An independent review on the BBC's digital TV stations has said that BBC 3 and BBC 4 offer poor value for money. While the report, commissioned by the government and led by marketing professor Patrick Barwise, congratulated the BBC's digital children's channels, it said BBC 3 and 4's poor viewing figures meant they could not justify the investment being made into them.
Responding to the report,Jana Bennett, the BBC's director of television, said yesterday: "The report issues a challenge to us, which is to continue to improve value for money, but also acknowledges that these are channels in their earliest stage."
Specific recommendations in the report included a suggestion that BBC 3 should lose its obsession with the youth audience, even though that is its target market, because current practice was proving to be a "creative straightjacket". BBC 4, meanwhile, should have less arts programmes which virtually no one watches (again, despite BBC 4's clear arts remit). The report said both BBC 3 and BBC 4 should revamp their main news programmes because they failed to pull in anywhere near decent audiences.