BBC's role
The BBC's primary purpose is, as it has always been, to enrich the lives of everyone in the UK with a range programmes that inform, educate and entertain, contributing to the quality of life in society as a whole. In order to do this successfully, it must also offer value for people as individuals and as citizens. In other words it must create public value.
The BBC has a vital role to play in the future, as the broadcast environment evolves and as society changes. We aim to create public value in five main ways, one of which is an important global role.
Michael Grade, BBC Chairman, and Mark Thompson, BBC Director-General, on Tuesday 29 June 2004, launched the BBC's vision for our future.
Our initial contribution to the Charter Review debate has been published in the form of two documents. These are our response to the UK’s Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) consultation questions and Building public value, a document laying out our ideas and proposals.
At the end of 2006, the BBC’s Royal Charter expires. The process of Charter Review is already underway to establish how the BBC will be constituted and operate after 2006.
On Friday 25 June, in a message to BBC’s global network of staff, Mark Byford, Deputy Director-General, said: "BBC is a global brand that people trust. The review of our Charter is an important opportunity to evolve what we do so that we can deliver an even more valuable service to both our UK and international audiences and customers.
"It's also a chance for each of us to help build an even stronger global brand, a BBC that's fit for the future."
The BBC is constitutionally established in the UK by the Royal Charter. The accompanying Agreement with the UK Government recognises our editorial independence and sets out our public obligations in detail.
The BBC’s Royal Charter, which defines our purpose and powers and provides for the licence fee, is periodically reviewed – usually every 10 years. Charter Review covers all aspects of the BBC – as well as the UK licence fee funded services, it will also look at, for example, BBC World Service and the BBC’s commercial activities.
Charter Review is the process for reviewing the BBC’s current Royal Charter, Agreement and funding settlement. It is important to all of us who work in the BBC because the Charter is the fundamental basis for the BBC as currently constituted. Charter Review is therefore relevant to each person in the BBC.
The BBC makes its own major contribution to the Charter Review debate, and will shortly be publishing its own vision for the future and our response to the DCMS consultation questions. These BBC documents will help inform the debate and feed into the thinking of the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, the UK Government department which is running the Charter Review process.
In his message, Mark Byford encouraged all staff outside the UK to take an interest in the debate and get involved in shaping our future. Although the end of 2006 feels a long way off, now is the time to take notice and have your say.
This website is for you to find out more about how we operate and why Charter Review matters to all of us.
