Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help ensure Public Service Broadcasters meet public service broadcasting obligations on reaching audiences.

The Government recognises how important it is that content delivered by public service broadcasters (PSBs) remains freely and universally available to a range of audiences across the UK.

Ofcom is ultimately responsible for monitoring the performance of PSBs against their public service broadcasting obligations, including their obligations on reaching audiences. With specific regards to the BBC, while they are editorially and operationally independent, the Charter requires the BBC to serve all audiences, and the Government expects Ofcom to robustly hold them to account in delivering their public service obligations.

Reforms announced in the Government’s draft Media Bill will ensure that PSB obligations are delivered via on-demand services for the first time. This includes a new ‘online prominence framework’, which will ensure that public service broadcasting content is made available and given protected prominence across major online TV platforms, helping to ensure that PSB content continues to reach all audiences as viewers increasingly shift online.