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'Time to end the silence' on future of BBC Midlands

MP Steve McCabe demands answers in regional funding row as BBC Charter renewal debate continues

More calls for the BBC Charter renewal to increase investment in the Midlands

A city MP has hit out at the radio silence over Charter renewal - with the Midlands still making less than two per cent of its TV programmes.

Steve McCabe (Lab Selly Oak) has called for answers from the Government on the consultation over the BBC Charter renewal and to confirm when the results will be published.

Meanwhile, a former Royal Television Society boss has called for the BBC to be forced to move the majority of major network commissioners outside London to address a major shortfall in investment.

Only 1.7 per cent of BBC television is made in the Midlands - a

Almost a year after the Post launched its BBC Fair Share campaign - calling for half of the £942 million this region invests in the broadcaster to be spent here - no progress has been made on increasing production.

Mr McCabe, who has campaigned for more BBC investment in Birmingham for years, was angered after hearing nothing from the Government three months after a consultation completed.

He said: "TV licence fee payers in my constituency and across the country deserve to know what is happening with the consultation on the BBC charter renewal.

"People in Birmingham and the Midlands get a raw deal for their licence fee at present and I want to know how this charter renewal will address this huge imbalance.