The new chairman of the BBC says the rejection of Project Kangaroo 15 years ago directly led to public service broadcasters constantly playing catch-up with the US streamers.
In the first major speech since his appointment, Samir Shah said Britain’s public service system had evolved over 100 years of the BBC and the subsequent arrival of ITV and its regional broadcasting structure.
Shah said the people now in charge of where PSBs appeared were the TV platforms and manufacturers and called for the swift implementation of the Media Act. “Of course, it’s perfectly and completely rational that they want to prioritise their own services, their own content, their own data, for their own commercial interests.
But, just as before, if we want to preserve our very British success story, we need to secure easy and simple access to PSB content on every platform,” he said.
Shah told an audience in Leeds that the current regulatory landscape was “fundamentally designed” twenty years ago and built for a world when PSBs were the dominant players and our competitors needed protection.
“Project Kangaroo this is: Fifteen years ago, there was a joint initiative called Project Kangaroo from BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 to enter the video on demand market. The Competition Commission blocked it on the grounds that it was too much of a threat to the emerging VOD market.
“The result? Well we know the result don’t we. Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon – they steal a march on us, and we are still playing catch up.”
Shah added that the BBC was now halfway through a year long process to launch four new music radio stations. He acknowledged that the BBC’s plans involve public money and should be scrutinised, but noted that in the last few weeks, commercial radio has launched 13 new radio stations
He also called for a speeding up of the Public Interest Test process and called for a “future-proofing” of Britain’s creative industries as a whole and questioned the amount spent on nurturing local talent. While the BBC spent £19.45 million (1% of its commissioning spend) on skills and training, for Netflix the figure was £1.2 milllion (0.2%).
