‘Ethical’ BBC will overtake Netflix, says Lord Hall
THE BBC will win the battle for audiences because it is the “ethical” choice, its director-general has claimed, as he predicted that the corporation will head into a resurgent period while Netflix and Amazon face decline.
Lord Hall of Birkenhead believes the US streaming giants, which have disrupted the media landscape, will lose ground now that Apple, Disney and Hulu are launching their own services.
The BBC “will ride the second wave of disruption” and emerge as winners, he will say this week in a speech to the television industry, because “in this market, services that are distinctive and different will stand out”.
It is the BBC’S “unique mission and purpose” that makes it different, Lord Hall will say. “All audiences – young and old – believe in it. Purpose and values matter more than ever, as people pick and choose services for ethical reasons as much as economic ones.”
‘We’re not Netflix, we’re not Spotify. We’re not Apple News. We’re so much more than all of them put together’
Some critics may question Lord Hall’s description of the BBC as an “ethical” company following controversies in recent years, including the row over equal pay. But the reference is to the corporation’s public service mission to “inform, educate and entertain”.
Lord Hall will make his provocative remarks at a Royal Television Society convention in Cambridge on Thursday, where Reed Hastings, the Netflix CEO, is due to speak the following day.
According to Lord Hall, iplayer is superior to rivals because it offers services they do not: news, sport and live channels, in addition to drama and documentaries. Ofcom recently approved a request to allow programmes to remain on iplayer for a year, bringing it more in line with other on-demand services.
“The new, enhanced iplayer will set us up to be winners in the second wave of disruption,” he will say, along with BBC Sounds for radio and podcasts.
“No one offers the range of content, in so many genres, on so many platforms, as the BBC. We’re not Netflix, we’re not Spotify. We’re not Apple News. We’re so much more than all of them put together.”