BBC to urge ministers to end political board appointments

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The BBC will on Thursday urge ministers to commit to sweeping reforms including the end of political appointments to its board, as part of plans to secure greater institutional independence in talks over its next royal charter.

Responding to a government consultation, the UK national broadcaster will call for changes to the charter setting out its governance, regulation and funding model and warn that a “status quo charter” will fail to protect its future.

The publicly funded corporation will push for the government to agree to key reforms to its operations, including the end of political appointments to its board and of the current 10-year charter review period, according to people familiar with the matter.

The 10-year “expiry date” represents a “recurring threat to the BBC’s existence, uncertainty and the potential for political interference”, the broadcaster will say.

At the same time, the BBC will say it needs a public mandate — with an explicit role for licence fee payers in deciding its future scope and scale — and be subject to appropriate parliamentary scrutiny. 

The corporation will urge the government to back a “universal funding model”, which in practice is likely to be close to the existing licence fee payable by all households that watch live TV, according to those familiar with the situation. The request is expected to rule out advertising-funded and subscription models offering different services to different audiences. 

The licence fee raised £3.8bn last year — about two-thirds of total BBC income — but the number of households that pay the charge is falling as more viewers turn to internet-based services such as YouTube and streamers including Netflix. 

The call for an end to political appointments to its board, aimed at increasing the BBC’s independence from the government, will come after a recent outcry over allegations of bias in the corporation’s coverage.

Sir Robbie Gibb, a board member since 2021 and former Conservative party press secretary, last year denied organising a rightwing coup that led to the exits of BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness over a misleading edit of a Panorama documentary about President Donald Trump.

The corporation is in the final stages of interviewing for a replacement for Davie, with BBC figures pointing to former Google boss Matt Brittin as a favourite to take the job. 

The response to the government green paper is expected to recommend ways to modernise regulation to enable the broadcaster to keep pace with global competition and rapid technological change.

The BBC is also expected to raise the prospect of audience forums, such as citizen assemblies, to hear more about what the public wants from the broadcaster.

The BBC did not comment.

“This charter must find ways to reassert the BBC’s editorial, creative and operational independence,” said a person close to the corporation. “At the same time, we want to keep modernising the BBC and find new ways to open up our thinking, plans and decision-making to our audience, so they are more involved.”