Tue 19 October, 2004 11:34
By Adam Pasick, UK media correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - The BBC has helped drive the take-up of digital radio but
should consider making programmes from its vast radio archives available to
private sector companies, a government commission says.

Tuesday's report on the publicly funded broadcaster's five digital
channels -- 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network, 6 Music, BBC7 and Five Live Sports
Extra -- comes less than a week after a separate government-commissioned
report criticised the BBC's digital television channels for providing poor
value for money.

The digital radio report from former Channel Four executive Tim Gardam comes
as parliament reviews the BBC's governing charter. At a time when the BBC's
independence from government oversight is in doubt, Gardam also warned that
"the lack of any formal relationship between the BBC governors and (media
regulator) Ofcom ... is a problem."

Gardam recommended that commercial radio companies be able to buy programmes
from the BBC Radio archive, and that the BBC should consider a joint venture
with the commercial sector for archival programming in the future.

The country is moving toward all-digital formats for television and radio,
which enable a wider selection of stations and free up valuable broadcast
spectrum for other uses. More than half of households have made the switch
to digital TV, but the public has been slower to buy digital radios, which
are only beginning to be sold at attractive prices.

The BBC's digital radio stations have been "instrumental in driving digital
take-up" thus far, Gardam said in his report. "As the market develops it
will be necessary for the BBC's services to be more carefully described if
their distinctiveness is to be ensured."

-- Black music station 1Xtra "has established a credibility and reputation
with a young Black audience where the BBC had little before." But he
cautioned that because it concentrates on the "urban" music genre, it is not
completely fulfilling its remit to bring together the diversity of Black
music and culture across the UK, and "does not do much to serve older
Afro-Caribbean or African audiences."

-- BBC Asian Network has produced "considerable added value" with programmes
like its "innovative" soap drama "Silver Street."

-- Alternative music channel 6 Music represents the BBC's "creative
enthusiasm at its most impressive."

-- Sports broadcaster Five Live produces "extra value for money" by
broadcasting more hours of coverage from events for which the BBC owns
rights.

-- BBC 7 has "reinvented children's radio as a multi-media proposition" but
has had a "significant market impact," playing a role in the failure of its
commercial counterpart, Oneworld.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackage...6&section=news