East and the
Gulf on the Arabsat, Eutelsat
and Nilesat satellite systems.
For more information see
www.bbcarabic.com
Middle and bottom: BBC
Persian television (with its
website and two radio strands)
broadcasts in Farsi to Iran,Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

R• The BBC’s international news services delivereda record weekly global audience in 2008/09
of 238 million people, despite both increasing
competition and declining radio listening.
The BBC’s global reputation for trust and objectivity
remains strong. According to independent surveys,
the combined BBC international news services
outperformed both CNNI and international radio
competitors in this area in almost all major markets.
BBC World Service is becoming increasingly
multimedia. It launched the BBC Persian television
channel in January for Farsi-speakers in Iran,Afghanistan, Tajikistan and around the globe. The
channel offers accurate and impartial news andinformation from a global perspective; as well as
programming and interactive debates on key political,
social and cultural issues.
The BBC Arabic television channel – also from
BBC World Service and launched in March 2008
– doubled its broadcast hours to 24 hours a day
in January. Surveys of key Arabic-speaking markets
indicated a audience of at least eight million weekly
viewers across those specific markets.

BBC World Service attracted a record weekly
audience of 185 million. This figure was boosted by
the new BBC Arabic TV channel but masked an
overall decline in radio listening which was down
five million to 177 million in 2008/09.
BBC World News can now be received in 287 million
homes; attracting 74 million viewers a week. The
channel has experienced a significant improvement
in its underlying commercial performance during theyear, although progress towards full year profitability
was constrained in the final quarter by the severe
downturn of the global advertising market.
Major development and enhancement of ourinternational facing news sites and mobile phone offer
was rewarded with a record 17 million unique online
users – a 28% increase on last year; and a tenfold
increase in mobile page impressions.
BBC Monitoring systematically monitored more than
3,000 open-sourced radio, TV, press, internet andnews agency sources, translating up to 100 languages.
The BBC World Service Trust used media andcommunications to reduce poverty and promote
human rights. It worked alongside local and national
media in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, theMiddle East and Europe during 2008/09.
In the year to come, BBC Global News will continue
to deliver impartial and trusted news to audiences
and around 2,000 partners across the globe.
Distinctive and innovative programming initiatives
include authoritative analysis of the global economy,
the instability in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan;
Obama’s first year; and the many geo-politicallyimportant elections.

BBC Sport provides network coverage of UK sport,
including big national sporting events and awide range of specialist sports across television,
radio and interactive media. We also provide
comprehensive sports news.

63

Top: Olympic marketing
campaign included animationand music especially produced
by Gorillaz.
Middle: Jack Charlton presents
The Lifetime Achievement
award to his brother Sir Bobby
Charlton at 2008’s Sport’s
Personality of the Year.
Bottom: Dame Tanni GreyThompson, a key memberof our Paralympics
presentation team.

• 40% of UK used BBC Sport on average each week
last year: 15-minute reach on television was
16.3 million/28.8% (2008: 16.3 million/28.9%);
on radio, reach on BBC Radio 5 live was
3.9 million/7.5%, stable year-on-year from
3.8 million/7.5%; and online, we reached
6.8 million, up from 6.3 million in 2007/08.
BBC Sport does not have a service licence, but isfundamental to the delivery of the service licencesfor BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Radio 5 live andBBC 5 live sports extra. Last year we provided live
and recorded highlights coverage of 25 sports, plus
an additional 19 minority sports like table tennis
and archery during the Olympics and Paralympics.
It was an extraordinary year for sport from theBBC, with outstanding major event coverage. The
quality and originality of our Olympic and Paralympic
programming drew praise from many quarters: 74%of the UK – around 42 million people – watched atleast 15 minutes of our coverage from Beijing. We
had 32 million requests for online video streams
in the UK and a total of 11.8 million used the Red
Button during the Games. 13.5 million watched theParalympics on BBC TV.
Sport’s ability to draw together the nation aroundmajor events was also reflected in the Wimbledon
fortnight. This culminated in a peak television
audience of 12.7 million – 48% of the total TV
audience at the time – tuning in to watch Rafael
Nadal’s stunning five-set victory in the final overthe defending champion, Roger Federer.

Our coverage of the European FootballChampionships was also an audience highlight,
despite the failure of any home nations in qualifying
for the final stages. Our multiplatform offering drove
an above average 6.7 million unique users to thewebsite. The final of Euro 2008 also marked John
Motson’s last major TV showpiece, after nine World
Cups and nine European Championships.
The BBC constantly strives to deliver value, byinvesting well in the challenging sports rights market.
Our biggest renewal in 2008/09 was Match of theDay, ensuring Premier League highlights on the BBC
until 2013. The University Boat Race is to return to
the BBC after five years and we renewed successfully
our contracts for Wimbledon and the Six Nations.
There was continued improvement in the BBC’s
sports journalism over the 12 months, with its
unprecedented sports news offering from Beijing.
The website’s weekly reach expanded to 8.5 million.
BBC Sport aims to deliver real choice and variety
to sports fans, whenever and wherever they want.
We will build on this approach for 2012 – and theappointment of a director and project team will assist
full integration across the BBC for London’s Olympics
in three years’ time.

077
Performance/RPerformance/
Journalism/

Nations and Regions
journalism/
Around 60% of the BBC’s total staff who live andwork outside London provide local and national news
on television, radio and online. The 6.30pm weekday
bulletins from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and
15 areas in England are viewed on average by 5.4
million viewers each day, the biggest news audience
to any single television news programme in the UK.

England

Performance/

078

Over the last year television bulletins across
15 regions and sub-regions have responded to awide range of stories ranging from the recession
to February’s ‘snow day’ – where viewer numbers
nearly doubled the usual – as well as covering awide range of original journalism like BBC London’sseries of exclusives on the mayoral election
including secret transport fare increase plans
and the resignations of Ken Livingstone’s directorof equalities and policing and Boris Johnson’s
deputy mayor.
In England the impact of the recession on market
towns was highlighted by the South West’s Politics
Show and the North West, North East and West
Midlands, amongst others, followed the significant
developments in the motor industry with theWest Midlands linking up with Newsnight fora live outside broadcast at a factory in Castle
Bromwich, Birmingham.

“Over the years, the BBC’s
independent news coverage
has remained vital to audiences
across the UK and the world,and no more so than in
Northern Ireland where it hasrecorded and reported thetransformation of politicalengagement in recent years.”Peter Johnston, director, BBC NI

Investigative journalism in daily news included a BBC
North West investigation that led to Justice Secretary
Jack Straw intervening in the case of a Liverpool fan
jailed for attempted murder in Bulgaria following
the Champions League Final three years ago. Andin current affairs – via weekly strand Inside Out – theWest Midlands team filmed inside a Sharia Court(only the second time this has been allowed in theUK). Inside Out had an average audience of 2.8 million
last year (2008: 2.7 million).
Our 39 local radio stations are speech-only during
the key breakfast period and this sets us apart fromall other local commercial services. Key stories haveincluded BBC Guernsey’s extensive coverage of theisland’s elections, a four-yearly event. Our news teams
have a particular aptitude for finding their way into
communities who are often unrepresented or hard
to reach, as seen in BBC Radio Leicester’s coverageof a forced marriage conference in the city.
The BBC England news website reached 4.1 million
in 2008/09. Some of the more memorable content
included BBC South’s video content around the
QE2’s final sailing, and BBC North West’s Grand
National website which offered a jockey’s eye viewof the race and 360 degree panoramic views of
the racecourse.

ScotlandReporting Scotland is Scotland’s most watchednews programme with an average audience of
472,000 for the 6.30pm edition last year.
Our news website is also the first choice for many,with 1.5 million average weekly unique users.
The period was dominated by the stories of thebanking crisis and the economy. Our investigations
team produced several notable TV documentaries,
including a 60-minute special report into the Glasgow
Terror Attack and a documentary by MSP Margo
Macdonald on assisted suicide. We also delivered
several programmes for the network Panorama,
including a half hour on the Royal Bank of Scotland,and special investigations into criminals’ assets andthe security industry. Other documentaries included
Truth, Lies, Oil and Scotland and a programme analysing
Scotland’s relationship with Mrs Thatcher.
Radio Scotland is Scotland’s most popular speechbased radio station, with flagship breakfast news
programme Good Morning Scotland attracting aweekly reach of 455,000 in 2008. Good Morning
Scotland provided special coverage of the US
elections and the Obama inauguration, including
live presentation from Washington.

Good Morning Wales on BBC Radio Wales had an
average weekly reach of 220,000 over the year
(2008: 228,000), while Radio Cymru’s Post Cyntaf
had an average weekly reach of 81,000 in the same
period (2007: 80,000).
The BBC Wales and BBC Cymru news websites
has 1.3 million and 27,000 unique users respectively.
Our online team’s coverage of the controversial
switch-off of street lights in parts of mid Wales was
picked up by other outlets, including Radio 4’s Today
programme and Network Television.

Northern Ireland

Wales

Our BBC One 6.30pm weekday bulletin BBC
Wales Today averaged 274,000 viewers each week
(2008: 267,000). The Newyddion bulletin we
provide to S4C averaged 14,000 viewers, down
year-on-year from 17,000.
Our BBC One current affairs series Week In Week
Out performed well both in terms of viewing figures(average viewers up to 71,000 from 66,000) andeditorial impact. The series included programmes
about hospital hygiene and C.diff; a Bafta-nominatedundercover investigation that found contamination inabattoirs; and a hard-hitting programme on poverty
in the South Wales valleys which revisited a family
a decade on.
BBC Wales Today’s Your Stories strand revealed
the widespread problems facing communities andbusinesses without broadband access. As a result,the Assembly Government and BT got together
and announced they were going to fix severalof the worst ‘not-spots’ we had identified.

079
Performance/

The Politics Show set the agenda on several occasions,
including Wendy Alexander’s ‘bring it on’ call for areferendum on independence, which was made ina live interview on the programme.
Radio nan Gàidheal delivers a comprehensive news
and current affairs service to the Gaelic community.
A week of special programming centred on energy
and the impact of spiralling prices on rural economies.
The weekly children’s programme Aileag offers a
newsround slot.
During this period, a 30-minute nightly Gaelic TV
news programme An Là was launched on BBC
ALBA, the first televised news service in Gaelic.

BBC Newsline improved its audience weekly reachto 443,000/27.5% last year (2008: 428,000/26.8%).
Investigative and original journalism are defining
features of its output. Several themed investigations
involved the programme’s e-panel and included
extended reports on a range of subjects including
religion, ageing and the impact of new technologies.
BBC Newsline also examined issues around thework of the Northern Ireland Events Company, theincreased threat from dissident republican activity,
safety standards at local sports grounds and someof the problems being faced by the Irish Football
Association. The range and depth of its news
coverage benefitted from the appointment of
new specialist correspondents.
Good Morning Ulster increased its weekly audience
reach to 99,250 listeners. It featured breaking news
stories from across Northern Ireland, making use ofoutside broadcast capabilities and our network of
area-based reporters. The programme investigatedconcerns about the treatment of migrant workers in
the local fishing industry and featured a special reporton one family’s experience of cancer. This prompteda commitment from the Health Minister to provide
additional funding for research.
Our news website had 920,094 unique users in April
2009 – a year-on-year increase of 50%. Its remit
is to provide depth of coverage for breaking news
stories and links to related material. The website wasdeveloped across the year to include additional news
from Foyle and West. It also features embedded film
and audio reports about stories affecting local people.
The BBC Newsline website provides extended
reports and footage to support its weekday television
programme and to support its interactive relationshipwith the audience.

Performance/
Commercial/

Performance/080“BBC Worldwide adds significant new value toevery licence fee every year By making the best
possible return on selling BBC programmes andproducts across the world. To grow turnoverby nearly 10% in difficult trading conditions
demonstrates that our diversification
strategy is paying off.”John Smith, chief executive officer, BBC worldwide

Top and bottom: Doctor Who
and Dancing with the Stars(the international format
based on Strictly Come
Dancing) are just two of thebrands we exploited this year
on behalf of the BBC and
its licence holders. Bottom
picture show rapper Lil’ Kim
and partner Derek Hough.

BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm of theBBC. It exists to ensure that opportunities to drivecommercial income from BBC rights and properties
are appropriately managed, from a business, BBC
brand-protection and social responsibility pointof view.
Successive governments have urged the BBC to
maximise income from commercial sources tooffset the licence fee. Direct investment in BBCcommissioned programmes and dividend payments
increased by 23% to £153million (2008: £125million).
Trading conditions last year were affected by theworsening global economic climate and a number of
UK media industry challenges. BBC Worldwide founditself at the centre of a number of domestic debates
about its remit, growth strategy, and the part it mightplay in supporting public service broadcasting beyond
the BBC. Despite these difficulties, it nonethelessmanaged to increase turnover by 9.5% and, thanks tostrict cost control, underlying profitability held steadyyear-on-year. The channels business and a numberof major brands such as Dancing with the Stars (theinternational TV format based on Strictly Come
Dancing) delivered particularly good returns.
Overall sales including its share of joint venture
income passed the £1billion mark for the first time,up by 9.5% to £1,003.6million, including intra-group
income of £7.5million. Within this, advertising
revenues came under pressure but as a consequenceof the company’s broad diversification, growth inother areas offset this.
The insolvency of its DVD publishing partner,
Woolworths Group plc, impacted on profits,
and Kangaroo, a commercial online video player
developed in conjunction with Channel 4 and ITV,
was prohibited by the Competition Commission
with a write off cost of £9.1million.
Strategic investments in current and future growthareas such as channels, online and production,
combined with the world recession, meant thatstatutory profit was down by 27% to £85.7million but
underlying performance was stable despite market
challenges. However, these investments will ensure
growth in the mid to long term and also ensure astrong flow of commercial rights to exploit in theyears ahead – 35% of total turnover is now comingfrom businesses created over the last five years.

After recognising non-cash losses on foreignexchange financial instruments, BBC Worldwide’s
profit before interest and tax in the group accounts
is adjusted to £66.2million.
BBC Worldwide operates in a global landscape.
Tasked by the BBC in 2007 with driving up profits,
it developed a growth strategy with five key targets:• increase overseas revenues to two thirds of thetotal: in 2008/09 these increased from 49% to 51%.
• grow online revenues to more than 10% of thetotal: online sales were up to 4.6% compared to
2.7% last year.
• build a channels business: it now has 44 wholly
owned and joint-venture channels operatingaround the world, providing an excellent platformfor UK TV talent.
• develop a global TV production business in key
markets to ensure better returns from TV format
sales: further production bases were set up in
Canada and Paris.
• acquire businesses and develop partnerships tohelp achieve the overall plan: minority investments
in independent production companies including
Sprout and Baby Cow were undertaken this year
bringing our equity stakes in UK indies to seven,and we bought out our joint venture partners
FOXTEL and Freemantle in UK.TV, our drama
and entertainment channel in Australia.
During the year major strides were taken towards
its goal of becoming an exploiter of a range of global
media brands. Major brands (Top Gear, Earth, Doctor
Who, Lonely Planet) accounted for £171.1million (17%)
of all revenues.
In 2007 it bought a majority stake in the wellrespected travel information business Lonely Planet
in order to maximise the BBC’s extensive archive oftravel-related programming through Lonely Planet’s
online site and to introduce BBC-produced content
to new audiences. During the year it completely
overhauled and relaunched lonelyplanet.com andBBC clips became available on the site just after year
end. In addition, it launched a Lonely Planet

081
Performance/

BBC Worldwide

Performance/
Commercial/

Chart 4/ BBC Worldwide sales £m
06/07
07/08
08/09

Below: Top Gear is a hugely
successful international brand.
Picture shows Sir Tom Jones
talking to Jeremy Clarkson.

