The BBC has today unveiled Creative Future, its new editorial blueprint designed to "deliver more value to audiences over the next six years". The contents are likely to make commercial broadcasters apoplectic.
The plan is aimed at turning the BBC's public purposes, as set out by the government, in to "quality content for the on-demand world". But the nature and scope of the BBC's digital ambitions have been revealed as more far-reaching than might have been imagined.
The BBC makes no bones about it bid to seize the initiative from online services such as MySpace.com and Flickr to provide an arena for user-generated content.
Among other key recommendations set to rile commercial rivals are a BBC Sport broadband portal and a music strategy that includes making the corporation the "premier destination" for unsigned bands - a policy which no doubt owes much to the success of groups like the Arctic Monkeys.
The BBC will also create a broadband-based teen brand aimed at capturing the next generation of BBC TV viewers and radio listeners with drama, comedy, music and factual content.
And BBC entertainment will "learn from the world of video games" to create new content for new platforms.
All of this is guaranteed to spark a sustained cry of outrage from commercial rivals who will no doubt argue ever more vociferously that the use of the licence-fee to fund such a wide-range of online initiatives is a clear intervention in the market.
However, the BBC will argue that it needs to be doing these things if it is to survive in the digital media era. Who's right?
