BBC's £130m-a-year digital surplus likely to be spent on broadband plan
The lion's share of the BBC's £130m-a-year "digital switchover surplus" licence fee money is expected to be taken by Lord Carter to help achieve his goal of getting broadband in every UK home by 2012.
It is understood that the outline of a deal has been reached, although the full details have yet to be finalised, for £90m to £100m of the annual switchover surplus to be used to help the communications minister achieve his ambition of universal broadband access by 2012.
The remaining £30m to £40m is said to have been earmarked for regional media.
Lord Carter yesterday seemed to play down the importance of the surplus, saying "The debate about how to spend the money is coming ahead of the availability of the money" as so far only 75,000 people have had their analogue signal switched off.
But he added: "What we do say in the document very clearly is if there was a digital switchover surplus ... could that be money, once you were certain you were past the digital switchover 'worry point' if you like, be used for other things? Yes, certainly that is something we would look at."
While the bulk is set to go to Lord Carter's plans for Digital Britain, a significant sum is thought to be earmarked for a new funding pot to deliver regional news.
Last week a tug of war emerged over how the switchover surplus, the money ringfenced from what the BBC spends on content and services to help subsidise vulnerable groups, will be used after the analogue TV signal is switched off in 2012.
Ofcom, in its long-awaited report on the future of public service broadcasting, revealed a number of options for the sizeable fund, shattering any hope the BBC may have had in retaining the cash for its own uses.
Options tabled included funding part of Lord Carter's Digital Britain project, which includes making broadband available to every home in Britain, and the establishment of "independently funded consortia" to deliver news to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions.
Ofcom raised other potential uses for the switchover surplus such as increasing coverage of DAB digital radio across the UK. However the tone of the 124-page report, called Putting Viewers First, suggested the media regulator felt a bigger impact could be made by funding the immediate future of regional news.
"Funding of a similar size to the switchover surplus would in itself only be a relatively small contribution to providing universal DAB or broadband access," Ofcom pointed out in the report.
The media regulator has proposed a plan that from 2011 would see "independently funded consortia" compete for a £30m to £50m fund to provide regional news broadcast on either the ITV network, Channel 4 or using a "new dedicated service within each nation".
Companies including Reuters and PA have previously been mentioned as parties potentially interested in the competitive tender model, while ITN last week confirmed it would bid if the plan got the green light.
The Digital Report yesterday raised the prospect of regional media consolidation as ways are found to maintain local news in a worsening economic climate.
Mark Sweney and Richard Wray
Friday 30 January 2009 07.19 GMT
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
The lion's share of the BBC's £130m-a-year "digital switchover surplus" licence fee money is expected to be taken by Lord Carter to help achieve his goal of getting broadband in every UK home by 2012.
It is understood that the outline of a deal has been reached, although the full details have yet to be finalised, for £90m to £100m of the annual switchover surplus to be used to help the communications minister achieve his ambition of universal broadband access by 2012.
The remaining £30m to £40m is said to have been earmarked for regional media.
Lord Carter yesterday seemed to play down the importance of the surplus, saying "The debate about how to spend the money is coming ahead of the availability of the money" as so far only 75,000 people have had their analogue signal switched off.
But he added: "What we do say in the document very clearly is if there was a digital switchover surplus ... could that be money, once you were certain you were past the digital switchover 'worry point' if you like, be used for other things? Yes, certainly that is something we would look at."
While the bulk is set to go to Lord Carter's plans for Digital Britain, a significant sum is thought to be earmarked for a new funding pot to deliver regional news.
Last week a tug of war emerged over how the switchover surplus, the money ringfenced from what the BBC spends on content and services to help subsidise vulnerable groups, will be used after the analogue TV signal is switched off in 2012.
Ofcom, in its long-awaited report on the future of public service broadcasting, revealed a number of options for the sizeable fund, shattering any hope the BBC may have had in retaining the cash for its own uses.
Options tabled included funding part of Lord Carter's Digital Britain project, which includes making broadband available to every home in Britain, and the establishment of "independently funded consortia" to deliver news to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions.
Ofcom raised other potential uses for the switchover surplus such as increasing coverage of DAB digital radio across the UK. However the tone of the 124-page report, called Putting Viewers First, suggested the media regulator felt a bigger impact could be made by funding the immediate future of regional news.
"Funding of a similar size to the switchover surplus would in itself only be a relatively small contribution to providing universal DAB or broadband access," Ofcom pointed out in the report.
The media regulator has proposed a plan that from 2011 would see "independently funded consortia" compete for a £30m to £50m fund to provide regional news broadcast on either the ITV network, Channel 4 or using a "new dedicated service within each nation".
Companies including Reuters and PA have previously been mentioned as parties potentially interested in the competitive tender model, while ITN last week confirmed it would bid if the plan got the green light.
The Digital Report yesterday raised the prospect of regional media consolidation as ways are found to maintain local news in a worsening economic climate.
Mark Sweney and Richard Wray
Friday 30 January 2009 07.19 GMT
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