Performance/

082

810
916
1,004

magazine in the UK that offers a distinctive newmonthly publication for travellers and promotes BBC
programming about travel and culture. Despite thecore travel guide book business being affected by therecession, Lonely Planet has gained market share inseveral territories and is the number one travel guidebrand in the UK and Australia.
Top Gear has built its popularity outside the UK
considerably over the past year with the launch of
the series on iTunes in the US where it went straightto number one in the television chart. A live show
toured the UK, Johannesburg, Sydney, Auckland andHong Kong and we launched local versions of the
television series in Australia and Russia. Top Gear
Australia magazine is now the most widely-read
men’s monthly magazine in Australia. In 2008 theUK edition of the magazine increased circulation
to over 200,000.
One of BBC Worldwide’s highest points of the year
was receiving, in April 2009, a Queen’s Award forEnterprise, which recognised its outstanding record
in international trade and the contribution it makes
to the UK’s creative industry sector. The award
highlighted the part played in providing a global
showcase for the best UK content and bringing
the benefits back to Britain.

Chart 5/ BBC Worldwide statutory
profit before interest and tax £m
111
118
86

BBC Worldwide and Channel 4 discussions regarding
potential partnerships continue. BBC Worldwide islooking at potential ventures based on activities that
represent sound business opportunities and that will
deliver new revenue to both the BBC and Channel 4.
This has been a year of considerable external interestin BBC Worldwide’s activities and what part thecompany should and could play in the UK media
industry. The BBC Trust commissioned a review of
its remit last year and while the conclusions are notyet finalised at time of writing, pending the outcomeof the Digital Britain review, the Trust has statedthat it intends to make changes to BBC Worldwide’s
detailed control framework to establish a morecontained focus for its operations. BBC Worldwide
also contributed, with the BBC and the BBC Trust,to various external inquiries during the year including
one by the Commons Select Committee for Culture,
Media and Sport.

(formerly BBC Resources)

Last year was a challenging year throughout thebroadcast facilities market. The economic climate
has declined and both Studios and Post Production
have seen reducing revenues and volumes ofbusiness as productions cut costs and look forsavings, and shows move out of London in linewith the wider BBC strategy to deliver 50% of
production spend out of London by 2016.
During 2008/9 the company:• partnered BBC Sport to provide coverage forthe 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic
Games, with the BBC’s coverage fully HD andtapeless for the first time.
• supported Comic Relief, over seven hours of live
transmission from Studio One.
• post produced the award winning HD drama
Criminal Justice.
• supported the science series Oceans, made in
HD with 5.1 sound, the first major project to go
through Post Production’s new Dub 4 sound suite.
• provided studio facilities for BBC One Saturdaynight entertainment programming – Strictly Come
Dancing, I’d Do Anything and Last Choir Standing.
• upgraded a third studio to HD with nearly£2million investment in HD cameras, lenses, visionand monitoring equipment in Studio Four.
• launched a second 5.1 sound suite in response
to growing customer demand for 5.1 mixing andto support the BBC’s HD channel requirements.

Right and below: BBC Studios
and Post Production helped
the BBC to deliver a wide
range of programmes this year
including BBC One’s Saturday
peaktime shows Strictly Come
Dancing, I’d Do Anything andLast Choir Standing.

During 2007/08 the company was offered forsale. The Outside Broadcasts business was soldto SIS LIVE on 1 April 2008. The Studios andPost Production businesses were retained andrestructured, with the Bristol and Birmingham Post
Production operations closing on 1 April 2009.
This year BBC Studios and Post Production Limited
made an operating loss before exceptionals of£0.4million on turnover of £76.3million (2007/08:
profit £2.0million, turnover on continuing operations£74.4million). Net assets total £39.9million including
net pooled cash balances with group companiesof £31.0million.
Exceptional items incurred are significant
restructuring intended to address historical capacity
issues and a charge for fixed asset impairment.
On 1 April 2009 the company was renamed BBC
Studios and Post Production Limited. This year we
will be merging our Studios and Post Production
divisions together to create a united business that isbetter able to respond to the changing needs ofour customers and the challenges of the evolving
market, and keep the business at the heart of thecreative process.
For more information see
www.bbcstudiosandpostproduction.com

083
Performance/

BBC STUDIOS AND POSTPRODUCTION

Govern

086 / Executive board/
088 /	summary Governancereport/Governance/

085

ance/

Governance/
executive board/

MARK THOMPSONMARK BYFORDZARIN PATELCAROLINE THOMSON

Lucy Adams

Sharon Baylay

MARCUS AGIUS

VAL GOODING CBE

Director-General since June
2004. Chair of the Executive
Board and the BBC Direction
Group, made up of all the BBC’s
divisional directors.

Deputy Director-General.
Board member since 1998.
Chair of the Journalism Board.
Chair Editorial Standards
Board, Complaints Management
Board, Learning Board andLondon 2012 Olympics
Coordinating Group.

Chief Financial Officer since
January 2005.Trustee of the
BBC Pension Scheme andnon-executive Director of
BBC Worldwide Limited.

Chief Operating Officer.
Board member since May 2000.
Trustee of the BBC Pension
Scheme. Non-executive
Director of Digital UK.

Governance/

086

Director of BBC People. Joined
the BBC Board in June 2009
from Eversheds LLP where
she was HR Director.

Director of Marketing,Communications & Audiences.
Joined the BBC Board in May
2009 from Microsoft, where
she was General Manager
of Microsoft Online Services
Division UK.

Appointed non-executive
Director and Senior
Independent Director in
December 2006. Chairs
the BBC Executive Board’s
Remuneration Committee.
Group Chairman of Barclays
PLC.Trustee of the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew and
Chairman of the Foundation
and Friends of the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew.

Appointed non-executive
Director in January 2008. Also
non-executive board memberof Standard Chartered andJ Sainsbury, Advisory Board
Member of Warwick Business
School,Trustee of the British
Museum, non-executive directorof the Lawn Tennis Association
and Trustee of Rose Theatre.

The Executive Board manages the BBC and is
responsible for the delivery of BBC services andday-to-day operations across the organisation.

JANA BENNETT OBE
Director of Vision. Board
member since April 2002.
Non-executive Directorof BBC Worldwide Limited.

TIM DAVIE

Director of Audio & Music
since September 2008. Board
member since April 2005.

ERIK HUGGERS

Director of BBC Future Media& Technology. Board member
since August 2008. Prior tothis he was Group Controller,
BBC FM&T.

JOHN SMITH

Chief Executive Officer of
BBC Worldwide Limited.
Board member since 1997.

Governance/

087

DR MIKE LYNCH OBE
Appointed non-executive
Director in January 2007.
Technology entrepreneur
and founder and CEO
of Autonomy plc.

DAVID ROBBIE

Appointed non-executive
Director in January 2007. Chairs
the BBC Executive Board’s Audit
Committee. Group FinanceDirector at Rexam PLC.Trusteeof Aldeburgh Music.

DR SAMIR SHAH OBE

Appointed non-executive
Director in January 2007.
Chief Executive of Juniper
Communications Limited. Chairof the Runnymede Trust,Trusteeof the Victoria and AlbertMuseum and Special Professor
in Post-Conflict Studies in the
School of Modern Languages
and Cultures, University of
Nottingham. Chair of Screen
West Midlands.

ROBERT WEBB QC

Appointed non-executive
Director in January 2007. Chairs
the BBC Executive Board’s Fair
Trading Committee. Appointed
QC in 1988. Chairman ofAutonomy Corporation plc
and non-executive Director of
the London Stock Exchange,
Hakluyt & Co Ltd and of Argent
Group plc. Visiting Professor
at Bournemouth University.

Governance/
Summary Governance report/

Summary Governancereport/
The Executive Board has complied withthe requirements of the Charter, creating
appropriate and effective governancearrangements for the BBC.

Governance/

088

The BBC’s corporate governance framework is
defined in the Royal Charter (the Charter).
The BBC Trust assesses the performance of theBBC’s management and its services. Its review andassessment for 2008/09 can be found in Part Oneof this Annual Report and Accounts, and online atwww.bbc.co.uk.annualreport, where a copy of the fullExecutive Governance Report can also be found.
The Charter also requires the Executive Board tohave regard to generally accepted principles of good
corporate governance.The Board has complied withthe requirements of the Charter, creating appropriate
and effective governance arrangements for the
BBC.This has also secured substantial compliancewith the 2006 FRC Code although in a number ofareas the 2006 FRC Code is not appropriate to
the circumstances of the BBC. Compliance with
the Charter has resulted in a small number of areas
related to Board composition where compliance withthe 2006 FRC Code has not been achieved, although
the Board believes that this does not compromise thequality of the governance arrangements in place.The
directors believe that the Board effectively leads the
BBC Group, and includes a balance of executive andnon-executive members and a range of business andbroadcasting skills.
The Board is responsible for all aspects of operational
management of the BBC (except the BBC Trust Unit)
and has a schedule of matters reserved to it, but inpractice some of its responsibilities are delegatedto other management groups. Any delegation fromthe Board is stated in the relevant standing orders
for each group and a framework for reporting andreview is established.The standing orders for the
Board and its sub-committees are available atwww.bbc.co.uk/info/running/executive/index.shtml

Board appointments

The nominations committee oversaw a number
of appointments during the year. Four executive
appointments were made this year.Two of these
directors took up their appointment prior to theyear end – Erik Huggers, Director, Future Media &Technology, and Tim Davie, Director, Audio & Music –Report of the Senior Independent Director
The 2008/09 financial year is the second year during
which the Board has operated with non-executive
Directors and, as anticipated in my Report in lastyear’s Annual Report and Accounts, effective working
relationships have been established around the Board
table based on a strong collaborative ethos.There has
been a full agenda of regular as well as incidental business,and much to test the deliberative ability of the directors.
The Board operates on the basis that the executive
directors recognise and understand that the nonexecutive Directors have a right – indeed a duty –to challenge them by enquiry and interrogation andthat this applies both to matters on the agenda andto matters of topical interest. At the same time, thenon-executive Directors recognise in their turn that
their obligation is to help the executive directors toreach optimum decisions after analysis and debate,then to provide them with collegiate support in theprosecution of executive actions.
Of the many matters discussed around the Board table,most of which are described elsewhere in this Annual
Report and Accounts, I would single out the following(in no particular order) as representing topics where
the benefit of having access to a wide range of viewsand experience was perhaps felt most keenly:• Ofcom’s review of Public Service Broadcasting• ongoing development of BBC iPlayer• suspension of the discretionary bonus scheme
for executive directors• review of options for BBC Worldwide• coping with the impact of the recession on the
BBC’s finances
In each case, the issues involved were complex andsensitive and the reputational consequences were
far reaching. I can confirm that these items – as withothers – were discussed openly and transparently andthat the debate was conducted with the underlying
objective of serving the public purposes of the BBC.
Marcus Agius
Senior Independent Director
18 June 2009

and two after the year end – Sharon Baylay, Director,
Marketing, Communications & Audiences, and Lucy
Adams, Director, BBC People.
Four non-executive Directors were due to step
down on 31 December 2008. After a thoroughreview of the composition and needs of the Board,as well as the skills, experience and knowledge of theindividual directors, the Nominations Committee
recommended to the Board and the Trust thatDr Mike Lynch, David Robbie, Dr Samir Shah andRobert Webb, all be re-appointed for a further
two year term.

Accountability andinternal control

Report of the Chairman of the
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee’s main focus is to review
and oversee corporate governance at the BBC, inparticular financial reporting, internal control and risk
management. At our meetings, we regularly review
issues raised by Internal Audit and management’s
progress with actions that address these. We
challenge management to make the needed changes
with the minimum of delay, drawing upon our
combined knowledge and diverse experience withother organisations. We also receive regular updates
from our external auditors; these outline their audit
approach and any issues they wish to bring to ourattention for discussion.
To gain a deeper understanding of the most significant
risks facing the BBC and a fuller appreciation of
the existing and proposed mitigation of those risks,
we also request papers and presentations frommanagement on major risk concerns high on the
BBC agenda and on risk profiles from across the BBC
selected on a rotational basis. Our interest is in theappropriateness and adequacy of actions taken to
manage risk and we challenge management where
we feel there are improvements to be made.This year
in particular we have considered failures in editorial
controls and the detailed plans to prevent recurrence,
the global recession and its impacts on the BBC and
its numerous stakeholders, and issues around dataprotection in light of general public concern.
The scope of this committee covers the whole BBCgroup; therefore we also receive and discuss updates
from the other Audit Committees which oversee
our commercial businesses.
David Robbie
Chairman of the Audit Committee
18 June 2009

Executive Board
Remuneration Report

Risk management and internal control

An ongoing process for identifying, evaluating,managing, monitoring and reporting significant risks
to the BBC has been in place for the financial year,with the director of each BBC business group having aclear responsibility for identification and managementof risks facing their business. Risk exposure isconsidered at both business group and Board level.
The Board, in reliance upon the detailed work of
the Audit Committee (which considers the findingsof both internal and external audit) and by review
and discussion of quarterly reports on both risk
and compliance, confirms that it has considered theeffectiveness of the system of internal controls in
operation throughout the financial year and up to thedate of approval of the Annual Report and Accounts.

This report sets out the BBC’s remuneration policy
and details the remuneration received by members of
the Board. It has been prepared on the basis that therequirements of the Directors’ Remuneration Report
Regulations 2002 and those of the Financial Services
Authority apply to the BBC wherever these disclosure
provisions are relevant.The sections on pensions andremuneration received by the Board members areaudited by KPMG LLP.

Remuneration Committees: constitution
and operation

089
Governance/

The Remuneration and Appointments Committee(RAC) of the BBC Trust is responsible for setting
the remuneration strategy for the Board and is
responsible for all aspects of the remuneration of the
Director-General and the non-executive Directors.
For more information on the RAC please see theTrust’s review and assessment in Part One of theAnnual Report and Accounts 2008/09.
The Executive Remuneration Committee (ERC) is
responsible for implementing the agreed strategy
for all executive members of the Board, with the
exception of the Director-General.The members of
the ERC are non-executive Directors, namely Marcus
Agius (Chairman), Dr Mike Lynch and Robert Webb.
Meetings of the ERC are also attended, on invitation,by the Director-General and the Director, BBC
People, who advise on matters relating to othermembers of the Board and the overall performanceof the BBC. When matters concerning the
remuneration of the Director, BBC People areconsidered, he/she is not present.The ERC has accessto internal expertise through the BBC’s Reward
Director who also attends the meetings.
Complying with the 2006 FRC Combined Codeon Corporate Governance, the ERC takes specialist
advice from external professional advisers. During
the year, independent advice was received from
Hewitts until September 2008 and thereafter fromPricewaterhouseCoopers.

