Dyke outlines digital BBC

Greg Dyke: The BBC should make "great British programmes"

The BBC of the future will have five channels tailored to specific audiences to enable it to survive in the digital age.

The director general of the BBC, Greg Dyke, outlined his plans for the future of the corporation in the MacTaggart Lecture in Edinburgh.

He announced the creation of two new channels - BBC Three and BBC Four - which would be aimed at particular audience groups.

And he backed the decision to put BBC One's Nine O'Clock News on an hour later, saying it would win a bigger audience.

I believe the stark choice facing the BBC today is that we either change or we simply manage decline gracefully

Greg Dyke

Mr Dyke said the BBC had to change to carrying on competing in the age of multi-channel television.

"I believe the stark choice facing the BBC today is that we either change or we simply manage decline gracefully and none of us joined the BBC to do that," he said.

Mr Dyke said the BBC planned to run seven services across five channels.

He said BBC One and BBC Two would continue as the mainstays of BBC Television for the foreseeable future.

They would be the only BBC channels available in every home until the analogue signal was switched off.

He said getting the channels right for the future was going to be a big challenge.

"BBC One needs to have a greater impact on people's lives," he said.

"It needs to be more modern, more in touch, more contemporary. It needs more programming that you simply cannot miss."

But Mr Dyke hit out at reports that that meant all current affairs, documentaries, religion and arts programmes were being banished to other channels.

'News is the cornerstone'

"Our aim is to make BBC One the gold standard of mainstream television," he said.

Mr Dyke said news was the cornerstone of public service broadcasting on the BBC.

"After a great deal of thought we have decided that we will move the BBC's Nine O'clock News to10pm next year," he said.

Mr Dyke said 10pm was a better time to cover events in the US and the Houses of Parliament and the programme would be watched by more people.

BBC of the future

BBC One: Unmissable programmes

BBC Two: Intelligent factual programmes

BBC Three: Original programmes for a young audience

BBC Four: "Unashamedly intellectual programmes"

News 24: Rolling news channel

He pointed out that the move would also allow the BBC to double the time of its late evening regional news bulletins.

Mr Dyke said the diverse content of channels like BBC Two would not make much sense to viewers in a digital world of 160 channels.

The channel will eventually show intelligent specialist factual programmes, key leisure and lifestyle programmes, ambitious drama and comedy, and specialist sports.

But he said that would not be for a long time and BBC Two would continue to offer "a rich and diverse range of programmes".

'Unashamedly intellectual'

He then outlined the details of the new channels, BBC Three and BBC Four.

BBC Three, which will come from the existing channel BBC Choice, will offer original British comedy, drama and music as well as providing arts, education and social action programming designed to attract a young audience.

BBC Four, which will develop from the BBC Knowledge channel, will be "unashamedly intellectual".

"It will be based around arts, challenging music, ideas and in-depth discussion. It will be serious in intent but unstuffy and contemporary," he said.

The channel would also show a rolling breakfast time business news.

Mr Dyke said the corporation planned to spend £130m a year on the two new channels.

The fifth channel was BBC News 24 which Mr Dyke said he "happened to like".

"It seems obvious to me that the world's biggest news gatherer, the BBC, needs a 24-hour news service as part of its channel mix," he said.

The two other new services would be children's programmes, shown during the day on BBC Three and Four - one for pre-school children and the second for children aged between six and 13.

Mr Dyke underlined his commitment to saving money so more could be spent on making programmes.

"We need to spend more money now, which is why I've spent so much time in my first six months as director general looking for ways to save money right across the BBC."

He said that in this financial year the corporation would be spending £100m more on programmes than it did last year.

Mr Dyke emphasised that it was important for the BBC to limit the size of its portfolio as money was limited and the quality of its programmes must be good.

"In the digital era I believe the BBC's single most important role will be to make possible the production of great British programmes," he said.