The Archive
This page is intended as a living and near-as-possible full public record of the BBC Royal Charter review 2025-2027.
The Archive is a constant work in progress, and I welcome and encourage anyone to submit or suggest further additions.
Quick links:
February 2026
13/02/26 - A judge for the Southern District of Florida rejects the BBC’s motion to dismiss Trump’s Panorama defamation claim, and sets a timetable for the case to begin from 15 February 2027. Joshua Rosenberg wrote a useful summary of the legal to-and-fros of the BBC’s ‘motion to stay discovery’.
12/02/26 - The BBC announces a new round of cost-cutting with plans for 10% cuts over 3 years - on top of the existing £564m in cuts made since 2023.
06/02/26 - The Government confirms an increase in the cost of the TV licence fee, increasing from £174.50 to £180 for 2026/27.
03/02/26 - The Royal Society of Arts hosts a live event on the future of the BBC, featuring a panel of mostly establishment news lifers who struggle with the notion that the BBC is a lot more than a news channel. Charter review does not enter the discussion once.
January 2026
31/01/26 - The Sunday Times (£) reports vague proposals from (unnamed) BBC bosses to expand requirements to pay the licence fee to more households, possibly by including radio listeners or external broadcast services “such as Netflix or ITV”. I covered this in an issue of Whose Beeb?.
29/01/26 - The BBC publishes its third ‘thematic review’, exploring how the BBC portrays and represents the diverse communities of the UK. It finds that, despite improvements in representation of race, disability and gender, the BBC’s portrayal of geographic diversity remains heavily concentrated in London and the south-east of England.
29/01/26 - The Broadcast 2040+ campaign launches a public petition calling for the continuation of terrestrial broadcasting licences beyond 2034. It gains 100,000 signatures in the first two weeks.
26/01/26 - In an interview with the Guardian outgoing DG Tim Davie criticises the Government’s proposes for advertising and subscription, while also calling for reform of the TV licence fee.
21/01/26 - The BBC announces a “landmark deal” with YouTube to make news and children’s programmes for the video-sharing site, with international ad revenue returned to the BBC - albeit without any clear arrangements for YouTube to support the prominence of BBC content on its platforms.
21/01/26 - The think-tank Demos publishes “A blueprint for a more independent and future-proof BBC”, proposing a ‘public lock’ on any changes the BBC Charter together with a standing ‘Citizens’ Panel’ to advise and scrutinise the BBC Board.
20/01/26 - The Westminster Media Forum hosts a dicussion on ‘The Future of Public Service Media’, at which a representative of the Advertising Association challenged the ecocnomics of the Government’s BBC advertising proposals.
14/01/26 - DCMS Minister Ian Murray MP responds to the media & democracy groups’ joint letter (19/11/25) on Charter review, though makes no mention of or commitment to democratic public participation in the review process.
08/01/26 - House of Lords debate on ‘Broadcasting: Recent developments’, called by Lord Fowler - see recording and Hansard transcript.
06/01/26 - Westminster Hall debate on BBC Charter review, called by John Whittingdale - see recording and Hansard transcript.
December 2025
29/12/25 - Former BBC DG Lord Tony Hall’s opinion piece for the Guardian, on the BBC’s role as “a national storyteller”.
19/12/25 - The Media Reform Coalition publishes its initial response to the Green Paper, calling it a “blueprint for permanent decline”.
(Full disclosure: I wrote this, and take author’s privilege in separating it from other groups’ responses listed below.)
19/12/25 - The NUJ calls for an independent inquiry into interference in the BBC’s editorial independence, following Board member Robbie Gibb’s claims of involvement in editorial decision-making at the DCMS Select Committee.
18/12/25 - The Voice Of The Listener and Viewer publishes a briefing on BBC Charter renewal, calling for sustainable public funding, proposals for ending political interference, and reforms to enhance the BBC’s mission as a universal broadcaster.
16/12/25 - DCMS publishes its Green Paper on BBC Charter review, along with a 12-week online public consultation inviting responses to the Government’s reform proposals. Let me know if I’ve missed any.
Public responses from (in no particular order)
11/12/25 - The Citizens’ Forum for Public Service Media issue a joint statement with demands for reform of the BBC’s governance, funding and mechanisms for public accountability.
09/12/25 - The British Academy publishes a collection of 12 policy briefs on BBC governance and funding reforms.
November 2025
24/11/25 - Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee hearings (video) on the Prescott Memo & BBC Board fallout, with (1) Michael Prescott & Caroline Daniel (2) Chair Samir Shah + Board members Robbie Gibb & Caroline Thomson.