Governance/
Summary Governance report/

Governance/

090

Report of the Chairman of the
Executive Remuneration Committee

During the year we have responded to the change
in economic circumstances, recognising that the
gap in pay between the BBC and its commercial
competitors is likely to diminish as levels of variable
pay reduce in the media and technology sectors.
We therefore restricted base salary increases for the
majority of executive directors to 2% in August 2008
and have decided that there will be no base salary
increases for any executive director in August 2009. In
addition the Board decided to suspend discretionary
bonus arrangements for all staff and as a result
no discretionary bonuses will be paid until August2010 at the earliest (except that in the Commercial
Businesses, contractual bonuses will be paid, including
to the CEO of BBC Worldwide). We have also
recognised the need to ensure that remuneration at
the BBC continues to be appropriate and relevantin the future and we are undertaking a formal
review of our remuneration strategy.This review will
examine whether the alignment of base pay with thecommercial sector continues to be appropriate andwill conclude on the best approach to variable pay
for the BBC going forward. We plan to complete thereview and to agree any changes in remuneration
strategy with the Trust by October 2009.This will
provide an even stronger framework than at present
and ensure that the policy remains resilient in theface of the challenges facing the BBC now andin the longer term.
Although we face some complex and challenging
issues, my colleagues and I believe that we havecontinued to apply a remuneration strategy that is in
the interests of our licence fee payers, that is sensitive
to the current economic circumstances, and which
has enabled us to recruit, retain and motivate theexecutive talent that the BBC requires.
Marcus Agius
ChairmanRemuneration Committee
18 June 2009

Remuneration of non-executive Directors

consistent with the agreed strategy. Data obtained
for the 2008 annual pay review showed that base pay
was broadly aligned with the median of the market
but that total direct compensation (base salaryplus variable pay) ranged between 40% and 66%of the level paid by our competitors in thecommercial sector.This differential arises becauseof the substantial additional amounts of variable
pay (including share-based awards) that are provided
in the commercial sector.
Further details on each component of the
remuneration of executive directors are provided
in the following paragraphs:

Managing executive reward at the BBC poseschallenges that are unique in the UK.The BBC has tobalance its value-for-money responsibilities as a public
sector corporation with its need to recruit, retain andmotivate the talent required to deliver outstanding
public service broadcasting in competition withprivate sector media and technology companies.
The BBC operates a remuneration strategy for the
Board, approved by the Trust, designed to enable therecruitment and retention of staff in the markets inwhich it operates as both a public service broadcasterand a commercial business.This strategy aligns
base pay at the BBC with the median levels of thecommercial sector, but it does not seek to match thelevels of variable pay that are paid by our commercial
competitors. Our strategy takes account of theopportunity that working for the BBC provides, alongwith the greater than typical level of job security
available due to our revenue being more predictable.
The remuneration strategy for the Board flows down
throughout the rest of the organisation where asimilar approach is taken. Each year we review market
pay data and this shows that, although base pay isbroadly aligned with median levels in the commercial
sector, the level of total remuneration received byeach of the executive directors is significantly behindthe levels paid by our commercial competitors.This
includes the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BBC
Worldwide who participates in the annual bonus andlong term incentive plans of BBC Worldwide, ourcommercial business.
A significant factor in differentiating executive
salaries at the BBC is the need to recognise thedifferent market dynamics between creative staff andprofessional support staff and we acknowledge thatthe professional support staff are in the main likely
to remain at the BBC for a shorter period of timeand are likely to be able to achieve greater levelsof reward in the commercial sector.

The fees of non-executive Directors are determinedby the Trust. For information on how the fee level isset, see the Trust’s review and assessment in Part One.

Remuneration of executive directors

The strategy, set by the Trust, is to provide remunerationthat attracts, motivates and retains the key people
required to lead the corporation whilst also
recognising the BBC’s status as a publicly funded
corporation which must deliver value to thelicence fee payer. This is achieved by aligning base
pay with the market median of the commercialorganisations with which the BBC competes
for talent, whilst not seeking to match the levelsof variable pay offered by those organisations.
Each year the ERC reviews independently provided
market pay data to support it in its decision making
on remuneration, and ensure that levels of pay are

Base pay

In determining base pay the ERC takes into accountthe base pay of the BBC’s principal competitors
and the other organisations with which it competes
for talent; the affordability of the BBC to reward its

executives; and the performance of the executive.
Base pay is aligned at around the median of themarket ensuring that the BBC does not lead themarket on executive pay in the media sector.

Variable pay

A limited element of variable pay, linked tothe achievement of key objectives and overall
contribution to BBC performance, is provided.
Executive directors (with the exception of the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of BBC Worldwide) are
eligible for a discretionary annual bonus of up to a
maximum of 10% of base pay, of which up to 6% is
for the achievement of divisional value-for-money
targets, and up to 4% is for the achievement ofdivisional transformational objectives. No discretionary
bonuses will be paid in 2009.

With regard to the CEO of BBC Worldwide, theBBC’s remuneration strategy recognises that as acommercially funded business, it is appropriate that its
CEO participates in the annual bonus and the longterm incentive plans of BBC Worldwide.The designof the annual bonus and long term incentive plans
are approved by the Trust. Details of the plans areprovided under BBC Commercial Businesses section.

Benefits

In addition to pensions, the other main contractual
benefits are a car and fuel allowance, private healthinsurance, and life assurance.Two executive directors
are entitled to a chauffeur-driven car under earlier
arrangements, one of which, the Director-General, isprovided with a chauffeur-driven car, but he has noentitlement to a personal car or fuel allowance.

Table 16/ Remuneration received
The remuneration of the Board members and the Trustees during the year is shown below:
total
remuneration
2007/08£000

annualbonus£000

taxablebenefits
£000

212
412
471
325
104
223
327
346
397
664
333

–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
69
–
–

5
15
14
16
3
9
11
14
14
6
15

31
88
–
62
17
42
58
69
–
164
65

248
515
485
403
124
274
396
429
480
834
413

419
536
513
413
466
–
431
440
486
816
440

total executive directors

3,814

69

122

596

4,601

4,960

non-executive directors
Marcus agius
val Gooding
Mike Lynch
david robbie
Samir Shahrobert Webb

50
35
35
40
35
40

–
–
–
–
–
–

–
–
–
–
–
–

–
–
–
–
–
–

50
35
35
40
35
40

50
9
35
40
35
40

executive directors
Jenny abramsky1
Jana bennett
Mark byford
tim davie
ashley Highfield2
erik Huggers3
Stephen Kelly4
Zarin PatelJohn Smith5Mark thompson
caroline thomson

total non-executive directors
total executive board
total trustees
total

235

–

–

–

235

209

4,049

69

122

596

4,836

5,169

677

642

5,513

5,811

Jenny abramsky retired 30/09/08, base pay includes a payment for contractual leave of £46,414.
ashley Highfield left 30/06/08, base pay includes a payment for contractual leave of £16,515.
3
erik Huggers appointed as a director 01/08/08.
4
Stephen Kelly left 28/02/09, base pay includes a payment for contractual leave of £25,143.
5
John Smith’s base pay, bonus and benefits have been fully funded by bbc commercial businesses since 1 September 2006. in addition to the annual bonus, an equal amount has been invested
in the Long term incentive Plan for bbc Worldwide which may vest in March 2012.
6
the bbc introduced a salary sacrifice arrangement on 1 June 2008 for members who joined the Pension Scheme before 1 november 2006, and those directors as indicated in the table above
participated in the arrangement. From that date on, the terms and conditions of employment were changed for those employees opting for the salary sacrifice arrangement and as a result employee
pension contributions made via the salary sacrifice arrangement have been treated as employer contributions, with a corresponding reduction in salary. base salaries for executive directors have notbeen adjusted to reflect the impact of salary sacrifice to enable like for like comparison with prior years.the total salary sacrifice by executive directors was £84,704.
7other remuneration relates to pension arrangements and comprises the following:a. cash pensions supplements which replaced FurbS arrangements.
b. a cash supplement for Jenny abramsky as she no longer accrued benefits under the Pension Scheme.
1
2

091
Governance/

totalother remuneration
remuneration7
2008/09
£000
£000

Fee/
base pay6£000

Governance/
SuMMary Governance rePort/

Table 17/ Defined benefit schemes
Details of defined benefit entitlements are shown below:

executive directors
Jana bennett
Mark byford
tim davie
ashley Highfield1
erik Huggers2
Stephen Kelly3
Zarin PatelJohn Smith
Mark thompson
caroline thomson

age as at
31 March
2009

increasein accrued
pensionover year
£000

total
accruedpension at
31 March
2009£000

transfervalue ofaccruedpension at
31 March
20094
£000

53
50
41
43
36
43
48
51
51
54

2
13
2
1
2
2
3
15
2
5

14
206
8
15
2
5
21
209
9
67

212
3,406
57
116
7
37
220
3,673
130
1,475

transfervalue ofaccruedpension at
31 March
20084
£000

director’s
contributions(excluding
contributions
paid via thesalary sacrificearrangement)£000

increasein transfer
value lessdirector’s
contributions
£000

164
2,763
37
99
–
20
170
3,167
91
1,308

1
5
1
1
–
1
1
4
1
1

47
638
19
16
7
16
49
502
38
166

ashley Highfield both resigned as a director and left the Pension Scheme on 30 June 2008.the accrued pension on leaving the Pension Scheme has been valued as at 31 March 2009.
erik Huggers was appointed as a director on 1 august 2008, although he joined the Pension Scheme on 1 april 2008.the figures shown include the period before he was appointed as a director. He
is a member with less than two years’ service, and so he is not entitled to a deferred pension at 31 March 2009. However, for consistency his accrued deferred pension has been calculated and valued.
3
Stephen Kelly both resigned as a director and left the Pension Scheme on 28 February 2009.the accrued pension on leaving the Pension Scheme has been valued as at 31 March 2009.
4
the transfer value of accrued benefits represents the estimated cost to the Pension Scheme of providing the benefits accrued to date.the value is affected by many factors, including age, pensionablesalary, pensionable service, section of the Pension Scheme and investment market conditions at the date of calculation. it is not a sum paid to or due to the individual and therefore cannot bemeaningfully added to remuneration.
no payments in respect of termination or compensation for loss of office were paid to or receivable by board members during the year.
1
2

Table 18/ LTIP vesting schedule for BBC Worldwide
Performance ranking for bbc Worldwide

LtiP payment
20% of base salary, and 100% match of deferred bonus
10% of base salary, and 50% match of deferred bonus
nothing vests

upper quartile or above
Medianbelow medianN

Governance/

092
Table 19/ Ltip vesting for ceo of bbc Worldwide

LtiP award

bonus
deferred£000

end ofperformance
PeriodLtiP
award
vested£000

deferredbonus
matching
award
vested£000a–March 2009

b
80

c
–

LtiP 2006 to 2009

total
vested
£000
a+b+c
80

Table 20/ Ltip potential vesting in 2010 and 2011 for ceo of bbc Worldwide							

LtiP award
LtiP 2007 to 2010
LtiP 2008 to 2011bonus
deferred£000

end ofperformance
PeriodPotential
LtiP
vesting(at target)
£000

a
80
88

March 2010
March 2011

b
40
40

N

Potential
LtiP
vesting (atmaximum)
£000
c
80
80

Potential			deferredPotentialbonus
deferredmatching
bonus
total
award
matching (atpotential(at target)
maximum)(at target)
£000
£000
£000
d
40
44

e
80
88

a+b+d
160
172

total
potential (atmaximum)
£000
a+c+e
240
256

Executive members of the Board are eligible toparticipate in the BBC Pension Scheme, which provides
for pension benefits on a defined benefit basis.
For an employee joining the Pension Scheme before
1 November 2006, the accrual rate is 1/60th of the
final pensionable salary for each year of service withpensionable salary being base pay, including London
Weighting, but not including any bonuses or otherpayments. For employees in this group the normal
pensionable age is 60. For an employee who joinedon or after 1 November 2006 the accrual rate is
1.67% of their pensionable salary for each year ofservice, adjusted in line with inflation up to retirement.
For this group, the normal pensionable age is 65.
All current executive directors (except Erik Huggers)
have a normal pensionable age of 60 but may
continue in employment to age 65.The normal
retirement date for Erik Huggers is 65 as he joined
the Pension Scheme after 1 November 2006.
For those who joined the Pension Scheme after
31 May 1989 earnings are subject to the maximum
annual limit (£117,600 per annum for 2008/09).
No maximum annual limit is applied to those whojoined on or before 31 May 1989.The Pension
Scheme provides for early retirement on medical
grounds and life assurance of four times pensionablesalary up to a prescribed limit.
A variety of arrangements were put in place, formembers of the Board who joined after 31 May
1989, and whose pensionable salary exceeds the
maximum annual limit, including funded and unfundedarrangements outside of the Pension Scheme. Since
1 April 2006 these arrangements have been replaced
by a cash supplement paid to each director on apensionable salary above the maximum annual limit.
Any participating employee who reaches or exceeds
the Lifetime Allowance (£1.65million for 2008/09)
may opt out of the Pension Scheme and instead
receive a cash supplement.

The BBC’s commercial businesses

The CEO of BBC Worldwide participates in theannual bonus plan and long term incentive plan (LTIP)
of BBC Worldwide which were established by the
Board of BBC Commercial Holdings and approvedby the Trust.These plans are not funded by the licence
fee and the full costs of base pay, annual bonus andthe LTIP are self-funded by the commercial revenuesof BBC Worldwide.
The CEO of BBC Worldwide is eligible for a
maximum annual award of 50% of base pay
under the annual bonus plan; 75% of the bonus isdetermined by the performance of BBC Worldwide
against profit targets and 25% is discretionary anddetermined by the Director-General based on theachievement of key objectives relating to the overall
success of the BBC. In line with a decision regarding
other executive directors, this latter 25% discretionary
bonus will not be paid in 2009.The CEO is entitled todefer up to 75% of the previous year’s annual bonus
into the LTIP.

The LTIP is a cash incentive plan designed to align the
CEO’s remuneration with the strategy of the business.
The maximum payout under the LTIP is 20% of basepay, plus a potential 100% match of deferred annual
bonus. Both elements are subject to two performancemeasures: Profit Growth (75% weighting) and Returnon Sales growth (25% weighting), measured overa three year period and relative to a comparatorgroup of at least 15 other international media
companies .The companies are ranked according
to their performance.These measures were chosen
as they most directly support the objectives of BBC
Worldwide and are the key drivers of success.
BBC Worldwide must be ranked at least at themedian of the comparator group for any of the award
to vest. Maximum vesting is achieved for a ranking at
the upper quartile or above.There is a straight-line
vesting scale between these two points.

Employment contracts

Employment contracts of executive directors havea notice period of a maximum of 12 months, andare subject to earlier termination for cause. As
at 31 March 2009 the unexpired term of each
executive director was a maximum of 12 months.
There is no contractual entitlement to any additional
remuneration in the event of early termination
other than for reason of redundancy.

Outside interests

Where there is no potential for conflict of interest,
and with the prior agreement of the DirectorGeneral and the Nominations Committee, executive
members of the Board may hold one remunerated
external directorship with up to 15 days per year
permitted to fulfil these duties. Remuneration whicharises from directorships may be retained by the
executive member.The policy encourages the takeup of external non-executive appointments to
support professional development and bringing
broader business skills to the BBC. Executive directors
may also hold non-remunerated external posts.
During the year the Chief Operating Officer
served as non-executive director of The Pensions
Regulator until 28 February 2009 and retained thefees for this directorship as set out in table 21 below.
The Board’s register of interests can be obtained atwww.bbc.co.uk/info/running/executive/register.shtml
It is recognised that non-executive Directors arelikely to have other directorships and the restrictions
applying to executive directors do not apply to them.
Table 21/ External directorship feescooorganisation

Payment received£000

the Pensions regulator

9093
Governance/

PensionResponsibility/
96 / operations/

Responsibility/

095

R

Responsibility/
operations/“Building and sustaining good relationships withcolleagues and suppliers is vital to the smoothrunning of an efficient operation. And doing thesame with audiences is what makes us effective.”
Caroline Thomson, chief operating officer

AUDIENCES

Our range of responsibilities to audiences and licencefee payers includes making sure that we run ourbusiness in a clear, transparent and efficient way. Eachyear we report on how we are doing in our Annual
Report, and further information on how the BBC
is run can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/info
But we also have a more immediate impact on people– especially those with whom we come into contact
over the year at our events and recordings.

