BBC proposes £120m public service broadcasting plan

Many of the proposals have already emerged in the press, including sharing the BBC iPlayer technology with other PSBs, such as ITV, Channel 4 and Five.

Users could access iPlayer either on a broadcaster-neutral central site or through each participating broadcaster's website.

The BBC is also inviting other PSBs, ISPs and device manufacturers to form an alliance with the BBC to develop and promote free-to-view broadband-connected digital TV receivers.

The invite has been taken up by BT and ITV, as reported earlier by Brand Republic.

The spirit of cooperation also extends BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide, which has been talking to Channel 4 about partnership opportunities that could "potentially generate benefits worth £10m-£20m of net value per annum after a number of years of development", the BBC said.

This is far short of a merger between BBC Worldwide and Channel 4, an option, reported by The Times this morning, government ministers and regulators were studying.

Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan has given short shrift to the BBC's initiative, saying its only financially meaningful proposal is the suggested partnership between BBC Worldwide and his company.

"This is overdue recognition from the BBC that it should be using its privileged position to help support the broader public service ecology.

"With the exception of the suggested partnership with BBC Worldwide, we don't believe these proposals offer any tangible financial benefit for Channel 4.

"Based on our considerable experience of selling advertising around on-demand viewing, we've given the BBC clear feedback that their assumptions about the commercial benefits of a link with the iPlayer are inaccurate.

"We do not share their view that this particular proposal could deliver an immediate and sizeable financial upside.

"Channel 4 remains focused on the future funding options laid out by Ofcom in its Public Service Broadcasting review."

ITV and Five offered more positive, though brief, responses.

ITV said: "ITV and the BBC have a good track record of collaboration on projects such as Kangaroo, Freeview and Freesat.

"We will be giving careful consideration to the approaches outlined today and look forward to receiving more detail on the proposals in due course."

Five's director of strategy, Charles Constable, said: "Five welcomes the proposals the BBC have announced today on PSB Partnerships.

"We believe the ideas they have outlined could make a significant difference to sustaining the Public Service Broadcasting system -- in particular sharing the iPlayer and developing IPTV.

"We look forward to discussing them further with the BBC, ITV and Channel 4."

Another potential beneficiary of today's proposals is the newspaper industry, which recently mounted a successful campaign to stop the corporation launching a locally targeted online video service.

The BBC has decided to waive the charge it makes for television listings, benefiting the newspaper and magazine sector, and is in discussions with newspapers about a non-exclusive pilot scheme to share content.

Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, said: "These proposals directly address the central question of the public service broadcasting debate -- how we ensure a sustainable future in the digital age.

"We are proposing that the BBC shares some of the benefits of its scale and security with the rest of the industry to strengthen it in the long term.

"While the BBC is also facing significant economic challenges, we can still play a valuable role in underpinning public service broadcasting at a time when the industry is grappling with huge strategic challenges."