The crown jewels

David Blackburn 7:08pm

The break up of the BBC is, along with tax, death and toothache, now one of life’s inevitabilities. The man behind the Conservatives’ plan is Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, and in today’s Telegraph, Andrew Pierce adds to the clamour for Hunt to demolish Reith’s monolith:

‘He revealed that he is determined to take on the BBC monolith, which threatens the survival of regional television, radio, and newspapers to the detriment of the local communities they serve. He is proposing a "Big Bang" of deregulation of the rules surrounding media ownership, in an attempt to attract major new international investors into Britain. Surely he is right to do so – why, after all, does no one want to buy ITV, home of The X Factor, I'm a Celebrity… and countless other box-office bankers?

Hunt also plans to rip up the cross-media ownership rules, which prevent regional newspaper groups from investing in local radio and television – this should put a block on the BBC's publicly funded operations, and its omnipresent website, crushing the opposition.’

The gradual deconstruction of a corporation that exports first rate material across the globe can only be negative; but if it has to be done, the BBC’s near monopoly on local news, radio and television is the privilege that should be surrendered. The current situation is anti-competitive and does little to serve the needs of local communities and the digital revolution will enable this transfer to proceed with ease. Add a much needed salary cap on executive and talent pay to that and the taxpayer has received value for money and the Tories make their gesture. In short, there is no need to sell off BBC Three and Four or Radio One and Three for the sake of it. There are lesser baubles among the Beeb’s crown jewels that can be flogged off first.