Commercial radio fights for BBC budget disclosure

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 11-Nov-05, 11:00

LONDON - Commercial radio is battling to get the BBC to release information about its radio programming and marketing budgets before spring, its last chance to argue against the BBC's request for a big licence fee increase.

The Information Commissioner has been brought in to the fight by the Commercial Radio Companies Association, after the BBC declined to agree to its request for information.

The BBC told the CRCA that the information is commercially sensitive and therefore the Freedom of Information Act does not apply.

Paul Brown, the CRCA's chief executive, said: "We don't buy that argument."

According to Brown, the BBC has to provide "extreme" justification for its request for the licence fee to rise by inflation plus 2.3%, and should disclose the information so that the CRCA can take an informed position on the licence fee request.

Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, now has to decide whether the Freedom of Information Act should apply in the case of the BBC, a publicly funded organisation.

A BBC spokesman argued that it was not appropriate for the corporation to release information that could affect forthcoming negotiations "such as those with programme producers and talent".

"We are not a commercial company but we operate in a commercial environment, so there are limits to what we can say. It would also reveal the BBC's strategy to its competitors," he said.

The BBC has the upper hand over commercial radio, taking a record 54.6% share of listening compared with commercial radio's 43.5% in the latest Rajar figures.

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