AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Wall Street Journal

Civil servant Mark Thompson wants to turn the British Broadcasting Corp. into an empire on which the sun never sets.

To do that, the BBC’s 50-year-old chief executive is determined to get the world to watch more British drama, comedy and news online. His push has required radical job cuts and new business strategies — and has put him in conflict with private media companies and BBC workers. On Friday, the BBC’s union is expected to announce that members have approved job cuts and salary concessions that will free up funds for Mr. Thompson’s vision.
[Mark Thompson]

Mr. Thompson’s push raises a counterintuitive possibility: The world’s oldest and largest public broadcaster may emerge as a pioneer of new ways of delivering TV news and entertainment. The taxpayer-financed BBC doesn’t have to worry about advertisers or delivering results to Wall Street. It owns most of its own shows, so it can control how they appear online. As such, the 85-year-old global behemoth can focus on the industry’s most pressing problem: keeping viewers in the Internet age.

“It’s not about TV,” Mr. Thompson says in an interview. “It’s about content and ways of getting content to people.”….read more….