Leader: Is it time to rein in the Beeb?

The government is reining in the BBC's online presence over concerns that much of it is being run to the detriment of UK businesses.

While independent channels and rivals for online market share compete for advertising revenue just to exist, the publicly funded Beeb is able to offer competing services which draw away valuable users, with none of the same concerns about revenue generation.

One such example highlighted by the recent Graf report was fantasy football competitions being run on the BBC website. It's not exactly core to the corporation's public service remit but it does draw users away from independent revenue-reliant offerings. Similarly, the Beeb's entertainment listings are also for the chop as part of the government initiated review.

It wasn't seen as information which the BBC presented in a way that was different to other services and as such it wasn't in the public interest to maintain.

This isn't a debate about the BBC's ability to provide quality news and impartial coverage of world events. That has never been in doubt and is not under threat but the review is about ensuring the publicly-funded organisation is not actually running to the detriment of innovative businesses.

The BBC has long trumpeted its ability to provide quality web content. Rivals have often retorted 'well, give us millions of pounds and no commercial imperative to hit revenue and we'd provide some pretty compelling content too.'

There is merit in that response - after all, much of the BBC's remit is to provide information and a resource which might otherwise not reach the UK audience because of a lack of commercial viability. Symptomatic of that remit is the fact the BBC will still programme factual programs while commercial channels go for the big bucks of dumbed-down primetime crowd pleasers.

The same should be true online but the dot-com market has been hit badly enough in past years without the BBC insisting on creating the most uneven of playing fields.