BBC rejects consultation call

Dyke: Changes are vital for the BBC's future

The BBC has dismissed a call for public consultation over its decision to move the flagship Nine O'Clock News to 10pm.

The call came from a senior ITV executive who said that because the BBC was publicly funded, it should consult licence fee payers about such a major change to its schedules.

Chief executive of ITV company Carlton, Clive Jones, said ITV had had to consult before its regulator, the Independent Television Commission, allowed it to move News At Ten.

But the BBC's director general, Greg Dyke, who announced the change on Friday as part of his overall plan for the corporation, dismissed the call saying the move made journalistic sense.

He said he thought Mr Jones actually objected to the move because it limited ITV's future.

Jones: Believes move is designed to slot for drama

"They moved out and left a gap open, and we and almost everybody involved in broadcasting who knows about audiences and scheduling is in favour of us moving to 10pm."

He added: "Our news people believe journalistically it's a better slot."

News agenda

The later bulletin would make it easier to cover events in the US and the Houses of Parliament and Mr Dyke believes the programme would be watched by more people.

Mr Jones had said he believed the BBC's move was designed to open up the 9pm slot for popular drama and entertainment, rather than to increase the news audience.

Former head of Channel 4, Michael Grade, said he supported the move and agreed that 10pm was a better time for news.

However, he thought Mr Dyke would be disappointed if he really believed it would attract a bigger audience.

Survival

In his speech Mr Dyke also said the BBC of the future will have five channels tailored to specific audiences to enable it to survive in the digital age.

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

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

ITV moved its nightly news bulletin, News At Ten, to an 11pm slot over a year ago.

The number of people watching ITV news has plummeted by one million, 14% of the audience, since the news programme was moved.

The ITC has now issued a "legally binding" direction to ITV to force the network to bring the bulletin forward, if it does not return to the News at Ten.

ITV has launched a legal challenge to overturn the demand.