BBC OutreachWe have a wide range of outreach activities that aim
to extend our role beyond linear broadcast, where wetry to involve audiences in active participation, such ascommunity volunteering, taking part in opportunities
to shape BBC output, or using our content to help
with learning.
Our BBC Big Screens in 17 different towns and cities
across the UK are each customised to reflect life in its
host community, with content often produced by local
people in partnership with community, arts, educationand media organisations. In July we ran the Silk Screensproject in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics. Fourof our Big Screens hosted simultaneous live events
featuring local performers and films made by membersof the British Chinese community which were sharedacross all Big Screens, reaching a live audience of 35,000
and eventually over two million people via the BBC
website and regional broadcasts.
In March, School Report from BBC News worked
with over 500 schools across the UK, encouraging
and enabling over 10,000 11–14 year old students towrite and publish their own news reports.The project
aims to improve young people’s representation andstimulate their political interest. It also produces
content for the broader audience, with widespreadcoverage across regional stations as well as
nationally, including reports on the One, Six and
Ten O’Clock News broadcasts.
The BBC plays a unique role in supporting thevoluntary sector, both through its corporate charities
and supporting others.The BBC does not make cash
donations to charities but supports fundraising throughbroadcast appeals. A network of independent Appeals
Advisory Committees informs the BBC’s managementon its charity policy and practice.

The BBC’s two major TV broadcast appeals of the year
both managed to break fundraising records despite thecurrent economic climate. In November BBC Children
in Need raised over £20million during the broadcast
appeal itself, while in March Red Nose Day raised over
£59million for Comic Relief.
Last year we provided charities with services with acash equivalent value of £330,000 (2008: £296,000).
In addition to broadcast appeals, BBC commercial
businesses donated £1,400 to charities during theyear (2008: £180,000).

Environment

The environmental impact of our business is particularly
important to us. In 2008 we launched a five year
environment action plan with ambitious targets for
reductions in energy, transport, water and waste.
‘Choose to make a difference’ is the theme of our staff
awareness campaign to encourage change behaviour. In
addition, we introduced a number of initiatives including
100% recycled office paper, automatic PC switch-off,and promoting video conferencing to cut down on
our air miles.
Table 22/ our environment targets –by 31 march 2013
area
Energytarget
20% reduction in energy consumed per person.

Transport
20% reduction in co2 emissions per person.
Water
25% reduction in water used per person.
Waste
20% reduction in waste per person and to recycle
75% of waste.

For more details on how well we performed
against these targets this year, see our Corporate
Responsibility Report atwww.bbc.co.uk/outreach/reports

Business in the Community

During the year, we once again took part in Businessin the Community’s (BitC) Corporate Responsibility
Index, improving our ranking from Gold to Platinum.
The Index is the UK’s leading voluntary corporate
responsibility benchmark, and our score reflects thehigh standards we aim to achieve in managing ourbusiness responsibly. Last year we committed to
improve how we manage our environmental impact
and to externally verify our Corporate Responsibility
Report. Both these areas were successfully addressed,
together with continuing improvements in other areas
like workplace management and social inclusion.
You can find out more about the BitC CR Index
at www.bitc.org.uk/cr_strategy_and_integration/
cr_index/index.html

097
Responsibility/

Audiences are at the heart of what the BBC does.
We consider them in all our editorial decisions, ofcourse – aiming to offer programmes and services thatappeal to them and which suit their viewing, listening
and other media needs. But they are not our only
stakeholders.We also have responsibilities towards
those who work for us and those with whom wecollaborate and partner in running our business.
So we have to marry up what is best overall withthree, often very distinct, sets of expectations.

Responsibility/
operations/

The following table shows BBC senior managers’
headcount by base salary as at 31 March 2009.Where
staff are part-time, the full-time equivalent salary isgiven.This figure is made up of staff in both the public
service and the commercial businesses, excluding staff
on maternity or unpaid leave at that date.

STAFF

Responsibility/

098

Total BBC headcount has been decreasing in recent
years, as our business needs have changed. But witharound 23,000 people in 43 countries, in excess of
100,000 job applications last year, and in the regionof 30 million hits to our employment website(www.bbc.co.uk/recruitment), the BBC still takes
staff recruitment, retention and training seriously.
Table 25 gives a snapshot of where BBC UK staff
working in our broadcast and support functions werelocated as at 31 March 2009.
Our People Strategy is now established, and is working
dynamically across the business, where the five strategic
themes are used to deliver an effective response to
local and corporate business priorities in each BBC
business group.
Collective leadership: focus remains on encouraging
and supporting creativity, openness and responsibility
within operational teams.To this end, over 300 new
managers were enrolled on our Leadership Essentials
programme this year; and clear editorial values andstandards were integrated into induction programmes
and production courses, reaching around 20,000
non-BBC staff. We successfully piloted our Editorial
Leadership Programme, and this will launch laterin 2009.
Getting the right skills and talent for a changing
BBC: job closures started in 2008 and redeployment
opportunities, which exceeded targets, will continue
to take affect until 2010. A rigorous approachto resource planning, ensuring progress against
headcount targets, and talent management toretain the best skills is being actively pursued.
Reward for performance: 2008 was the second yearof a two-year pay deal totalling 6% (4% in 2007,
2% in 2008), and also saw the launch of a new online
scheme for flexible benefits.The scheme registereda 13% uptake in its first year, and by March 2009 thishad grown to 17% uptake.The scheme allows staff
in the UK to actively manage their own benefits suchas buying/selling annual leave and buying childcare
vouchers. Reward is crucial to performance, but inthese challenging economic times we have decided
that in 2009 Senior Managers should not receive anannual pay review or discretionary bonus, and there
will be no discretionary bonus awards to other staff.
We are developing a reward framework for 2010that supports managers in recognising performanceexcellence, innovation and creativity, but which is notwholly dependent on monetary rewards.

Table 23/ senior managers’ headcount bysalary band
Salary band		 2008/09
2007/08
Under £70,000		
50
72£70,000 to £99,999		
328
329£100,000 to £129,999		
178
171£130,000 to £159,999		
92
88£160,000 to £189,999		
52
44£190,000 to £219,999		
29
15£220,000 to £249,999		
1010£250,000 to £279,999		
57£280,000 to £309,999		
44£310,000 to £339,999		
2
1£340,000 to £369,999		
––£370,000 to £399,999		
1–
Total		
751
741
Note:
2007/08 bandings have been restated to exclude three individuals incorrectly
included in last year’s report.

Getting the basics right: we have been working to
make our processes and systems simple, clear andtransparent.This year we changed several essential
processes, including contracting and recruitment,so that managers can get better management
information and spend less time on administration.
Our joint effort with outsourcing partner Capita to
improve and strengthen our HR service continues.
Changing how we work: our employee relations
strategy is now starting to pay dividends, as we establish
as best practice our new approach to scenario planning,risk modelling, staff consultation, and a more inclusive
approach to ER issues with our unions throughthe Joint Working Parties.This has been particularly
important at this time as we are starting to deliveron our plans to increase our presence and ourwork spend outside London.

Table 24/ total average
psb headcount, Fte
Year end 2006		 18,860
Year end 2007		 17,914
Year end 2008		 17,677
Year end 2009		 17,078
Table 25/ staff uK
psb staff by nation(equivalent full-time) %08/09 07/08
England(excluding London) 23 24
London60 57
Scotland
6
8
Wales
7
8
Northern Ireland
44Responsibility/099

Responsibility/
operations/

Training

Last year we delivered over 70,000 days of training tomore than 49,000 people in the BBC and the wider
media industry, including the key area Safeguarding
Trust where over 20,000 online learning modules
have been completed by external users. In the year
ahead we will be developing an enhanced external
training portal which will deliver greater access to
BBC training to the wider industry.
Internally, a current focus is ensuring that our staff havethe right skills for developing content in a digital world– over 2,000 staff have had training in developing
content for multiple platforms, including staff in
Scotland who got dedicated training to support thelaunch of the new digital BBC ALBA Gaelic channel.
We have also worked at growing partnerships withexternal bodies in the audio-visual industry, educationand the community, including a range of initiatives
with Skillset. Having contributed to the reshaping ofSkillset’s governance structure, Peter Salmon, Director
BBC North, has joined the new Skillset Board of
Directors. Relationships have also been developed
further with BJTC, Media Trust, Northwest Vision &Media and the Research Centre, and a number ofuniversities in the North of England to enrich thepotential talent pool to support our move to Salford
in 2011.
In total we spent £44.5million on training last year
(2008: £43million).
Diversity is vital to ensuring that BBC programmes
and services reflect the lives and experiences of all our
licence fee payers. Difference is a strong catalyst for
creativity and can lead to richer, more relevant output
that resonates with all our audiences.

Recruiting and developing a diverse workforce that isrepresentative of contemporary British society is central
to the modern BBC.
Currently, around half of our workforce are women.
We reviewed our diversity targets this year and havealso set ourselves stretching, but realistic, goals for blackand minority ethnic (BME) and disabled staff.
Creating a diverse workforce is only one plank in our
Diversity Strategy.We also aim to embed diversity into
all BBC activities and functions – from creating uniqueand inspired output to attracting and nurturing great
talent, from connecting with hard to reach audiences
to ensuring new services are accessible.

Chart 6/
Subtitling output on BBC Television* %Chart 7/Signing on BBC Television %BBC OneBBC OneDiversity

BBC Two
100
Responsibility/

Table 26/ Black and minority ethnic staff% of total 		Target
2009
12.1
12.5
2008
11.0
12.5
2007
10.5
12.5
Table 27/ senior manager black and minority
ethnic staff % of total
T
2009
5.6
7.0
2008
5.0
7.0
2007
5.0
7.0
Table 28/ disabled staff % of total
Target
2009
4.4
5.5
2008
4.6
4.0
2007
2.8
4.0
Table 29/ senior manager disabled staff% of total
Target2009
3.4
4.5
2008 (data not measured previously) n/an/a

BBC Three
BBC Four
BBC HD
CBBC
CBeebies
BBC News

07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09

97.6
99.7
97.2
99.7
92.7
99.9
91.9
99.9

BBC Three
BBC FourCBBCn/a* Based on 52 weeks, not full year.

BBC Two

83.2
92.7
100.0
91.8
100.0
91.1
99.9

CBeebies
BBC News

07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09

4.7
5.2
5.1
5.7
5.0
5.8
5.0
7.1
5.1
6.3
4.9
5.5
4.6
5.1

The Diversity Strategy was reviewed during 2008 and
we developed a workable framework and mechanisms
for systematic action planning and reporting across four
key areas:

Corporate strategy and business planning

Ensuring equality and diversity are part of all strategic
decision-making and business planning within the BBC.
Understanding and responding to our diverse
audiences, through research, audience engagement
and outreach initiatives.

OutputCreatively reflecting the diversity of our audiences
across the UK, across all our platforms, and in thedevelopment of new services and technology.

Workforce

This was the second year of a three-year programmeof investment aimed at further diversifying the BBC
workforce at all levels:• Journalism Trainee Scheme – 60% intake were froma BME background.
• Journalism Talent Pool – 32% of intake was froma BME background.
• Mentoring and Development Programme – this aims
to create a pool of diverse staff with the confidence
and skills to move into senior roles.
• Extend – this work placement scheme for disabled
people provided up to 50 places for 2008/09.
BBC North has provided a major opportunity
for promoting the BBC as a diverse employer. A
partnership with Connexions and JobCentre Plus has
led to the development of an apprenticeship scheme

We are committed to making our programmes
as accessible as possible to all audience groups.
Last year we subtitled over 53,000 hours ofprogramming – around 7,000 hours more than theyear before, and including 3,222 hours combined on
BBC Parliament and BBC HD (which are not subject
to Ofcom targets). Our target for subtitling is 100%.
Our target for programming to be audio describedremains at 10%.This target does not apply to the BBC
News channel due to the nature of its rolling news
output, and does not apply to BBC Parliament, BBC
Red Button and BBC HD.
The same exemptions apply to signing where wehave a target of 5%.
Our Editorial Guidelines show how we can improveaccess to our services and encourage creative
approaches and solutions. For example, users cancustomise their home pages via www.bbc.co.uk

targeting hard to reach groups.We also continue tosupport existing partnerships nationally including forexample, working with Skillset this year to attract underrepresented groups to BBC Wales.
For more information on any of our training schemes,
including how and when to apply, please see:www.bbctraining.com
We also have statutory duties to promote race,
disability and gender equality through some of ouractivities, principally TV Licensing and digital switchover.
For more information have a look at our Performance
Summaries which highlight progress we have made thisyear: www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/diversity.shtml
Over the coming year we will begin work to develop
a single equality scheme.

Occupational risk management

The Director-General has responsibility for ensuringthat the organisation has a health and safety policy
and complies with it.The Executive Board approves
strategy and monitors performance. On a day-to-day
basis, local managers have responsibility for activities
under their control. Our goal is to provide a safeand healthy working environment for our employees,
the people we work with and those who visit us.
The Corporate Consultative Committee for Health
Safety and Welfare includes senior managers andsafety representatives. Staff are consulted throughregular team briefings and local safety forums.
On a daily basis, risks faced by staff include stress,
noise, manual handling and driving as well as those
associated with studio and location filming, and major
outdoor events. Journalists and other staff often workin hostile environments, including Iraq and Afghanistan,
and we provided specialist support to them andothers working in high-risk situations.
Chart 8/
Audio description on BBC Television %BBC One
BBC Two
BBC Three
BBC Four
BBC HD
CBBC
CBeebies

07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
07/08
08/09
n/a

13.6
14.7
12.4
12.1

101
21.4
29.3
18.1
20.7

08/09
17.4
07/08
11.9
08/09
12.3
07/08 10.6
08/09
13.7

Responsibility/

AudiencesResponsibility/
operations/

The BBC is committed to reducing (on 2000 levels
and by 2010):• incidence rate of reportable accidents by 60%.
• number of working days lost from work related
injury and ill health by 30%.
• incidence rate of cases of work-related ill healthby 20%.
And this year:• incidence rate for reportable accidents down from
277 to 160 per 100,000 staff (down 40%).
• incidence rate of suspected cases of work related
ill health was 23 per 1,000 in 2000 down to 3.55
per 1,000 last year, mainly due to stress, upper limb
disorders and other musculoskeletal problems.
Tragically, two of our journalists were killed in separate
incidents in Afghanistan and Somalia in July, andanother programme maker died in a road accident
in Bangladesh.

Enforcement

No enforcement action has been taken.

Competence

We recorded face-to-face safety training given to
6,641 people.Thousands of courses were also
completed online.We have completely revised muchof our production safety training, and work withother broadcasters and Skillset to implement a safety
passport scheme to deliver transferable safety training
to the media sector.
Our safety policy, and most of our guidance will
be made available during the course of 2009
on an external website:www.bbc.org.uk/ohss/main.asppage4531.htm

Responsibility/

102

Suppliers and partners

By virtue of the licence fee, we acknowledge the sizeof our spending ability in the broadcast marketplace
relative to our competitors. But we also recognisethat the privilege of the licence fee comes with the
expectation that we will use it to deliver value to ourlicence fee payers.We have a responsibility to behave
properly and not to unfairly impact or disadvantage
those with whom we do business – suppliers andpartners – but we must also see that we get thebest return overall for our investments.

Fair Trading Policy and Compliance

The BBC must meet its Fair Trading obligations.Theseare encapsulated in the BBC’s Fair Trading Guidelines,
found at www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/fairtrading/Compliance with these guidelines was overseen
through sub-committees of the BBC Trust (Public
Value Fair Trading Committee in 2008 and Financeand Compliance Committee in 2009) and Executive
Board (Executive Fair Trading Committee).
Following the introduction of the new Charterand Agreement on 1 January 2007, new guidelines
were introduced on 1 July 2007. At the time of theirapproval the BBC committed to review the guidelines
one year later and to consult with key stakeholders
on its proposals for change.The BBC published aconsultation document online on 24 October 2008.
Key external stakeholders were contacted directly.
Following the consultation, revised guidelines wereapproved by both the BBC Executive and the Trustand come into effect from 1 April 2009.

