BBC director general Tony Hall says the corporation will learn to improve its partnerships with other creative companies after the chairman of Penguin Random House John Makinson said it had a “history of being truly awful over the years.”
Hall admitted that during his own dealings with the BBC when he was chief executive of the Royal Opera House, the “BBC were terrible to work with”.
Speaking at a seminar about the BBC organised by the Creative Industries Federation, Hall said the BBC has “got to learn from that” and said he has tried to improve things with the appointment of specialists such as BBC director of arts Jonty Claypole.
Hall said he is trying to get the BBC to change how it works with outside organisations: “It’s … saying ‘this is how we want to operate’.”
Makinson said the BBC is improving and should be supported as it faces the prospect of charter renewal and being squeezed under a new licence-fee settlement, but independent producer Anne Beresford, who works with dancers and artists said that when she spoke to many in the arts about collaborating with the BBC on projects “there’s a rolling of eyes” because the process of getting a decision made takes so long.
“At the moment you have too many people who can say no and not many people who can say yes,” said Beresford.
Hall said he was trying to encourage people within the BBC to “say no quickly” rather than keep external companies with ideas hanging on.
He announced a new series of seminars across the UK at which the BBC will invite partners to explore how they can use the corporation’s services to appeal to new audience and “discuss how they want to use an open BBC platform to reach out to new audiences and enthusiasts”.
BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead issued a clarion call to creative organisations to do more to support the BBC by explaining to their staff and customers “the role the BBC plays … We need your support.”
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Martha Lane Fox said she thought the BBC had to imagine its founding director general John Reith was recreating it in the internet age to ensure its future.
She said it was important the BBC does not retrench, otherwise “something valuable” is in danger of being lost and said that what it does in the digital world needs protecting as it competes with big North American digital companies.
The BBC received support from many members of the federation at the seminar, including Jo Dipple from music industry body UK Music who said: “British music needs the BBC and we call on the government to let it be.”
