Director and co-founder of one of the 海角视频’s biggest independent television production firms Bad Wolf, Jane Tranter, has expressed concerns over the BBC remaining a public service broadcaster while opposing any moves to privatise Channel 4.
The BBC licence fee is guaranteed to continue until 2027, but with 海角视频 ministers considering freezing its cost over the next two years. Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nadine Dorries has criticised the BBC for what she sees as an anti-Tory bias and a ‘woke’ agenda. There are those who believe, like the TaxPayers’ Alliance that the BBC’s licence fee funding model should be scrapped .
A decision by the 海角视频 Government on privatising C4, which has a public service broadcast remit but generates commercial income, has been delayed by Ms Dorries. A recent public consultation saw a groundswell of support for maintaining the channel’s current status.
On the future of C4 Ms Tranter, who set up Bad Wolf in Cardiff in 2015 with former fellow BBC executive Julie Gardiner said: “I would add my voice to the overwhelming majority in the industry, and indeed the overwhelming majority of the audience, which is that there are enough privatised platforms for content springing up all over the place. I’m not saying that is wrong in any shape or form, and it is good to offer a strong audience choice, but public service broadcasting is always a good idea as a control mechanism for all sorts of things and offering an audience a different kind of choice.”
She added: “It is not a public service if nobody wants to watch it, but we have seen from programme like It’s a Sin and the Great British Bake Off on C4 that audiences want to watch it and in their droves. And these types of shows wouldn’t be possible if the funding model was changed and the remit altered. I think it is particularly important that we have someone other alongside the BBC with a genuine remit for all parts fo the 海角视频. And that would one of the first things that would go, so I really don’t support the privatisation of C4 at all.”
On the BBC and the future its licence fee she said: “Do I think the BBC’s funding model should change? No I don’t. I 100% support the BBC as an independent organisation with an independent voice, not just for news but for the arts, culture, entertainment and all those things. I think that way of funding supports it as a public service broadcaster and as such you need to appeal not to a 100% of the audience all of the time, but some of your audience all of the time, so you are reaching absolutely everybody.
" If the funding model changes and the BBC has to pick up and carry more than it already does, and it does already carry quite a large commercial impetus on its back and it is not that it doesn’t go some part of the way to help top up that licence fee, then it won’t be a public service broadcaster anymore.
“So, do I want that funding model to change and do I think it should change? No, I don’t. Do I think it will change? Well, I am very worried. I can mark my age by different culture secretaries and thinking they are going to change the funding of the BBC and eventually something is caught, perhaps because public opinion feels strongly about the BBC. However, this time round I just don’t know.”
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The producer said that while favourable tax breaks have boosted the film and TV industry, the 海角视频 is also an attractive location due to a deep talent pool in front of and behind the camera.
She added: “I think that the tax breaks that were brought in earlier this century have made a radical difference to the industry, but I have always felt that the 海角视频 was an extremely cost effective place to film. So for example when I was based in Los Angeles we brought Di Vinci’s Demons to be filmed in Wales and that was before the tax breaks had been brought in.
" The talent that the 海角视频 has got across the board, and I would say particularly in Wales, makes it a very valuable place to come and film. So that’s the talent in front of the camera and behind. I would also argue that the way the 海角视频 works with producers is unique as we look at this not only as a creative enterprise, but also a business. It is very different to how it works anywhere else in the world and I think it makes the 海角视频 a very good place to be.”