BBC Website

[Tom]

I listened to 2 Americans discussing the BBC internet output today, remembering David and my discussions. Their general views were:

- amazingly good content - the best
- very aggressive and ambitious
- almost neutral in their politics
- they could not do it without the license fee
- no business plan
- they should appoint new governors to sort out their aims and objectives

I agree with all these points

[David]

The BBC have just undertaken a review of their web offerings and have come to the conclusion that they have probably strayed too far into the "unfair competition" area. They cited parts of their site that review TV soaps and some others where they thought that it should be left to others to review BBC output.

The point was made that this was such a new area of media that they had to test all options first and then review what they had done. I think this is reasonable. There will no doubt be changes in the future as the market adjusts but one would expect this.

[Tom]

I think it entirely right that this review should proceed, though I would rather it was done by some body other than the BBC. There is also the very interesting question of Adsense. The BBC could earn a fortune from it. Should they do it?