Annual Fair Trading audit

The BBC Trust commissioned auditors Deloitte
LLP to undertake an annual Fair Trading audit todetermine whether BBC management has establishedand applied a system of internal controls which
provide reasonable assurance that it has compliedwith the Trust’s Fair Trading policies. Details of
the audit and opinion can be found atwww.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/research/annual_report.html

ISO accreditation

The management of the BBC’s Fair Tradingarrangements has been accredited with the ISO
9001:2008 quality standard. Performance against
this standard is regularly tested by the British
Standards Institute.The most recent assessment in
the period under assessment (in December 2008)
confirmed that the procedures are continuing tooperate effectively.

Four commercial criteria

The BBC Agreement requires the BBC Executive
to ensure that all its Commercial Services meet fourcommercial criteria:• fit with the BBC’s Public Purpose activities• exhibit commercial efficiency• not jeopardise the good reputation of the BBCor the value of the BBC brand• comply with the Fair Trading Guidelines and inparticular avoid distorting the market
Having received reports from relevant senior
management, the BBC Executive is satisfied that all its
commercial services have met the above criteria forthe period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009.

The BBC operates a Fair Trading complaints andappeals framework which separates the handlingof complaints (investigated by BBC Executive),and appeals (undertaken by the Trust).
The BBC dealt with seven Fair Trading complaints
during the year. One complaint was the subject ofan appeal to the Trust. Details of these issues canbe found in the BBC’s Fair Trading Bulletinwww.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/fairtrading_complaints/
and on the Trust’s appeals page www.bbc.co.uk/
bbctrust/appeals/fair_trading_complaints.html, where
public guidance on the complaints and appeals
process can also be found.

Executive report on BBC World Service
trading protocols

BBC World Service purchases programmes andservices from licence fee funded areas of the BBC
as well as its Commercial Subsidiaries.The BBC’s Fair
Trading Guidelines provide guidance on this trading
relationship in order to ensure separation between
Grant-in-Aid and licence fee income.
As required by the Fair Trading Guidelines, the BBC
Executive commissioned a report from external
auditors on the BBC’s compliance in this area.The audit
report found that the BBC’s behaviour was compliant.
Further details can be found atwww.bbcworldservice.com/annual_review2009

Freedom of Information

The BBC’s online publication scheme had just over
1.5 million hits during the year, with a little over one
million documents downloaded.We launched our
new publication scheme in January 2009 in accordancewith the new requirements set out by the Information
Commissioner’s Office for all public bodies coveredby the Act.
We received 1,694 requests for information under theFreedom of Information Act (up 63% from 2007/08).
All or some of the information was released in 1,135(67%) of requests. 86% of requests were responded
to within the 20 working days statutory time frame,
or extended legitimately under the Act.
In addition, there were 51 requests for internal reviewsof BBC FOIA decisions, and 76 cases were referred to
the Information Commissioner’s Office. Five cases wereappealed to the Information Tribunal, four of which havebeen appealed to the High Court. One appeal washeard by the House of Lords.
More information on these issues and other
BBC FOIA activity can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/foi

Data protection

The BBC is implementing compulsory dataprotection training for all BBC staff. Over 83%
of staff had completed this training at 31 March 2009.
A formal BBC-wide data protection complianceand reporting structure was implemented and an
external data protection audit completed over anumber of divisions.
Three BBC data security breaches were referredto the Information Commissioner’s Office.The
Information Commissioner referred a further four
complaints to the BBC and the Jersey Information
Commissioner referred one complaint to the BBC.
The BBC received 26 formal Subject Access
Requests under the Data Protection Act, of which
23 were delivered within the 40-day statutory
timetable. One was referred to the Information
Commissioner’s Office.

Cost of compliance

In order to ensure that we complied with all relevant
legislation that the BBC is subject to as a broadcasterand public body, in 2008/09 we incurred compliancecosts estimated at £17.3million (2008: £15.3 million).
This figure includes the BBC’s annual £3.6million
subscription to Ofcom.

Legal

The Group General Counsel prepares a compliancereport which is presented quarterly to the Executive
Board, and every six months to the BBC Trust.This isdesigned to highlight and capture the BBC’s compliancewith all principal laws and regulations which affect the
BBC group’s business.
The Group General Counsel provides a commentaryon potential issues of non-compliance and establishes
an action plan designed to correct any issues as
and when they arise. Areas covered by the report
range from compliance with general laws such as theCompanies Acts and competition law, as well as laws
and regulations specific to broadcasting and the media.
The BBC does not publish the document in whole
or in part but it is used by management as an active
internal tool to gauge and, where appropriate,
improve the BBC’s system of compliance and controls.
The BBC Trust in turn uses the report as one ofits mechanisms to ensure that management takes
compliance with laws and regulations in as serious
manner as the subject requires.
We also run a central legal library and arrange legal andother training. Most of our in-house talks and seminars
are open to the wider BBC community.
A separate legal department works with BBC Scotland,in recognition of the different legal structure there.

103
Responsibility/

Fair Trading Complaints

Financi
statem106 / financial overview/
112 / Risk outlook/
114 / financial highlights/
115 / Independent auditors’ statement/
116 / consolidated statement ofincome and expenditure/
117 / summary consolidatedbalance sheet/
117 / SUMMARY Consolidated
cash flow statement/
118 / notes to the summary financial
statement/
123 / IFRS RECONCILIATION/
124 / contact us/
125 / other information/

Financial
STATEMENTS/

al
ents/

105

Financial statements/
Financial overview/

Financialstatements/

106“LICENCE FEE PAYERS RIGHTLY EXPECT TO RECEIVE
EXCELLENT VALUE FOR MONEY ACROSS ALL OURSERVICES.TO SUCCEED IN DELIVERING MORE FOR
LESS WE CONTINUE TO SIMPLIFY AND INNOVATE
IN EVERY ASPECT OF OUR BUSINESS.”
zarin patel, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Chart 9/ Licence fee collection/evasion %
06/07
9.2
8.7
07/08
8.7
08/09

Our bottom line is value –for all our stakeholders

Another consequence of our unique status is that
we do not have a ‘bottom line’ in the way that profitmaking organisations do, but show a surplus or deficit
each year.
Our group accounts show a surplus before interestand tax this year of £178.1million (2008: deficit(£4.7million)), arising principally as a result of the way
we have been funded. We have higher settlements inthe early years which will help to fund our significant
Charter commitments through to 2012/13, including
the digital build and Help Scheme, the move toSalford and our network supply strategy.
Rather than a bottom line, what we do have is a veryclear understanding of the value we can and shouldbe creating for our stakeholders, and this translates
into five key financial objectives:

Maximising our income by collecting the licence
fee as efficiently as we canThere are two aspects to this: developing more costeffective ways to collect and pay the licence fee, which
also meet our customers’ needs, and keeping evasion
as low as possible.
We saw a 12% increase in the number of people
paying through the cash plans last year, which enables
people to pay in smaller instalments over a longer
period, and we’ve also provided more outlets where
people can pay at their convenience. We havecontinued to promote online payments, which arecheaper to process, and more convenient for manyof our licence fee payers. More licences were sold
both this way and through the self-service phone line
in 2008/09. Self-serve now represents 35% of totaltransactions, up from 26% in the previous year.
The number of people paying through direct debit
increased again this year from 66% to 67%. We are,as expected, reaching the maximum potential forthis particular scheme, so we are now focusing on
investing in other flexible payment methods. Our
total collection costs (net of interest) went down
again this year, to £119million or 3.4% of income.
Evasion rose slightly, from 5.1% to 5.3%, reflecting
current economic conditions, but as this was offset bymore efficient collection, the combined cost of bothcollection and evasion remained stable at 8.7% of
our licence fee income. However, we expect to face

further challenges in the next 12 months as lower
levels of consumer confidence slow the growth in
new households.
The BBC Trust recently carried out an independent
review of our Licence Fee Collection, which consulted
with licence fee payers before making a number of
specific recommendations on how our approachshould change. We have taken these on board, andwill particularly be looking at how we communicate
with licence fee payers, simplifying how people pay for
their licence fee, and ways to target our enforcement
measures more effectively.

Making the BBC as efficient as possible,
and providing good value for money

The success of our efficiency programme is more
important now than it has ever been. Under our new
Continuous Improvement programme, which started
in April 2008, we have been set a stretching target toachieve 3% cumulative efficiency savings each year or
15% of our cost base to 2012/13, which equates toabout £1.9billion. Over this time we also plan to reduce
headcount by 10% (1,800 posts), on top of the 10%
achieved between 2005 and 2008 (1,900 posts).
We estimate that the Continuous Improvement
programme will cost about £160million to implement
over six years, and we have saved £237million since
the programme started (£192million net of costs).
This is not a one-off programme of savings. From
2000-2005 we delivered over £2billion throughefficiencies and other initiatives, and then achieved
a further £347million of recurring annual savings,
through the Value for Money programme, which
ran from 2005 to 2008.These efficiency programmes
principally targeted our fixed cost base; this meansthat the savings in our latest programme, asa proportion of our variable costs, are actuallyeven higher.
The savings come from a number of initiatives,
including changing the way we commission and makein-house programmes, centralising news production
and introducing end-to-end digital tapeless production.
Chart 10/ Gross efficiency savings £mProjected

2,000

530

1.9bn

08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13

Total

1,500

470
1,000

390
500

0

300
237

107
Financial
STATEMENTS/

The BBC offers a uniquely diverse and distinctive
range of services; it is also funded in a distinctive way.
We have commercial operations, including BBC
Worldwide, but most of our funding comesfrom the licence fee, paid for by households acrossthe UK. We also receive funding from theForeign & Commonwealth Office to support
the World Service.
Our funding gives us exceptional privileges andwe have a responsibility to spend this money well.
The first part of this financial review focuses on
how we do this, especially in the face of the current
economic downturn.

Financial statements/
Financial overview/

Chart 11/ BBC Worldwide statutory
profit before interest and tax £m
06/07
111
118
07/08
86
08/09

So far, as a result of the changes made to the way
we make our programmes, we have been able toinvest more in technology, improving the capabilitiesof iPlayer and enhancing our on-demand capabilities,
to make our Sport, News and Radio content available
wherever and whenever our audience wants it.
We have also invested in multiplatform programmingand new services such as HD – this has already beena great success both for the 2008 Olympics, and forlandmark programmes like Nature’s Great Events.
The final points to mention here are the Value forMoney reviews.The National Audit Office completed
two reviews in 2008/09, one on radio production, andthe other on our management of strategic contracts.
The first recognised that the aim of achieving nearly£70million of cumulative cash releasing savings inradio by 2012/13 is a challenging one.The report
made a number of recommendations, which wewere either already implementing, or will address
now. Most of these relate to sharing good practiceand insight, both inside and outside the BBC.The
second review analysed 17 different contracts witha combined annual value of around £715million.The
report recognised that the BBC has an above-average
track record in managing major contracts and thesavings we have secured have exceeded original
expectations. Again, we are addressing the report’s
recommendations, and focusing in particular on
how we manage our supply chain more effectively.

time that revenues have passed this milestone.This ispartly down to new investment this year, in channels,
online and production, and partly the result of growthfrom our existing business. Particular highlights from
our Global Brands business include Top Gear, andDoctor Who. We have also launched 18 new channels
worldwide this year, which brings our total to 44,
contributing to growth in Channels revenue of 23%.
The magazines division has had a more difficult year,with both advertising and circulation suffering fromthe general decline in marketing spend that is now
affecting the whole magazine market. Lonely Planet
has delivered its first full year of revenues, but is also
being impacted by the current economic downturn,which is slowing the travel and holiday market;
however we are encouraged that the business still
managed to grow its market share in the USA.

A more efficient BBC: streamlining scripts

Drama development and production is an
expensive business, and we are constantly looking
for ways to achieve the same high-quality resultat a lower cost – to make Little Dorrit for as
little as Doctors. One way we are doing this isby bringing together our financial and creative
teams more often and in new ways, to improvetheir understanding of each others’ priorities andconstraints. Giving better programme budgeting
training to script editors is a good example ofthis working well in practice. In this case wehave been able to avoid unnecessary costs andstreamline decision-making in the crucial earlystages of a production schedule. We have seenknock-on benefits for the whole production
team and process.

M

Financialstatements/

108

This is, in essence, what the main commercial armof the BBC exists to do. BBC Worldwide sells the
programmes we make across the world, so thatlicence fee payers get the highest possible returnon the money they pay.
We are always looking for new opportunities tosell our output, formats and other merchandise in
the UK and overseas. In 2008/09 BBC Worldwide’s
total revenues were just over £1billion, including
intra-group income and its share of joint venture
income, up 9.5% on the previous year and the first

A more efficient BBC: multimedia news

We now have a multimedia newsroom whichbrings together journalists and production teams
from television, radio, and online.This saves
money, speeds up decision-making, and allows us
to make the most of the content we create, by
re-using and repackaging it for more channels andplatforms. It has also given new skills to our own
news teams, as well as the freelancers who workfor us, who can then take what they have learnedout into the wider marketplace.
We had been hoping to build on the huge successof iPlayer with our proposal to develop a newvideo-on-demand service in partnership with ITV
and Channel 4. Unfortunately the Competition
Commission has ruled that this would be too muchof a threat to other competitors in the emerging
video-on-demand market. As a result we have had
to write-down £9million of costs incurred, but weare still hopeful that we can find another way togenerate the same returns for licence fee payers
over the long-term.
Our partner in the joint venture 2entertain,
Woolworths Group plc, entered administration at
the end of 2008, so we have had to write-off bothcosts and unrecoverable debt, although 2entertain
itself continues to trade well. Since then we have been
exploring how best to resolve this issue in a waythat protects the interests of licence fee payers.
BBC Worldwide’s statutory profits fell from£118million in 2007/08 to £86million this year.This isprincipally due to charges in relation to Woolworths(estimated at £15million including our share of thepension liability of 2entertain), Kangaroo (£9million),and our ongoing strategy of investment.
Our global news business, BBC World News, hasbeen impacted by the downturn in advertising
activity in the year. Despite an increase in revenuesof 12%, it has incurred a statutory loss of £3million
this year.

In a business like ours commissions and schedules
will always change year on year, as audience
preferences and priorities change.This makes
achieving significant budget savings even morechallenging, but there are some long-term
decisions we can still make that can help to keep
our costs down. For example, we can negotiate
longer-term deals with independent producers
on those formats that we feel are likely to remain
popular, or could adapt to different audiencetastes. Masterchef and Eggheads are both good
examples of this.The benefits are two-fold –it gives the independent production company
more certainty about their cashflow, whileallowing us to plan more efficiently, which has
an immediate impact on our cost per hour.
We announced the sale of the Outside Broadcasts
division of BBC Resources Limited, anothercommercial venture, at the start of 2008/09. We
retained the Studios and Post Production operations,and restructured them into a new business called
BBC Studios and Post Production Limited. It has beena challenging year throughout the broadcast facilities
market, with widespread reductions in turnover andrevenues, as productions cut costs and looked forsavings. At year end, the business made a statutory
loss before interest and tax of £18million, mainly due
to our restructure.
For more information see its service review, or see
www.bbcstudiosandpostproduction.com
Whilst the statutory results of the individualcommercial businesses show a profit of £86million
in BBC Worldwide, losses of £19million in Studios
and Post Production and £3million in BBC World
News, when consolidated into the group accounts,
the group profit before interest and tax is reduced
to £31million.This reflects the recognition of non-cash
losses on foreign exchange financial instruments;
these adjustments were not significant in 2007/08.
In general, our commercial operations are in good
shape at the start of the new financial year. We await
the outcome of the Digital Britain review, which may
have longer-term implications for BBC Worldwide.
The priority now is to make real improvements insome under-performing areas, while remaining agile
enough to move quickly to seize new opportunities.

