Independent review praises BBC digital radio services

LONDON – After parts of its digital television channels were rubbished last week, there is better news today for the BBC as an independent review praised the corporation's digital radio services, singling out 1Xtra and 6Music.

The review, commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media & Sport, looked at 1Xtra, 6Music, BBC7, BBC Asian Network and Five Live Sports Extra as part of the ongoing Charter Renewal process and said the services went "above and beyond" the conditions laid down by the secretary of state.

The review, led by Tim Gardam, the former director of television and director of programmes at Channel 4, examined the channels' impact on the wider radio market.

Gardam praised the BBC for the distinctiveness of its channels from the services offered by the commercial radio market.

In particular, he singled out 1Xtra and 6Music for praise, citing the latter as demonstrating "the BBC's creative enthusiasm at its most impressive" and the former as having, "successfully established credibility in a community that initially had little in connection with the BBC".

Gardam also made recommendations he felt would benefit the channels including: encouraging the BBC Asian Network to be more editorially ambitious; 1Xtra should set targets for British acts to distinguish itself from other commercial stations; and to increase the amount of original children's programming on comedy and drama station BBC7.

On the whole, the report was mainly positive and implied that the BBC has been instrumental in driving digital take-up by promoting digital radio across all its channels and services.

Jenny Abramsky, director of BBC radio and music, said: "I am pleased that the report recognises the distinctiveness of all our services and states that, as digital radio develops, 'the quality of BBC content in this world will be a great public benefit'."

Last week, a similar report commissioned by the DCMS looking at the BBC digital TV channels -- BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC and pre-school children's channel Cbeebies -- was far worse for the corporation.

It concluded that because of their low viewing figures, BBC Three and BBC Four are providing poor value for money, as well as doing little to connect the BBC with viewers or drive digital take-up.

The BBC board of governors will study both reports carefully and respond to the secretary of state by the end of November.

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