The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has warned the BBC that it faces making deeper cuts and refused to rule out a reduction the licence fee.Hunt, speaking in an interview at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, likened the BBC's situation to that facing government departments, which he said are being forced to make cuts upward of 25%. "The BBC has to live on the same planet as everyone else," he said.He was then asked if he considered the BBC to be a government department. "I wouldn't describe it as a government department. It is an arm's length body, a public body," he replied.Hunt reiterated his desire to see the corporation subjected to greater scrutiny, from financial transparency to putting "red lines" around its activities to protect commercial competitors, and indicated that next year's negotiations for the next licence fee settlement would be tough.
The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has warned the BBC that it faces making deeper cuts and refused to rule out a reduction the licence fee.
Hunt, speaking in an interview at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, likened the BBC's situation to that facing government departments, which he said are being forced to make cuts upward of 25%. "The BBC has to live on the same planet as everyone else," he said.
He was then asked if he considered the BBC to be a government department. "I wouldn't describe it as a government department. It is an arm's length body, a public body," he replied.
Hunt reiterated his desire to see the corporation subjected to greater scrutiny, from financial transparency to putting "red lines" around its activities to protect commercial competitors, and indicated that next year's negotiations for the next licence fee settlement would be tough.
And after that election night toadying too.
