BBC

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Gordon of Strathblane

Thursday 12th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

We should reiterate our record on languages today, having confirmed extra money and having brought in extra languages and countries recently. This is a vital contribution to the UK’s soft power and an excellent settlement.

[Lord Gordon of Strathblane (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Wills (Lab)]

My Lords, I have been waiting a very long time to get in. I want to return the Minister to one of these devil details: the public service content fund. She addressed the question asked by my noble friend Lord Collins but she did not answer it. I therefore ask her again: will she give a guarantee that that will not be used to salami-slice the licence fee? That guarantee is particularly important in view of the grudging acceptance in the Statement of the licence fee and the fulsome praise she gave for that public service content fund. Does the Minister accept that the licence fee is the foundation for the excellence of the BBC as the world’s most outstanding national broadcaster?

Channel 4: Privatisation

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Gordon of Strathblane

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gordon of Strathblane (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that, operationally, Channel 4 is already in the private sector in that it raises money through advertising, and it cannot do that unless it is successful in attracting an audience for its programmes? Privatisation would simply face it with the obligation of funding that privatisation through either bank interest or dividends to shareholders, all of which is money that could have been spent on programming. That is therefore undesirable.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

We are looking at all the options. Of course, government is a sole shareholder, and the channel gets 90% of its revenue from advertising, as has been suggested. Its revenues are £930 million and last year it made a profit of less than £5 million.

Channel 4

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Gordon of Strathblane

Thursday 10th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

What we are doing is looking at the options in an objective way, engaging with Channel 4, and in the fullness of time—in due course, as they say—we will reach conclusions.

[Lord Gordon of Strathblane (Lab)]

Even if one takes the Minister’s reply at face value and is reassured by it, she surely must recognise that if Channel 4 were to be privatised, that capital would have to be serviced, either by dividends paid to investors or interest paid to those who provided loans. That would represent money that would otherwise have gone to creative programming—surely an undesirable outcome.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I can understand the noble Lord’s comments but we have to look objectively at all the options in the light of the changing media market and the needs of Channel 4 and its viewers.

Superfast Broadband

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Gordon of Strathblane

Thursday 26th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I entirely agree with my noble friend.

[Lord Gordon of Strathblane (Lab)]

Would the Minister share my curiosity at the Prime Minister shifting the Government’s position from a universal service commitment—which is very important—to a universal service obligation, which carries with it a possibility of legal challenge? If I live in a remote area and do not get good broadband, who do I sue?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, one reason this will take us until 2020 is that we must get it right. We must look at exactly this sort of issue. Obviously, we will have to legislate and find the right way of implementing the USO to deal with the complexities and get ahead. This is now a utility and it makes sense to have a stronger commitment.