Broadcasting by consent: the BBC, public service broadcasting and charter renewal 2017

Abstract

As the BBC approaches its eleventh Charter renewal, it faces a level of scruti- ny unlike any other in its history. Along with continuing ideological opposition, it faces a range of adversaries – some old, some new. Traditional commercial broadcast rivals have indicated that they expect the BBC to share its largesse: civic institutions are keen to press the BBC into new, formal and informal part- nerships, and a new breed of global content generators (Google etc.) are arguing that media should be regarded as any other market good, free of intervention or control, and bound by competition regulation only. But perhaps the biggest challenge the BBC faces is the rapidly changing nature of the wider media sector and transforming viewer habits. The UK broadcast indus- try has seen radical change in only five years as the impact of digital switchover, the rise of broadband connectivity and the take up of smart mobile devices have begun to radically alter the consumption of TV content.