S
The BBC is for the whole of the UK, from Belfast
to Truro, Aberdeen to Brighton, Swansea to
Middlesbrough. We are all passionately committed tonurturing the very best creative and production talent,right across the country. One way we are doing thisis by aiming to have 50% of our Network Television
production made outside London by 2016.Themove to Salford is central to this strategy. We will also

Managing risk in a recession

We recognise that the certainty of licence fee income does shield the BBCfrom the worst of the economic downturn; however we are not entirely
immune from the impact of the recession. Unlike many of our competitors,
we do not rely directly on advertising revenues, but we face similar challenges
to the majority of UK businesses as a result of the economic uncertainty
and subsequent volatility in financial markets.There is pressure on both ourcommercial and licence fee revenues, particularly as reduced household
growth takes effect. Our commercial businesses have suffered with reduced
retail and advertising activity and increased competition in our Studios
business; that said, BBC Worldwide has shown resilience so far, due to thediversified nature of its business.
When there is more uncertainty over future income streams, it is importantthat we live within our means. We have put a number of measures in place
this year as a result, including no discretionary public service bonuses for
2008/09, and no pay increases for senior management. We are also looking
carefully at what we pay our talent, in light of both the economic environment
and the Trust’s review of talent in 2008.
In addition, although we continue to invest in areas such as online, with acommitment to source at least 25% of our qualifying online spend externally,
we will be slowing the rate of our new investment this year. It is crucial that
we continue to deliver distinctive content at the best possible value for money,
whilst also keeping pace with the level of investment in the market as a whole.
We have a particular risk where the financial stability of key suppliers is affected,
and where we depend on any single supplier for a critical broadcast service.We
have put contingency plans in place both to deal with any further deteriorationin the economy or the failure of a supplier, while recognising that we have a
responsibility towards our suppliers as well as to the wider creative industry.
With the crisis in liquidity across the financial economy, we have also had
to keep a careful eye on our borrowing limits. We are focusing even more
rigorously on conserving our cash in the short-term, and managing ourlonger-term funding arrangements. Notwithstanding the fact that the BBC’s
borrowing facilities of £200million for public services and £350million forcommercial businesses may appear relatively low in comparison to our total
annual cash outflow, we are able to re-phase significant items of expenditure
at relatively short notice.The facilities we put in place in 2007/08 to make sure
we are fully funded to 2012/13 for both the public service and commercial
businesses are with a select group of counterparties with strong credit ratings.
We are also thinking ahead to identify risks and trends, and to take actions
to pre-empt them. This is particularly important in relation to our pension
scheme, which has inevitably been impacted by the volatility in the equity
markets. Where possible we have tried to diversify risk in the portfolio,
whilst looking for new ways to invest. There is further detail on this laterin the review.
In line with normal practice, we have reviewed the carrying value of our assets
including investments and goodwill. We have assessed future cash flows frombusiness plans, using an appropriate discount rate and believe this supports
the carrying values of our assets. In particular for Lonely Planet we usedbusiness plans consistent with the strategy to transform Lonely Planet from a
travel book publisher to a diversified travel information provider.This strategy
is expected to generate significant growth particularly for the digital businessfollowing the successful re-launch of the Lonely Planet website.These value in
use calculations support the carrying value of the business.
This recession is likely to be more far-reaching than we could have predicted
a year ago. We believe we have responded quickly and decisively to the issues
we face and are confident that we have the resources we need to continue
our operations for the foreseeable future.

109
Financial
STATEMENTS/

A more efficient BBC: longer-term
production dealsFinancial statements/
Financial overview/

allocate 12% of our Network Television investment
to the Nations by 2012, rising to 17% by 2016.
We are reviewing what targets should be in placefor our radio output in the coming year.
In 2008, total spend outside of London, expressed asa percentage of eligible spend (as defined by Ofcom)
increased from 33% to 35%. In absolute terms, total
spend including online, decreased from £984million
in 2007/08, to £948million this year, reflecting thelevel of efficiencies made this year across all spend.
We expect this number to increase as production
moves out of London in line with our long-term
network supply strategy.

E

Financialstatements/

110

Research has proved that the creative economy canbe a significant engine for growth for the UK as awhole. According to the National Endowment for
Science,Technology and the Arts (NESTA), industries
like television, film, music and entertainment havegrown twice as fast as the economy as a whole inrecent years, and are a vital source of innovation andnew ideas.The sector also contributes £60billion
a year to UK plc.
The BBC is – and should be – a vital part of this.
In calendar year 2008 we commissioned 37% of
our television content from external production
companies. Our total investment in the creative
industries during the year was £1.1billion, or 33%
of our annual licence fee income, which includes
payments to artists and contributors. We are alreadyexceeding the targets set for us by Ofcom onspend in the independent sector, and we are actively
redefining the relationship between the BBC andthe rest of UK media, and shifting the balance awayfrom competition towards improved collaboration,
by developing new and sustainable partnerships.
You can see evidence of this already, whether it’s in
our new memorandum of understanding with ITV toshare regional news infrastructure and resources tosupport provision beyond the BBC, or our proposal
to share digital production technology and expertise
which could help small independent producers
make the transition to a fully digital future.The latteris particularly important. As NESTA point out, theUK creative economy is characterised by many small
firms, few of which ever reach a significant size, andnone that could hope to rival the big global players.
Working with the BBC can make all the difference
here, and we want to make our expertise and knowhow go much further. This is especially important in
the current downturn, when we can provide a morestable programme of investment than many of ourcommercial competitors.

Chart 12/ Licence fee spend innations/regions £m
06/07
07/08
08/09

884
984
948

Current and future Challenges
S

We are operating under the umbrella of a relatively
new regulatory regime. In the last year both BBC
ALBA and BBC HD have spent less than forecast,due to timing differences against their original budgets,and as a result both service licences were technicallybreached. Some other licences are operating close to
their thresholds, and these are under ongoing review.
The control framework that oversees all our service
licences is operating effectively, and we have improved
our early warning reporting so that we can takeaction quickly if any are at risk of breaching their limits.
A new service licence budget was approved
during the year for BBC Online, and the new BBC
ALBA service was licensed for the first time. From
2009/10, we will be making changes to the terms of
the Children’s service licence, which will see spendtransferring to CBBC and CBeebies from BBC
One and BBC Two.The changes are being made tostrengthen controls over editorial decision-making.

D

One of our responsibilities under the BBC Charter isto help deliver digital switchover across the UK, andensure that those most in need of support are awareof what this means, and get the assistance they need.
Funds are set aside in the licence fee to allow theBBC to fulfil these obligations.
By the end of 2008/09, the Whitehaven and Selkirk
transmitters in the ITV Border region had switched
over, which covered 73,000 households, and 25,000
individuals eligible for the Switchover Help Scheme.
The Help Scheme also supported a further half amillion people in the Border and West Country ITV
regions last year, in preparation for their switchover in2009. Four more of the 14 ITV regions are also due
to switch this year, which represents 5.4 million morehouseholds, or 20% of the UK population. Around
two million older and disabled people in those regions
will be eligible for the Switchover Help Scheme.
£603million of the current licence fee settlement
has been ring-fenced to cover the Switchover Help
Scheme for the period to 2012/13, and spend lastyear amounted to £24million. So far, only 1% of the
population has fully switched to digital; although takeup of the scheme has been lower than expected sofar, there is a real increase in activity from now until
2011. We will not be able to fully assess how muchit will take to convert everyone until we have rolled
out the scheme across a larger, urban region.
Digital UK is responsible for raising public awarenessof digital switchover and has a total budget set aside
from the licence fee of £201million to 2012/13.This
body is administered jointly by the BBC and otherbroadcasters, and in 2008/09 it spent £26million.

Pensions

The BBC operates a defined benefit scheme forall staff, with a mix of final salary and career average
benefits.The scheme is administered by a groupof trustees who manage the pension scheme

Chart 13/ Spend in creative economy £bn
06/07
1.1
1.1
07/08
1.1
08/09

K
T

Our treasury department manages and monitors
all our financial risks, making sure that we havesufficient liquid funds to meet our obligations as theyfall due, and that we comply with our borrowing
limits, particularly those set out in our Charter andexternal loan covenants. It also manages our foreignexchange and interest rate risk exposures. All the
department’s activities are governed by policies
and procedures approved by the BBC’s FinanceCommittee, and overseen on a day-to-day basis by
the Group Treasurer, with monthly reporting to senior
management. Note 23 includes more informationon this.

Critical accounting policies

The areas which require the greatest degree ofjudgement are as follows:• our valuation of the pension scheme for FRS17
accounting purposes includes assumptions on life
expectancy, future investment returns, inflation, andsalary growth, as stated in Note 8. We consult withthe scheme actuaries to ensure that they fall within
an acceptable range based on market practice, butdifferent assumptions would result in a change tothe level of surplus or deficit.
• provisions represent our best estimate of future
liabilities and may involve assumptions to calculate
redundancy costs, for example number of people
and their level of remuneration.
• we operate a significant number of property andtechnology leases. As you can see from Notes
23 and 24, the decision to treat such contracts asfinance or operating leases has a significant impact
on our balance sheet.
• as we operate across a number of different
countries and a number of different currencies,
we are exposed to exchange rate fluctuations.
The translation of foreign currency transactions,exchange rates used and treatment of foreign
operations all impact on our financial statements.
• a number of indicators are assessed in deciding
whether to impair or write-down an asset.These
include reduced market value or a deteriorationin economic performance. In many cases when
conducting impairment reviews, we need to assess
the future cashflows of an operation to decide
whether it may be impaired, which involves making
a number of assumptions about future performance.

I

We will be adopting IFRS from the year ending
31 March 2010.This is in line with the HM Treasury
decision to do the same from 2009/10 onwards.
In the meantime, the accounts continue to beprepared under UK Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles (UK GAAP), although a reconciliation to
IFRS is provided for information.
The main impact on preparing our accounts under
IFRS will be in relation to leases, goodwill andemployee benefits.
The pages following now contain our summary
financial statements – income and expenditure,balance sheet and cash flow – and some other key
financial information. Full financial statements andnotes are published online and can be found atwww.bbc.co.uk/annualreport111

Zarin Patel
Chief Financial Officer
18 June 2009

Financial
STATEMENTS/

investment strategy, supported by a number of
independent advisors.
During the past two years, we have looked for ways
to secure the long-term affordability of the scheme,
such as introducing career average benefits andincreasing employee contributions.
This year, we have also introduced a ‘salary sacrifice’scheme, which delivers savings to both employees andto the BBC; as you can see from Note 8, it changes
the way we account for pension contributions,increasing the proportion of employer contributions
disclosed.The effective BBC and employee
contribution rates for 2008/09 were 19.35% and6.0% respectively, making a total contribution rate of
25.35%. As of April 2009, employees have been asked
to increase their contributions to 6.75%, and there
will be a further increase to 7.5% from April 2010.
The FRS 17 valuation shows a scheme deficit thisyear of £139million compared to a surplus last yearof £528million. It has been a difficult year for thosemanaging pension schemes, as equities, real estate,
corporate bonds and alternative assets have all fallen
in value. We look at our scheme performance overboth short and long-term, where the outlook remains
uncertain as the equity markets struggle to recover.
The liability in this year’s accounts reflects the year’s
market turbulence, though we hope to see signsof recovery in the medium-term. Full details of ourpension costs and liabilities are included in Note 8of the full financial statements, which can be foundonline at www.bbc.co.uk/annualreport
The last formal actuarial valuation of the scheme
was as at April 2007, and this reported a surplus of£275million. An interim actuarial report in April 2008
indicated that the scheme had moved into a deficit of£470million, largely as the result of lower assumptions
about the level of future investment returns. We
expect the next formal actuarial valuation to beundertaken as at April 2010.
We remain committed to the defined benefit scheme
and constantly review our approach to pension
provision to effectively manage both cost and risk;
however we also recognise that it must remain
affordable to the licence fee in the long-term.

Financial statements/
Risk outlook/

Risk outlook/

Financialstatements/

112

risk

aCtiOnfuture OutlOOk

A prolonged UK and global recession
could lead to a sharp decline in theperformance of our commercial business.

BBC Worldwide is relatively diversified,
which offers protection against the
downturn in the advertising market.
We have recently restructured ourStudios and Post Production business tomake sure it is agile enough to respondto current market pressures.

A continued global downturn could put
further pressure on revenues across all
our commercial businesses.
We have made significant investments ina number of areas and will need to focus
on growing these new businesses.

Increased financial and liquidity risk
could increase the pressure on income,reduce our financial flexibility andincrease the pressure on ourborrowing facilities.

We have taken early action to create
contingency in our financial plans,
diversify the pension portfolio andreduce our liquidity risk, as set out
in the Financial Review.
We monitor licence fee sales and key
economic indicators constantly tounderstand how long-term trends
will impact our income.

As the recession continues, licencefee sales may continue to comeunder pressure.
We will continue to actively manage
financial risk over 2009/10 as the
economic outlook remains uncertain.

A reliance on key suppliers may
increase the risks arising from both
liquidity and counterparty failure
in our supply chain.

We monitor all our strategic supply
contracts and supplier interdependencies.
We have tried to ensure we have bothcontractual protection through clear exit
strategies and contingency plans in placeshould a supplier fail.

Our suppliers will continue to feel theimpact of the economic downturn
throughout 2009/10 and we will
work with them to reduce the risk
posed to either broadcast criticalor support services.

Broadcast services may be disrupted
as a result of technical failure, industrial
action or the actions of third parties,
for example a terrorist act, or
supplier failure.

We have detailed broadcast continuity
plans in place, which are constantly
reviewed and tested. We monitor all
threats to national security and maintain
open relationships with the trade unions.

This risk requires ongoing active
management, given heightened security
threats across the UK and the ageing ofsome of our technology assets which
may need to be replaced.

Any incident which affects the safetyof our staff, contributors or audiences.

We take our safety and security
responsibilities very seriously and havestrong procedures in place for assessing
risks when filming, working overseas
and working with audiences.

We will continue to prioritise safety andsecurity in all our activities, and review
and amend our practices in response
to incidents that occur.

The Executive Board is responsible for identifying
any risks to the business, and taking mitigating
action as appropriate. Some risks are constant,whileothers are a response to sudden changes in market
conditions.The risks identified below are thosethought to have the most significant impact on
our audiences, strategy and operations.They are
not expressed in any ranking or order of priority.
aCtiOnfuture OutlOOk

The quality of our programming could
be impacted by the stretching efficiency
targets we have been set.

We started a new ‘Continuous
Improvement’ efficiency programme
this year. We have put a performanceframework in place to measure progressagainst the ambitious targets and identify
any impact on programming.The efficiencies
made are being reinvested to enhance
distinctiveness across all our services.

Our efficiency programme continues
to 2012/13, with increasing pressure on
programme-makers to find innovative
ways to improve quality and performance.

For our audiences, it is importantthat our content remains consistently
distinctive, innovative and high quality
and that we continue to invest in newtechnologies, to make sure they canaccess content how, when and where
they choose.

