ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide is the commercial arm of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. Last July the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Trust launched a review of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide's mandate, strategy and governance arrangements.

The aim was twofold: to see if any changes were needed to reflect experience since the present arrangements were established in the current ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Charter; and to consider concerns expressed by others in the market about the impact of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide.

Since then, however, the public policy debate about ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide has broadened to take in the new question of whether it has a role to play in sustaining a second public service broadcasting entity. In our view it would be wrong for the Trust to take decisions based on its current review until this new question about ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide has been resolved.

The Trust does, however, believe that much of the analysis in its review is relevant to the current policy debate. We have therefore decided to publish this interim statement setting out our emerging thinking.

Strategy and remit

Successive governments have encouraged the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ to exploit the commercial value of its intellectual property and to return this value to public service output. The Trust fully supports this aim, and alongside the primacy of the public services welcomes ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide's record of increasing profitability and the benefits it brings to licence fee payers.

Our review has been driven by two concerns. The first is to ensure that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide's strategy is properly aligned with the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s public service interest and so has a positive impact on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s brand and reputation. The second is to ensure that in its strategy and operations ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide is duly sensitive to the concerns of other commercial players in the market.

Our emerging thinking can be summarised as follows:

The Trust should bring greater clarity to the direction, parameters and strategic priorities of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide's commercial activities in the UK and overseas, to ensure that they align properly with delivery of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s public purposes

We should make changes to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide's detailed control framework to establish a more contained focus for its operations

None of this cuts across our ambition that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide should maintain and develop its commercial vigour and strength. In our view this is perfectly compatible with a challenging remit and clearer parameters for its operation and strategic focus

Other considerations

As part of the review the Trust has considered the rationale for the "first look" arrangements under which ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide has an opportunity to acquire most ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ rights before they are offered to competitors. The Trust remains satisfied that the rationale in favour of the first look arrangement within existing structures remains strong. In particular it enables proper control of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s brand and reputation to be maintained as its content is exploited commercially. The Trust is also mindful of the economies of scale it creates and has noted that many other content producers use similar 'vertically integrated' approaches.

The Trust and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Executive have also been considering whether any adjustments to the current governance arrangements for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s commercial activities might be necessary to ensure that the mechanics underpinning the controls are both streamlined and effective. This work is closely linked to the current public policy debate about ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide and is ongoing.

Next steps

Rather than reach final decisions on the strategic priorities for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide ahead of the broader public policy debate, we will now work with the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Executive to assess more fully the potential benefits for audiences emerging from partnership options that the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and Channel 4 are currently developing. We will remain fully engaged in the public debate. We will return to the question of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Worldwide strategy as soon as there is sufficient clarity around the nature of the partnership options for the Trust to reach fully informed decisions.