Peacock Committee 1986

The Peacock Committee 1986
in 1986, the thatcher government established a committee chaired by professor Alan Peacock,an economist, to look into the future funding of the BBC. Pressure from the avertising industry for new broadcast outlets, and an application from te BBC for a 41% increase in the lisence fee (not granted) were among te factors that le to a drive in some political quarters for the BBC to take advertising. Indeed, it was expected that Peacock would recommend this.

indeed, among te Peacock report's main recommendations were:

• No advertising on te BBC
• The eventual replacement of te lisence fee with subscription;
• improvements in the efficiency of resourse allocation in broadcasting;
• The BBC and ITV to increase the proportion of programmes from independent producers to 40%
• The ITV franchises to be put to competitive tender;
• Channel 4 to sell its own advertising

It is ironic tat, although Peacock was set up to consider te funding of BBC television services,few of its main recomendations involved te BBC! Furthermore, the consequences of Peacock were to be felt primarily in the commercialsetor, wit many of its proposals influencing te subsequent reshaping of the financial, organisational and regulatory structures of commersial broadcasting.

A number of Peacocks recomendations, albeit in a modified form, appeared in te government White Paper, broacasting in the 90s; competotopm, coice and quality, wic waas published in 1988 and paved te way for a new broadcasting bill that, after extensive parliamentary debate, recieved Royal Assent in November 1990.