We strive to create innovative andground-breaking programmes and service
strategies are in place to deliver against
each core audience objective.
Continual testing and research of market
trends and current developments supports
our technology strategies.
Both the BBC and the BBC Trust
extensively consult with audiences
across the UK to ensure that weare responding to their needs.

Technology and its changing possibilities
will continue to present a big challenge
in how we engage with our audiences.
Our portfolio of services offers somethingof value to everyone and we are investingin new content and services to keep pacewith the evolving digital UK.

A breach of editorial standards might
reduce viewer and listener confidence
in BBC programming.

We have clear editorial guidelines in place
and we provide extensive training to ourprogramme-makers and contributors.
We encourage production teams totake considered risks in achieving theireditorial aims.

The public will continue to expect thehighest standards of editorial integrity andimpartiality from the BBC. Any lapses ineditorial control or judgement and thesubsequent damage to our reputation
and brand will continue to be a concern
and we will aim to deal with them quickly
and appropriately.

We may not deliver the short and longterm benefits available from developing
partnerships with the broadcasting andmedia industry.

We have been working hard to set up aseries of strong and lasting partnerships,
seeking engagement across the industry
to develop joint solutions.
We hope that these in turn will deliver
lasting value to the licence fee payer.

This will be a priority in 2009/10 as
the BBC endeavours to ensure theright frameworks are in place to create
economic value across the industry.
113
Financial
STATEMENTS/

risk

Financial statements/
Financial HIGHLIGHTS/

Financial highlights/
The BBC’s income continues to grow, driven by thelicence fee.The level of the licence fee is set by theGovernment, but the growth in the BBC’s income isalso affected by household growth and the BBC’s
ability to effectively collect licence fee income.
IncomeThe BBC’s income continues to grow, driven by thelicence fee.The level of the licence fee is set by theGovernment, but the growth in the BBC’s income
is also affected by household growth and the BBC’s
ability to effectively collect licence fee income.
Although growth in commercial income may appear
modest, this headline figure does not fully reflect
the success of the BBC’s commercial strategy overrecent years, in particular the expansion through BBC
Worldwide’s involvement in ventures with otherparties; the BBC’s share of the income in these joint
ventures is not reflected above.The cash returnfrom BBC Worldwide to the BBC increased by 23%
to £153million.

Operating expenditure

As the BBC must break even over a Charter period,
total expenditure broadly follows the same trend as
income. Note 2 gives more details of expenditure,
particularly on the BBC’s public services. However,this year the BBC’s Continuous Improvement
Programme has started to deliver efficiency savings
that contribute to reduced expenditure on public
service broadcasting when compared to 2007/08;
expenditure reduced by 3.4%.

Interest cost

Financialstatements/

114

Net interest payable has increased from £4.6million
to £17.2million reflecting changes in borrowings,
particularly in the Commercial Businesses, to financeinvestment. However, the Group has not been able
to take full advantage of the current low interest
rates as a result of its cash management strategy touse interest rate swaps, collars and caps to reduce its
exposure to variable interest rates.The recognitionof the swaps, caps and collars at fair value has
increased the interest payable expense for the yearby £5.1million, but as these swaps mature they will be
replaced by ones based on current market conditions,which should reduce the cost of capital in future years.

Chart 14/ Income £m
06/07
07/08
08/09
Licence fee
Commercial income

4,177
4,415
4,606
World Service and BBC Monitoring grants
Other

Chart 15/ Operating expenditure £m
06/07
07/08
08/09
Public Services Broadcasting Group
Commercial businesses

4,353
4,477
4,492
World Service and BBC Monitoring
Non-cash pension costs

T

The BBC’s public service activities are not generally
liable to corporation tax, but tax is payable on capitalgains and other income.The BBC’s commercial
subsidiaries are liable to corporation tax on taxable
profits for the year. As a result the effective tax rate,
which this year is 8.6% (2008: 26.7%), is different
from the standard rate of Corporation tax of 28%.
A significant factor in the variability of the effective
rate year-on-year is the extent to which licence fee
income exceeds public service expenditure in the year.

Fo

During the course of any year the BBC enters into
a number of transactions in currencies other thansterling, which must be recorded in the BBC’s financial
statements in sterling. If exchange rates change
significantly during the period between a transaction
being agreed and the cash payment or receipt
occurring this can have an impact on the BBC’s results.
The BBC, however, generally enters into forward
currency contracts to manage, or hedge, this currency
risk, which allows it to settle transactions at known
exchange rates, reducing uncertainty relating to cash
flow. However, there is still an accounting impact.

SThis summary financial statement represents only a summary of the information in the BBC’s full financial statements andGovernance report. As such, the summary financial statement does not contain sufficient information to allow a full understandingof the results and state of affairs of the BBC Group, of its Governance arrangements and of its policies and arrangements concerning
directors’ remuneration as would be provided by the full annual financial statements and reports. More detailed information can beobtained in the full Annual Report and Accounts 2008/09, which is available at www.bbc.co.uk/annualreport
The summary financial statement, including the Summary governance report and Executive Remuneration Report, was approvedby the Executive Board on 18 June 2009 and signed on its behalf by:

M

Zarin Patel
Chief Financial Officer

I

Net assets

As at 31 March 2009 the net assets of the BBCGroup were £990.1million (2008: £1,519.2million),
which is a decrease of £529.1million during the year.
The overall net assets of the BBC are significantly
influenced by the accounting valuation of the BBC
Pension Schemes (the pension scheme is discussed
in more detail in the Financial Review), which thisyear shows a net loss for the year of £666.6million.
Otherwise the underlying net assets remain
relatively constant; however as noted above there
has been an increase in borrowing to finance capitalspend and investment for the future, including ourtransformational projects in London and Salford, as
well as investment in digital production technology
to enhance our content and services.

Cash flows

The BBC manages cash and borrowings carefully
and remains within its borrowing ceilings.The extent
to which cash flows and net debt move in tandem
depends on the Charter cycle, with the BBC aiming
to break even over a Charter period this can result insignificant cash inflows in some years offset by future
anticipated outflows, for example in relation to digital
switchover.This year there was a net cash inflow of£43.8million.

R

The Trustees and Executive Board are responsible for preparing the BBC
Executive’s review and assessment as if Section 251 of the Companies Act 1985
applied to the BBC.
Our responsibility, in accordance with the terms of our engagement is to report
to you our opinion on the consistency of the summary financial statement
within the BBC Executive’s review and assessment with the full annual financial
statements and the Executive Board Remuneration Report, and its compliancewith the relevant requirements of section 251 of the Companies Act 1985 andthe regulations made thereunder as if they applied to the BBC.
We also read the other information contained in the BBC Executive’s review
and assessment and consider the implications for our report if we becomeaware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with thesummary financial statement.

B

We conducted our work in accordance with Bulletin 1999/6 The auditor’s
statement on the summary financial statement issued by the Auditing Practices
Board. Our report on the BBC’s full annual financial statements describes thebasis of our audit opinion on those financial statements and the Executive
Board Remuneration Report.

OpinionIn our opinion the summary financial statement is consistent with the fullannual financial statements and the Executive Board Remuneration Report ofthe BBC for the year ended 31 March 2009 and complies with the applicablerequirements of section 251 of the Companies Act 1985 and the regulations
made thereunder as if they applied to the BBC.
KPMG LLP
Chartered Accountants
Registered Auditor, London
18 June 2009115
Financialstatements/

During the year foreign exchange rates have been
subject to more volatility and devaluation/appreciation
than often seen.Therefore the fair value changes inopen foreign currency forwards taken out by the
BBC have been much more significant this year thanthey have been in the past, as have gains and losses
on settled transactions.This year the BBC recognised
a net gain of £10.3million on settled transactions, a
net loss of £18.4million on open foreign currency
forwards and foreign currency embedded derivatives,and a gain of £22.9million on the translation of theresults and assets of overseas subsidiaries.

We have examined the summary financial statement which comprises theConsolidated income and expenditure account, Summary consolidated balance
sheet, Summary consolidated cash flow statement and Executive Board
Remuneration Report.
The BBC’s Trustees have engaged us to examine the summary financial
statement which has been prepared as if the BBC were a company and entitledto prepare such a statement under Section 251 of the Companies Act 1985.
This statement is made solely to the BBC’s Trustees as a body on terms wehave agreed. Our work has been undertaken so that we might state to theBBC’s Trustees those matters we have agreed to state to them in such astatement and for no other purpose.To the fullest extent permitted by law, we
do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the BBC and theBBC’s Trustees as a body, for our work, for this statement, or for the opinions
we have formed.

Financial statements/
SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENT/CFOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2009
2009
£m

2008
£m

4,906.2(300.5)

4,689.4(274.6)

4,605.7

4,414.8(4,461.8)(29.9)(4,359.3)(117.7)(4,491.7)(4,477.0)

group operating surplus/(deficit)

114.0(62.2)

Share of operating surplus of associates and joint ventures before exceptional items
Share of joint ventures’ operating exceptional items

56.8
(7.5)

60.3
–

share of operating surplus of associates and joint ventures

49.3

60.3

operating surplus/(deficit): group and share of associates and joint ventures
Loss on sale and termination of operations
Profit on disposal of fixed assets

163.3
(1.1)
15.9

(1.9)
(4.8)
2.0

surplus/(deficit) before interest and taxation
Interest receivable and similar items
Interest payable and similar items
Other net finance income (from defined benefit pension scheme)

178.1
9.1
(26.3)
117.3

(4.7)
13.7
(18.3)
148.8

278.2(24.0)

139.5(37.3)

surplus after taxation and before minority interest
Minority interest

254.2
(0.5)

102.2
(0.5)

surplus for the financial year

253.7

101.7

Note

income (including share of joint ventures)
Less: share of joint venturesgroup income

1

Operating expenditure excluding exceptional costs
Exceptional restructuring costs
total operating expendituresurplus before taxation and minority interest
Taxation2

3

All results arise from continuing operations.
There is no significant difference between the results as disclosed above and the results on an historical cost basis.
Note:
The surplus/(deficit) for the financial year is the amount found by deducting all items of expenditure recognised in the year from all income
receivable for the year. For the BBC Group, as a public benefit entity, any surplus arising does not represent a ‘profit’ that can be returned
to an entity’s funders, but a timing difference relating to past or future expenditure.

Financialstatements/

116

Summary Consolidated Balance sheet
At 31 March 2009
Group
2009
£m

Group
2008
£m

Fixed assets

1,003.4

992.4

current assets
creditors – amounts falling due within one year

1,568.8(952.4)

1,423.1(1,064.7)

616.4

358.4

1,619.8(314.6)(171.8)1,350.8(172.6)(182.3)

1,133.4(143.3)

995.9
523.3

990.1

1,519.2984.2
5.9

1,512.5
6.7

990.1

1,519.2

				
			
Note

2009
£m

2008
£m

Net cash inflow from operating activities				

215.2

158.7

Dividends received from joint ventures and associates				
Net cash outflow from return on investments and servicing of finance				Taxation paid				Net cash outflow from capital expenditure and financial investments				
Net cash outflow from acquisitions and disposals				

37.0
(8.8)
(23.1)(228.2)(14.8)

45.7(1.7)(23.5)(231.8)(107.1)

Net cash outflow before use of liquid resources and financing				
Net cash inflow from management of liquid resources				
Net cash inflow from financing				(22.7)–
66.5(159.7)–93.0

Increase/(decrease) in cash in the year				Cash at bank and in hand at the beginning of the year				

43.8
78.0

(66.7)
144.7

Cash at bank and in hand at the end of the year				

121.8

78.0

note

net current assets
Total assets less current liabilities
creditors – amounts falling due after more than one year
Provisions for liabilities
net assets excluding pension (liability)/asset
net pension (liability)/asset

6

net assets
represented by
BBc reserves
Minority interest

Summary Consolidated Cash flow statement
For the year ended 31 March 2009

Financial
STATEMENTS/

117

Financial statements/
Notes to the summary financial statement/

Notes to the summary financial statement

1 Group income

The main income for the BBC is derived from television licences. Licence fee income is recognised in full when a licence is issued, subject
to deductions for actual and expected refunds and cancellations.
UK Public BBc world
Service Service andBroadcasting
BBc commercial
		Group Monitoring businesses
		
£m
£m
£m

		

Total
£m

2009
licence fee income
Government grantscommercial
other

		
		
		
		

3,493.8
5.0
–
34.5

–
289.6
–
6.9

–
–
775.9
–

3,493.8
294.6
775.9
41.4

Total

		

3,533.3

296.5

775.9

4,605.7

uK Public
service
Broadcasting
Group
£m

BBc World
service andBBc
Monitoring£mcommercial
businesses
£m

total
£m

2008
licence fee income
Government grantscommercial
other3,368.8
4.0
–
37.5

–
279.6
–
5.3

–
–
719.6
–

3,368.8
283.6
719.6
42.8

total

3,410.3

284.9

719.6

4,414.8

2 Total operating expenditure, including UK Public Services Broadcasting Group
expenditure by service

UK Public Service Broadcasting Group’s activities are funded by the licence fee.The Charter and Agreement between the BBC and
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) describes the BBC’s UK public services (including television, radio and online services)
and also sets certain obligations on the BBC in relation to digital switchover; both activities are funded by the licence fee. However, partof the licence fee income has been specified as being for the purpose of digital switchover and as a result the total UK Public Service
Broadcasting Group expenditure is shown below allocated between these categories.
2009
£m

2008
£m

Expenditure on licence fee funded activities						UK public services				 3,345.6
	Digital switchover (Digital UK Limited)				
26.0
	Digital switchover (DSHS Limited)				
24.4

3,487.1
21.2
5.9

Total UK Public Service Broadcasting Group				
BBC World Service and BBC Monitoring				Commercial Businesses				Non-cash pension scheme operating costs				

3,396.0
296.9
799.1
(0.3)

3,514.2
285.3
675.6
1.9

					

4,491.7

4,477.0								Financialstatements/

118

Service licences are used by the BBC Trust to regulate the BBC’s services and ensure that each service provides public value and contributes
to the delivery of the BBC’s public purposes.The annual assessment of performance compares actual costs for content against an agreed andauthorised baseline budget.These costs may vary by up to 10% of the baseline budget to permit management flexibility in its commissioning
decisions. During the year there were 28 service licences in operation, including the BBC ALBA licence which launchedin September 2008.
Service licences show the cost to the licence fee payer of providing the relevant service and therefore exclude any costs funded by athird party co-producer. A number of television programmes are broadcast on more than one channel and in general the full cost of the
programme is recognised as a cost of the channel of first transmission. Where a programme is commissioned by two channels, the costof the programme is recognised as a cost of the primary channel irrespective of which transmits the programme first. Accordingly, the costs
of individual service licences are not necessarily equivalent to the costs which would be incurred by such services on a stand-alone basis.
For BBC HD, BBC Online and BBC Red Button, the licence reflects only the incremental costs of getting content to air unless thecontent is specifically commissioned for one of these three services.The cost of the original content is allocated to the service on
which it is first transmitted.

