Over 600 industry professionals sign open letter attacking BBC’s ‘unaccountable, inexperienced and failing’ commissioning strategy
More than 600 industry professionals, including producers, actors and independent production companies, have signed an open letter criticising the BBC's commissioning process as "unaccountable, inexperienced and failing". Organised by campaign group Reform The Industry, the letter demands urgent reform of how the broadcaster decides which shows to greenlight, arguing there is a "disgraceful amount of wasted resource" at a time when the BBC is cutting content while asking licence fee payers for more money.
The letter, led by five producers with active BBC development work or commissions, calls for an independent body with power to scrutinise major commissioning decisions, noting that some senior commissioners earn six-figure salaries without published performance targets, and it also criticised regulator Ofcom as "toothless". The campaign is not a direct response to BBC cuts, but follows director-general Matt Brittin's announcement that 100 to 150 hours of originated programming will be cut by 2027-28 to save £500 million, a plan that has already seen Blankety Blank, Celebrity Mastermind and Live At The Apollo axed, along with BBC Breakfast's Sunday edition and several Radio 4 shows. Producers involved say many fear speaking out publicly in case it damages their future work with the corporation.
- Over 600 professionals sign letter attacking BBC's commissioning strategy
- Letter demands independent oversight body and published KPIs for commissioners
- Comes amid BBC cuts of £500m and axed shows like Blankety Blank
New here? Start with this
Producers create ideas for television shows, but it is the BBC's commissioners who decide which of those ideas get made and broadcast. This process, known as commissioning, controls which programmes reach screens, so how it works and who runs it affects everyone who makes or watches BBC content. The BBC is funded by the licence fee, a charge paid by UK households, which is why decisions about spending and programme-making are subject to public scrutiny.
Reform The Industry is a campaign group set up by people working in television production to push for changes to how broadcasters, particularly the BBC, choose and manage programmes. Ofcom is the UK's media regulator, responsible for overseeing broadcasters including the BBC and ensuring they meet certain standards and obligations. Matt Brittin has been named as the BBC's director-general, the corporation's most senior executive, who oversees its overall strategy and budget.
Production companies and freelancers who work with the BBC are often reliant on it for future commissions, which is part of why disputes over its decision-making processes can be sensitive for those involved. The BBC has separately been reducing the number of programmes it makes and cutting costs, a move it says is necessary to manage its finances, though this is a distinct issue from the specific complaints about how commissioning decisions are made.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters of the letter argue that decisions worth hundreds of millions of pounds of licence-fee money deserve real scrutiny, not the judgement of a small, unaccountable group of commissioners with no published performance criteria. They contend that risk-averse or inexperienced decision-making wastes resources and squeezes out ambitious or diverse programming precisely when the BBC says it must cut output and ask viewers for more money. Given that Ofcom's oversight is seen as too distant to catch problems at the commissioning stage, they see an independent scrutiny body as a proportionate way to bring transparency and accountability to how public money shapes what gets made.
The case against
Those more sympathetic to the BBC's current approach would argue that commissioning is an inherently creative, judgement-based process that cannot be reduced to published targets without producing safer, more formulaic television that stifles the risk-taking good programming requires. They might also note that the letter is led by producers who themselves have active development deals or commissions with the BBC, raising fair questions about whether frustration at individual rejected pitches is being generalised into a wider institutional failing. There is also a reasonable concern that adding a further independent oversight body would introduce delay and duplicate Ofcom's existing regulatory remit, at a time when the corporation is already under pressure to move faster and cut costs, not add layers of bureaucracy.