John Whittingdale’s current equivocation over what sounded like an agreement for the BBC’s future is a fit subject for another peers’ rebellionTony corridor thought he was the DG who’d made a deal with George Osborne and John Whittingdale when he took on paying the licence fees of over-75s last July. He’d won inflation indexing of what was left for the next 10 Royal Charter years plus a few bells and whistles. That meant the BBC knew what money would be coming in and could at least plan rationally for the future.
But here comes Mr Secretary Whittingdale,balancing clauses and sowing confusion. No, the fundamental fee negotiation hasn’t been settled, and he says: the £750m impost was HMG money transferred between budgets. Stand by for more blasting.
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Source: theguardian.com