The is using the Midlands as a cash cow, claim city leaders, after new data showed it spends a fraction here of what it spends in other regions.
Midland licence fee payers contribute 拢942 million to the BBC, yet the corporation invested just 拢80 million across the region last year 鈥 less than it spends in London in 12 days 鈥 according to the (CRBM).
With the BBC鈥檚 charter up for renewal next year, the Birmingham Post and sister newspaper the Mail 鈥 backed by industry leaders and MPs of the three main parties 鈥 has made including calling for at least 50 per cent of funds raised through the licence fee in this region to be spent here.
The BBC has pledged to invest more outside London, but, while spending has risen in all other regions in the past two years, it has actually fallen by more in the Midlands than in the capital.
For every family paying a licence fee in this region, the BBC spends just 拢12 while it invests 拢80 in the North, 拢122 in Wales and 拢757 in London.
Birmingham MP Steve McCabe said the broadcaster had run out of excuses and could no longer continue to ignore the Midlands, which accounts for more than a quarter of licence fee-payers.
Mr McCabe (Lab Selly Oak) said: 鈥淚f they want to have a London broadcasting corporation then that is fine but they have to pay for it themselves.
鈥淚f we are going to have a British Broadcasting Corporation, then Birmingham and the Midlands needs to have a fair share.鈥
He added: 鈥淚 am very supportive of the idea that in the charter negotiations we need to push for a much fairer return.
鈥淚t is quite clear that Birmingham is subsidising people in London, Cardiff and Manchester.鈥
There are currently no prime-time BBC shows created in the Midlands. Daytime show Doctors and historic radio soap opera The Archers are the feathers in the region鈥檚 cap, but business and community leaders say that is not enough.
The CRBM data, which is based on the BBC鈥檚 annual report to April 2014, shows spending in the region has fallen from .
Its expenditure in the Midlands 鈥 which includes the West and East Midlands and the East 鈥 is less than the 拢89 million the BBC spends on one building 鈥 its Broadcasting House headquarters in London.
The fall was down to the previous figures coming before the BBC shifted its factual unit to Bristol in 2012, meaning shows like Hairy Bikers, Countryfile and the coverage of the RHS flower shows moved out from its Mailbox hub.
The shortage of investment from the broadcaster is a major impediment to the region鈥檚 economy.
CRBM chairman Mike Bradley said the region would be 拢786 million a year better off if the broadcaster invested at the same level in the Midlands as it did in the North and South.
He said: 鈥淥ver the years, they have chipped and chipped away at the Midlands and after nobody made a fuss they chipped and chipped a bit more. They are treating the Midlands like a cash cow 鈥 and we are our own worst enemies. We have been allowing this to happen since 1999 and we have got to this position where we have such an abysmal return.
鈥淭hat simply would not be the case if it were Scotland or Manchester 鈥 they would stand up for themselves.鈥
The BBC Trust has set a target of seeing 50 per cent of network budget spent outside London by 2016.
As a result, investment in all 海角视频 regions outside the Midlands 鈥 Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the North and the South 鈥 has risen significantly across the past five years.
By comparison, expenditure in London has fallen by less than 17 per cent 鈥 but it has dropped by more than 35 per cent in the Midlands, CRBM data shows.
Mr Bradley said the lack of investment in production in this region meant there were no prime-time production studios in the Midlands, as nothing is commissioned here. By comparison, there are more than 30 in Greater Manchester.
Director-general Tony Hall pledged to boost the BBC鈥檚 investment in Birmingham after taking on the roll in 2013.
Birmingham-born was parachuted in as head of BBC business development in the city in 2014.
As a result 81 jobs are set to be created by bringing the HR department and the BBC Academy to the Mailbox. A 鈥淕uerrilla Group鈥, to explore the next generation of BBC content, was also set up at the Custard Factory, but is expected to employ just a handful of workers.
Despite this, without further investment the Midlands is still set to see far less invested per licence fee-payer than any other region.
According to the corporation鈥檚 own report, The Economic Value of the BBC, there is a 拢2 return to a local economy for every 拢1 it spends.
On that basis, under-investment continues to cost the region hundreds of millions of pounds each year.
The broadcaster鈥檚 10-year charter expires in December 2016 and work on the new one begins in June.
Mr Bradley said if it did not act now, it would mean the local economy missed out on billions in the decade to come.
鈥淭his is our last chance,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 use this charter as a means of ensuring a fairer distribution of public funds then we won鈥檛 get another chance.
鈥淓very MP in the Midlands should be standing up for his. And it has to be about production. I welcome any jobs the BBC can send here but this should be about programme-making 鈥 they make programmes everywhere else. When are they moving that back?
鈥淲hen are we going to see Midland faces on the television? When are we going to hear Midland voices on the radio? The BBC will tell you people don鈥檛 care about this, they only care about quality, but that is not what my post bag is saying.
鈥淭his is the only tax I know of that is raised in one area and spent in another. When I pay my PAYE I don鈥檛 want to be paying for schools and hospitals in London 鈥 I want them in the West Midlands as well.鈥
The West Midlands has seen its contribution to the BBC fall away in the past decade since Pebble Mill was closed in 2004.
The corporation opened its Drama Village in Selly Oak in 2005, but while it produces daytime programmes like Father Brown and Doctors it does not have a network television studio.
Indeed, the Midlands 鈥 which includes the West and East Midlands, as well as the East of England 鈥 is the only BBC region not to have a network television studio contributing towards the BBC, according to the campaign.
A BBC spokesperson said: 鈥淏irmingham is really important to us and that鈥檚 why we鈥檝e put a lot of effort into building up the BBC in the city over the past 12 months. We鈥檙e investing an additional 拢23.5 million in Birmingham and are moving another 200 jobs there, including the globally respected BBC Academy.
鈥淟icence fee-payers rightly expect us to operate efficiently, and it鈥檚 simply not affordable to have BBC studio facilities in every part of the country. But BBC Birmingham remains the home of the world鈥檚 most popular radio drama, The Archers, and popular BBC One shows like Doctors, Father Brown and forthcoming drama The Coroner.
鈥淚t鈥檚 crucial that we produce programmes and services that reflect the whole region properly and 78 per cent of people in the West Midlands say they approve of the BBC. We鈥檙e clear that BBC Birmingham will be a strong, vibrant, and sustainable base, fit for the future in a fast changing media landscape.鈥
