The BBC has launched a consultation into a new Distribution Policy that will govern how its services are distributed to third parties.
In it the corporation is seeking the widest distribution possible for its services while achieving prominence within the EPG.
The consultation is required under its Royal Charter and Framework Agreement, which states that before publishing the policy it must consult with the public and Ofcom.
Seven conditions have been set out for the BBC’s distribution on third-party platforms.
- Prominence – the placement of BBC content and services relative to those of other providers should be in line with audience needs and expectation.
- Editorial Control – the BBC retains editorial control of its content and its placement
- Branding & Attribution – users should be able to easily identify which content on a platform is provided by the BBC
- Quality – users should be able to enjoy a high quality experience of BBC content and services
- Data – the BBC should have access to data about the usage of its services
- Free Access – users should incur no incremental cost to access BBC content and services
- Value for Money – arrangements should maximise cost-effectiveness of distribution to the licence fee payer
As the BBC’s regulator Ofcom has added two requirements to its distribution activities.
- The BBC must offer the public services to third parties in response to reasonable requests for supply, except where the BBC has an objective justification for not doing so.
- In offering the public services for supply, and in supplying those services, the BBC must act on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory basis.
For its part the BBC is required to do all that is reasonably possible to ensure that viewers and listeners can be received through what are described as “a range of convenient and cost effective ways which are available or might become available in the future”. In other words both linear and on demand transmission.
The BBC will decide on the brand under which its services appear. The consultation runs until April 9.