2 Total operating expenditure, including UK Public Services BROADCASTING GROUP
expenditure by service continued
content£m

distribution£minfrastructure/
support
£m

other
items
£m

2009
Total
£m

2008
total
£m

BBc oneBBc two
BBc three
BBc FourcBBccBeebies
BBc hdBBc AlBA
BBc news channel
BBc Parliament
BBc red Button

1,142.0
450.6
87.3
54.8
35.8
16.3
2.1
3.0
47.9
2.8
13.5

47.9
34.1
4.2
3.0
3.4
3.5
2.7
0.8
6.6
5.1
12.3

202.9
85.0
23.1
13.6
10.8
5.7
1.9
0.6
6.5
1.7
4.3

–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

1,392.8
569.7
114.6
71.4
50.0
25.5
6.7
4.4
61.0
9.6
30.1

1,418.2
567.9
125.2
64.8
48.7
23.3
6.7
–
58.0
5.8
36.7

Television

1,856.1

123.6

356.1

–

2,335.8

2,355.3

BBc radio 1
BBc radio 2
BBc radio 3
BBc radio 4
BBc radio 5 live
BBc radio 5 live sports extra
BBc 1XtraBBc 6 Music
BBc 7
BBc Asian network
BBc local radio
BBc radio scotland
BBc radio nan Gàidheal
BBc radio Wales
BBc radio cymru
BBc radio ulster/BBc radio Foyle

33.1
40.1
40.0
85.9
56.5
2.6
6.8
6.5
5.2
9.2
108.6
25.0
4.0
12.9
12.0
14.5

3.5
3.8
4.1
8.3
5.7
0.3
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.5
6.3
2.4
0.9
1.0
1.3
1.1

6.4
6.8
7.0
14.4
10.0
0.8
2.3
2.1
1.3
2.4
18.1
4.9
0.8
2.3
2.1
2.8

–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

43.0
50.7
51.1
108.6
72.2
3.7
9.6
9.0
6.9
12.1
133.0
32.3
5.7
16.2
15.4
18.4

43.1
51.3
49.4
105.5
72.3
3.3
9.3
7.5
7.3
13.0
136.5
38.5
6.9
17.5
16.8
20.2

radio

462.9

40.5

84.5

–

587.9

598.4

BBc online

112.2

18.5

46.5

–

177.2

182.0

online

112.2

18.5

46.5

–

177.2

182.0

Spend regulated by service

2,431.2

182.6

487.1

–

3,100.9

3,135.7

licence fee collection costs
orchestras and performing groupss4c
BBc jamdevelopment spend
dAB digital radio
digital text

–
21.5
27.6
–
30.9
–
–

–
–
–
–
–
10.3
6.9

–
3.6
4.9
–
5.2
–
–

122.8
–
–
–
–
–
–

122.8
25.1
32.5
–
36.1
10.3
6.9

123.2
19.3
32.7
3.0
37.3
9.6
8.7

other

80.0

17.2

13.7

122.8

233.7

233.8

–

–

–

11.0

11.0

117.6

Total uK public services expenditure

2,511.2

199.8

500.8

133.8

3,345.6

3,487.1

digital uK limited
digital switchover ring-fenced expenditure

–
–

–
–

–
–

26.0
24.4

26.0
24.4

21.2
5.9

2,511.2

199.8

500.8

184.2

3,396.0

3,514.2

exceptional restructuring costs

Total uK Public Services BroadcastingGroup expenditureNotes:BBC HD’s content costs were under the baseline budget by more than the 10% tolerance due to significant savings in contractual costs.
BBC ALBA’s content costs were under baseline budget by more than the 10% tolerance level as the service was only operational for six
months of the year whereas the baseline budget was set on annual basis.

119
Financial
STATEMENTS/

UK public services

Financial statements/
Notes to the summary financial statement/

3 Surplus/(deficit) before taxation and minority interest

				
			
Note

2009
£m

2008
£m

Operating surplus/(deficit) before interest, taxation and non-cash pension costs
	UK Public Service Broadcasting Group				
BBC World Service and BBC Monitoring					Commercial Businesses				

147.3
(0.6)
31.1

(108.0)
0.5
104.7

					
Net interest payable				Defined benefit pension scheme				177.8(17.2)
117.6

(2.8)
(4.6)
146.9

Surplus before taxation and minority interest				

278.2

139.5

2009

2008

	Surplus/(deficit) 			
Surplus/before group	R		(deficit)
adjustments, of derivative	Otherbeforeinterest andfinancialgroup interest andtaxation
instruments
adjustments
taxation
£m
£m
£m
£m

Surplus/(deficit)
beforeinterest andtaxation£m

Further analysis of the Commercial Businesses contribution to operating surplus/(deficit)
	Individual statutoryfinancial statements

Group adjustments

BBC Worldwide Limited
BBC World News Limited
BBC Studios and Post Production Limited
Holding companies

85.7
(3.2)
(18.3)(0.6)(20.8)(13.2)
–
–

1.3
–
–
0.2

66.2
(16.4)(18.3)
(0.4)

116.1
(7.8)
(3.2)
(0.4)

Total

63.6

(34.0)

1.5

31.1

104.7

The Group’s subsidiaries have not adopted FRS26 (IAS39) ‘Financial instruments: Recognition and Measurement’ in their own financial
statements as they are not within its scope. As a result the recognition of derivative financial instruments in the Group financial statements
impacts on the surplus/(deficit) before interest and taxation reported for the Commercial Businesses segment.
The Financial Review includes further discussion of the performance of the commercial businesses and how the current economic
conditions have impacted on their contribution to the Group operating position for the year.

4 UK Public Services ring-fenced expenditure

DCMS has ring-fenced the following amounts within the new Charter and six-year licence fee settlement (2008 to 2013):

digital switchover
help for the elderly and disabled*
digital uK limited**

Financialstatements/

120

Amountspent inpreviousyears£mAmountspent in
2008
£m

–
10.1

5.9
17.5

Amountspent in cumulative
2009
total
£m
£m

six-yearring-fenced
funding
£m

29.5
48.0

603.0
201.0

23.6
20.4

As at 31 March 2009, the BBC is on target to remain within the ring-fenced amounts at the end of the six-year period.
The BBC’s ring-fenced expenditure on Digital UK Limited covers a proportion of the costs of Digital UK Limited, other broadcasters
also contribute.The expenditure reported in Note 2 is the total expenditure of Digital UK Limited for the year.

5 Reconciliation of net funds/(debt) to the Department for Culture, Media andSport (DCMS) borrowing ceilings

The Public Service borrowing limit of £200million is set by the Secretary of State in accordance with the Framework Agreement between
the BBC and DCMS. As at 31 March 2009, 31 March 2008, and throughout both financial years, the BBC was in compliance with theborrowing ceilings.
Net funds/(debt) is made up of the BBC’s cash at hand and in bank, less any borrowings including principal amounts outstanding on financeleases. Derivatives associated with loans (interest rate swaps, caps and collars) are also included at fair value.
commercial
Businesses

Public services
digitalswitchover

capital or
current
expenditure£mcurrent
expenditure
on digital
switchover
help scheme*
£m

£m

46.4

–

(208.8)(200.0)(25.0)(350.0)net funds/(debt)

16.7

–

(149.9)Borrowing ceiling(200.0)(25.0)(350.0)2009
net funds/(debt)
Borrowing ceiling
2008

When the DCMS granted a £350million borrowing limit for BBC Commercial Holdings Limited in July 2002, three financial covenants were
defined which are required to be met at 31 March each year. As at 31 March 2009 and 31 March 2008 BBC Commercial Holdings Limited
was in compliance with each of these covenants.

Financial
STATEMENTS/

121

Financial statements/
Notes to the summary financial statement/

6 Pension Scheme (liability)/asset included in the balance sheet

The BBC operates defined benefit pension schemes, as well as some defined contribution schemes.The majority of staff are members ofthe defined benefit schemes, which provides benefits based on final, or career average, pensionable pay.
In accordance with FRS 17, the BBC recognises the net pension (liability)/asset in its balance sheet as the difference between the fair (ormarket) value of the assets and the actuarial valuation of the scheme liabilities. FRS 17 specifies that the discount rate for valuing the liabilities
should be based on a high-quality bond of equivalent term to the scheme liabilities; this is different from the method used to select thediscount rate for a formal actuarial valuation and as a result the FRS 17 net pension (liability)/asset would not be expected to be the sameas the actuarial surplus/(deficit) measured at the same date.
BBc
Pensionscheme2009£munfundedscheme
2009
£m

Total
2009
£m

BBc
Pensionscheme2008£munfundedscheme
2008
£m

total
2008
£m

Fair value of scheme assets
Actuarial value of scheme liabilities

6,454.0(6,592.6)–(4.7)

6,454.0(6,597.3)

8,042.0(7,513.6)–(5.1)

8,042.0(7,518.7)

closing net pension (liability)/asset(138.6)(4.7)(143.3)

528.4

(5.1)

523.3

The calculation of the scheme assets and liabilities, for FRS 17 purposes, requires a number of assumptions, both financial and demographic,
to be made.The principal assumptions made by the actuaries at the balance sheet date were:
2009
%

2008
%

2007
%

4.4**

5.6*

5.0

3.0
2.7
2.4
2.9
7.2

3.6
3.4
2.5
3.6
6.9

3.1
2.9
2.4
3.1
5.4

2009
numberof years

2008
numberof years

2007
numberof years

retiring today
Male
Female

26.9
29.6

26.6
29.1

23.5
25.7

retiring in 20 years
Male
Female

28.9
31.7

28.1
30.7

24.5
26.8

Principal financial assumptions
FrS 17 valuation
rate of increase in salaries
rate of increase in pension payments:
old Benefits
new Benefits
career Average Benefits
inflation assumption
discount rate

The average life expectancy assumptions, for members after retirement at 60 years of age, are as follows:

Principal demographic assumptions

The longevity assumptions have been selected to reflect the characteristics and experience of the membership of the scheme.This has been
done by adjusting standard mortality tables (PMAC07MC+0.5 and PFAC07MC+1) which reflect recent research into mortality experiencein the UK.
The demographic assumptions have been updated from those used for the actuarial valuations of the scheme as at 1 April 2007 to reflect
the likely assumptions which will be used for the actuarial valuation of the scheme as at 1 April 2010.

Financialstatements/

122

I

2009
£m

2008
£m

Net assets as reported under
UK accounting standards
Lease reclassification
Goodwill adjustments
Employee benefits
Deferred tax
Other

990.1
(189.7)
21.7(16.5)
1.2
0.5

1,519.2(196.5)
10.9(16.5)
0.3
4.3

Net assets as they would bereported under IFRS

807.3

1,321.7

Some of the IFRS accounting changes, principally thereclassification of certain operating leases as financeleases, would have an effect on the calculation of
Public Service Broadcasting borrowings as defined by
the DCMS borrowing ceiling.
The Public Service Borrowing ceiling of £200million
is set by the Secretary of State in accordance with
the Agreement between the BBC and DCMS andis determined by reference to UK GAAP not IFRS.
Public Service borrowings under IFRS would havebeen £798million, compared with net funds of£46million under UK GAAP (2008: Public Service
borrowings under IFRS would have been £761million,
compared with net funds of £17million under UK
GAAP).The Agreement definition of borrowings
is based on UK accounting standards effective inJuly 2006.
For the year ended 31 March 2009 the BBC
calculated that if it had adopted IFRS the surplus
for the year would be increased by £14million to asurplus of £268million (2008: the surplus for the year
would have been reduced by £21million to a surplusof £81million).
2009
£m

2008
£m

Surplus as reported under
UK accounting standards
Lease reclassification
Goodwill adjustments
Other

253.7
6.9
4.6
2.8

101.7
(20.7)(0.1)
0.3

Surplus as it would bereported under IFRS

268.0

81.2

A more detailed reconciliation between the BBC’s
results and financial position under UK accounting
standards and what would have been reported if IFRS
had been adopted, along with further details of theadjustments, including the IFRS accounting policies andsignificant assumptions made in implementing thosepolicies (such as the date of transition to the IFRS
accounting policies) are available on the BBC’s website
at www.bbc.co.uk/annualreport

123
Financial
STATEMENTS/

The BBC’s Charter and Agreement requires the
BBC to prepare its audited statement of accounts inaccordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles (UK GAAP).
Although not mandatory, until 2005 the BBC chose
to follow the accounting and disclosure provisions of
the Companies Act 1985 and the Financial Services
Authority Listing Rules to ensure that its financial
statements were prepared on a basis consistent withthose of UK companies quoted on an EU regulated
market. Following changes in company law, if it had
continued to report in this way, the BBC would have
prepared its consolidated financial statements inaccordance with EU-adopted International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS) from 1 April 2005.
However, reporting under IFRS would be inconsistent
with the BBC’s Charter and Agreement. Nevertheless,the BBC has continued to review the impact that
adoption of IFRS would have on the Group accounts
and has presented a summary of the impact that
adopting IFRS would have had on the financial
statements.
As at 31 March 2009 the BBC calculated that if it
had adopted IFRS its net assets would be reduced by£183million to £807million (2008: net assets would
have reduced by £198million to £1,322million).

Contact us/

If you wish to find out more about the BBC’s
year – including full financial statements and eachservice’s performance against its Statement of
Programme Policy – then please visit
www.bbc.co.uk/annualreport
This report is also available in Welsh and inaudio version.
If you want to know more about how the BBC is
run then please visit www.bbc.co.uk/info
BBC Information is our audience’s virtual front
door to the BBC. If you have a question, comment,complaint or suggestion about BBC programmes
and services, then please write to us here:
BBC Information
PO Box 1922
Glasgow G2 3WT
Telephone: 03700 100 222* (Lines are open 24 hours
a day, seven days a week. Calls may be monitored orrecorded for training purposes.)
Textphone: 03700 100 212*
Fax: 0141 307 5770
Website: www.bbc.co.uk/feedback
Last year we had over 1.6 million contacts
from the general public.
* 0370 numbers are called ‘UK wide’ and cost no more than calls to 01 or 02 geographic numbers.

Financialstatements/

124

Journalist and broadcaster Martha Kearney
fronting The World at One on Radio 4.

Paper Printed on Cocoon Offset which
is made from 100% recycled fibres
sourced only from post consumer
waste. Cocoon Offset is certified
according to the rules for theForest Stewardship Council.

Cert no. TT-COC 002228

Camera operator Matt Donald focuses ongetting the best shot, in Television Centre’s
Studio 7.

It takes patience, strong nerves and stronger
knots to make memorable natural history
programmes like Human Planet.The BBC crew
are shown here observing barnacle fisherman
in Galicia, Spain.

Radio presenter Trevor Nelson during a lighter
moment on his 1Xtra Breakfast show.

The Record Review’s Alicia McCarthy runs throughsome last minute events before a live broadcast
on BBC Parliament.

Director David Taviner and his colleagues
record an episode of Songs of Praise on
location from the OB van.

Declan Curry catches up on the latest
information from colleague Zoe
Kleinman on the Working Lunch set.

OTher InFOrmaTIOn/
Photography The copyright for the image on page 19 of a mixtec-aztec turquoise
mosaic mask belongs to The British museum.
The following images have been licensed to the BBC under the PaCT agreement.
The independent production companies named as Copyright holders are: page
24-25 Baroque (ZCZ Films); page 26-27 In the Night Garden (ragdoll Productions);
page P32 Outnumbered (hat Trick); page 34 Natural World (Tigress Productions);
page 35 Being Human (Touchpaper Television); page 36 Science and Islam (SouthernStar Factual); page 37 Dustbin Baby (Kindle entertainment); page 38 Poetry Pie (Triffic
Films); page 39 Wallander (Left Bank Pictures); page 40 A Rèir na h-Aimsir (madmac
Productions); page 40 aLBa Challenge Cup (mneTV) and Britain from Above (Lion TV).
The copyright for all other photographs in this book lies with the BBC.
mike abrahams took the pictures on the cover and the inside front cover and on
pages 9, 10, 15, 20-23, 28, 31, 46, 61, 64, 70, 78, 80, 84-96, 104-106; the picture on
page 2-3 was taken by alistair rickman; the pictures on pages 42-45, 49, 61-63, 79,
98-103 (except for those of BBC Controllers and Directors, by mike abrahams)
were taken by nick Dawe for red Bee media; the picture of Director, Cymru Waleson page 43 was taken by Betina Skovbro.
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