BBC Radio’s 75th anniversary celebrations have been an opportunity
for the broadcaster to remind a grateful nation of the successful part
it has played in all our lives over the past three-quarters of a
century.
And surely only the churlish could object to that.
There have been a range of special programmes, endorsements from some of
its celebrity listeners and so on. However, BBC Radio’s self-promotion
has not stopped with this aural equivalent of the carriage clock
traditionally presented for longevity of service. In fact, it has hardly
even begun there. Capital Radio has estimated that the BBC spent the
equivalent of pounds 2 million of airtime on advertising its radio
networks on BBC Television in one three-month period (Campaign, last
week). And that figure doesn’t include the ubiquitous ’Perfect Day’
corporate ad that is promoting the range of music on offer across BBC
Television and Radio. It’s all starting to raise commercial radio’s
hackles. And perhaps it’s not that hard to see why.
To take one small example: Capital Radio plays its station output to
callers placed on hold. While I waited to be connected to the managing
director of Capital Radio London, Martina King, poised as she was to
fulminate against the iniquities of BBC Radio and the unfair cross
marketing advantages it enjoys, her station was playing Perfect Day.
King herself is simply concerned that BBC Radio should be subjected to
the same strictures as any other radio station.’BBC Radio has made some
beautiful commercials. They aren’t promotions, they are commercials -
and the only way they differ from what agencies would produce for
commercial clients is that they tend to be a bit longer. BBC Radio,
after all, doesn’t have to worry about the media cost.
’What we are asking is that the same restrictions are placed on BBC
Radio as are now enforced on BBC Magazines, and that they shouldn’t be
allowed moving commercials. The BBC is either a commercial organisation
or it isn’t, and currently it isn’t. We have nothing against the BBC
advertising on commercial TV, but there’s no reason it should be
permitted to enjoy any unequal advantages.’
These sentiments are echoed in large parts of the commercial
broadcasting industry, as Tom Toumazis, managing director of Emap On
Air, explains.
’The BBC is a publicly funded, public-service broadcaster. But it wants
to be an international, multi-media commercial conglomerate. It says, to
remain the former, it must become the latter.
’Imagine a commercial media group with a 40 per cent share of TV, 50 per
cent of radio and the unique right to use free TV to promote
magazines.
Imagine this group also has more than pounds 2 billion of free cash-flow
every year to exploit multi-channel TV, the Internet and so on. Finally
imagine it is not accountable to shareholders. Scary? Absolutely. The
’Perfect Day’ ad is just this week’s example of how the BBC competes
unfairly and distorts media markets. It seems incredible that while the
Monopolies and Mergers Commission spends months on the Capital/Virgin
radio merger, the immense impact of the BBC goes unexamined. The BBC’s
commercialisation is an unfinished piece of business that only
government can settle. Media companies should express collective concern
with a single voice.’
For BBC Radio’s marketing director, Sue Farr, the issue is rather more
complicated. ’I’m not known for sporting metaphors but Dominic Mills’s
call (Campaign, last week) for a level playing field is as inappropriate
as confusing a swimming pool with a tennis court. The BBC is a
public-service broadcaster. Our listeners and many non-listeners have
already paid for the radio services through the licence fee. It is our
duty to tell them what they have paid for. The Charter requires that the
BBC should tell viewers and listeners what types of programmes they can
expect to find on each of its radio and television services.
’Research shows us that a surprisingly high proportion of listeners and
viewers are uncertain about what our radio networks provide. Information
trails on BBC television are one effective way of telling them and
further research shows that they are actually welcomed by the audience.
The time allocated for such trails is highly regulated. What about the
’contra’ deals on airtime and advertising that are traded in the
commercial world? I note it here to underline the different rules.
Neither is unfair, we are playing different games.’
Derek Morris, a managing partner at Unity, isn’t wholly convinced by
this argument. ’It’s not unreasonable to expect the BBC stations to want
to build up their brands. But that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable or that
all the stations are competing with each other on a level playing field.
The cards, after all, remain resolutely stacked in the BBC’s favour - to
be the only commercial advertiser on BBC television is a huge advantage
and not one that should lightly be discounted. BBC Radio already enjoys
a colossal advantage by having had the first five picks at the available
frequencies, while poor old commercial radio is shunted off to
unattractive frequencies at the end of the dial.’
David Fletcher, a director at CIA Medianetwork, is less sure of
commercial radio’s right to claim the moral high ground in this dispute.
’It is important for the future of commercial radio that the media owner
should possess several strong and different brands and then exploit them
by making sure they dovetail to best effect. That would mean
cross-promoting them, scheduling their different stations in
complementary fashion and so on. Given that this is the state that
commercial radio wants to get to, it’s a bit rich for it to get on its
high horse about the BBC doing exactly the same thing, albeit on a
grander scale.
All right, so it’s not a level playing field, but then it never has
been. The BBC has had to sit back and watch commercial radio take half
of its audience without being able to do that much about it, because of
its restrictions, so you can’t really blame it for going overboard on
its cross-promotional activity.’
