PSB Report: Ofcom supports 10-year BBC charter

Ofcom has today supported the renewal of the BBC's charter for a further ten years through 2016 but has suggested it should be subject to a "substantive" mid-Charter review in 2011 to re-evaluate its funding and check up on its PSB commitments.

Speaking in its phase 2 PSB report, the regulator said: "For the period of the next Charter, a TV licence fee model should continue to fund the BBC; the BBC should not carry advertising, nor should existing services become subscription-funded."

In order that funding for future expansion be sufficient, Ofcom also called on the government to "consider" the case for the BBC launching "limited subscription services" to supplement its income.

The report went on to remind the corporation that all of its programmes should "purposes and characteristics of PSB to some degree," recapping on some of its concerns highlighted in the phase 1 report such as copycat and derivative programming, and competitive head-to-head scheduling.

It added: "In future, the BBC should have regard to the extent to which Hollywood films and other expensive acquired programming meet its own public value test and could not be provided equally well, at no direct cost to the public, by free-to-air commercial broadcasters."