Tony Hall's speech to parliamentarians on prominence

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This is a really important moment for British broadcasting.

We have a great, global lead in public service media in this country. I’ve spoken about it many times. It’s something we can all be proud of - and it’s been supported by governments of all political colours.

Its success has been built on great British content and storytellers, of course but it’s also been founded on the principle that it’s easy to find. That’s crucial - it means that everybody can enjoy great drama and comedy; they can celebrate and come together at moments of national importance - or just look in awe at the world around us as we saw in Blue Planet II.

The two of us are here today - standing together - because we profoundly believe that our stories, our culture deserve to be seen and heard. But that’s under threat. So we’re asking all of you for your support - to ensure that British voices - our content; creativity; and ideas continue to be easy to find.

And we’re also working with ITV and Channel 5 - who care every bit as much as we do.

We need action by those of you here, by Parliament and Government. The current law is out of date. It needs to be looked at, and given the pace of change, looked at pretty fast.

To be clear, I profoundly believe in choice. But, I suspect like many of you, I’m really concerned about what’s happening.

There are three things I’d urge you to reflect on as we continue the conversations:

• First of all, how we can champion British voices and public service content in an increasingly global market?
  
  PSBs do something that no-one else can or will: we overwhelmingly make the lion’s share of investment in British content; British ideas; and British talent.
  
  Think back to some of our recent award-winners - BBC Three’s Murdered for Being Different and This Country; Rio Ferdinand’s powerful documentary on grief; Panorama undercover - an investigation by 21 year old Callum Tulley; and, of course, Three Girls.
   Swift action - ensuring we’re still easy to find and to use in a fast changing market - is just the encouragement we need to allow the UK’s creative industries to continue to punch above our weight globally.
• Secondly, how we allow everyone access to news and analysis they can trust?
  
  As the Secretary of State put it - the BBC is the nation’s "best bulwark against fake news". We know that to be true and it’s a duty we take extremely seriously.
  
  In a world of fake news, disinformation and state propaganda this debate has to be about giving everyone access to impartial, trusted sources of news when they’re being bombarded with the opposite. We have a responsibility - all of us - to help people distinguish what’s a fact. And what’s false. But we can only do that if it’s simple and easy for people to choose our services.
• And the third area I’d urge you to reflect on is Children’s media. Younger audiences are right on the front line of this issue, 5-15s spend more time each week online than watching TV
  
  Quite simply, young people are already living in a world where the existing rules don’t work and more needs to be done to protect their safety and their data.
  
  Connected TVs are already changing the norms - allowing platforms and manufacturers to relegate or bypass the channel listings - that’s already having an effect.
  
  I’m sure everybody in this room wants future generations to easily find content that reflects our culture - and our values. And I think you’d all agree that CBeebies and CBBC do just that. Where else are you going to find content like Newsround, or Own It - which helps children navigate the world online.
  
  It’s about us working with you to help protect childhood. There’s a danger we are sleepwalking towards a world in which children and young people barely encounter PSB content - even content that they love and that inspires them.

We can make a difference but we need to act now

Far from being anti-choice, this is about securing choice for UK audiences in the future: it’s about securing what Britain has to offer, as well as us enjoying big shows from the US.

And far from being anti-consumer, we know the public, across all ages, have consistently supported PSB prominence:

• 7 in every 10 people want BBC channels at the top of the listings
• And they want the same for iPlayer in the on-demand ordering too

Here’s what we’re asking for

• We welcomed Parliament’s decision to ask Ofcom to look again at the rules. We need Ofcom to conduct their review into prominence as soon as possible. This is an urgent and growing issue and we need them to act.
• We need legislation. The existing statute is from another age. It was crafted in a world before smart TVs, streaming sticks, and voice recognition.
• That new legislation would mean that there would be proper, protected PSB prominence on the first page for ANY significant device - be it a set top box; smart TV; or a games console sold in the UK.
• And, we don’t believe it’s as complicated as you might think.

The PSBs - including ITV and Channel 5, STV and S4C - jointly proposed a solution last year which we believe could be effectively updated.

We can do this. We have to if we care about our distinctively British values that underpin public service broadcasting in this country: trust and integrity; making sure the best is available to everyone and that everyone has choice; supporting and inspiring young people

They’re values that we often take for granted, but we prize them uniquely in this country. And they are more important today - in uncertain, fast-changing times - than they’ve ever been.

Let’s not lose them before we even fully realise what’s at stake.

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• Tony Hall