19/11/25 - 20 media & democracy groups together with 35 academics, broadcasters, writers and campaigners write to the Culture Secretary calling for Charter Review to be organised through Citizens’ Assemblies.
11/11/25 - MPs table an Early Day Motion calling for “renewed efforts to defend public service broadcasting in the face of current challenges and opposition.”
09/11/25
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness resign in the fallout of the ‘Prescott Memo’ on BBC editorial standards. Davie remains in post as DG until his successor is appointed.
Lawyers for Trump threaten a $1bn lawsuit against the BBC (link to X) unless it retract and apologise for “defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” made in the Panorama documentary.
06/11/25 - The Daily Telegraph published details of a ‘leaked’ memo, written by BBC external advisor Michael Prescott, alleging “systemic issues” in the BBC’s news coverage, including a spliced clip of Donald Trump’s speech prior to the January 6th Capitol Riot.
October 2025
24/10/25 - Campaign group British Broadcasting Challenge publishes its report on “Renewing the BBC”, with proposals for a permanent BBC Charter, independent assessment of the value of the licence fee, and a new BBC Public Purpose for countering disinformation.
16/10/25 - The BBC publishes its Our BBC, Our Future survey of ‘account holders’. The results from 872,701 responses show high levels of support for the BBC’s universal mission, alongside significant ‘performance gaps’ in its independence from government and how it reflects different parts of the UK.
08/05/25 - The Media Reform Coalition and think-tank Common Wealth co-publish “Our Mutual Friend: The BBC in the Digital Age”, outlining how a mutualised BBC would give the public direct democratic control over the BBC as active and direct participants in how it is run, governed and funded.
The ‘pre-history’, 2017-2024
2024
07/05/24 - The BBC publishes its second ‘thematic review’ exploring the BBC’s coverage of migration. The report does not find consistent bias but does identify “a narrow political lens, focused on commentary from a small number of high-profile people and without exploring issues in greater depth or detail.”
22/01/24 - The Conservative Government publishes the Mid-Term BBC Charter review. It finds that the new governance arrangements introduced by the 2017-27 Charter have been effective, while expanding Ofcom’s regulation of the BBC to include online news content & greater commercial intervention.
2023
30/01/23 - The BBC publishes its first ‘thematic review’, focusing on the BBC’s economic coverage. It highlights a neglect of the interests of low income taxpayers, and simplistic framing of economic concepts - such as equating government debt with household debt.
2021
29/10/21 - The BBC announces a ‘10-point plan’ to enhance impartiality and transparency, adopting findings & recommendations of the Dyson and Serota reports.
29/10/21 - The BBC publishes the Serota Review, by senior independent Board director Sir Nicholas Serota, examining current BBC editorial and governance standard following the findings of the Dyson Report.
20/05/21 - The BBC Board publishes the independent Dyson Report, examining the 1995 Martin Bashir/Panorama interview of Princess Diana. It finds the interview was secured through deceitful tactics and that BBC management had failed to demonstrate transparency or responsiveness to earlier investigations.
2020
22/02/25 - In an article for LabourList, Lisa Nandy proposes mutualisation of the BBC. She calls for the BBC to move to “a model of being owned and directed by licence fee holders”, with “a new structure for the BBC board that focuses on genuine public representation and participation”.
2017
01/01/17 - The renewed BBC Royal Charter for 2017-2027 comes into effect. You can learn more about the politics and policy of the previous Charter review debate in my PhD thesis.
Major reforms of the 2017-2027 Royal Charter include:replacing the BBC Trust with a unitary Board combining executive and non-executive (i.e. Government-appointed) directors;
introducing a top-level Public Purpose for ‘distinctiveness’ in the BBC’s content and services;
the removal of the previous (2007-2016) Charter’s Public Purposes for “sustaining citizenship and society” and “bringing the world to the UK” - the requirement to “deliver to the public the benefits of emerging technologies” (my emphasis) is demoted to merely “promot[ing] technological innovation”.
fully commercialising the BBC’s production arm with the creation of BBC Studios & scrapping almost all in-house commissioning guarantees;
expanding Ofcom’s pro-competition, public-ambivalent regulation of the BBC’s market impact;
the introduction of a ‘mid-term’ Charter review.
About The Archive
This page is intended as a public resource and record of the BBC Royal Charter Review process, 2025-2027.
The Archive is arranged in reverse date order, using each item’s original publication date (where available or on best guess).
Each item is linked, where possible, to its original source. Some documents may be re-hosted externally via the Media Reform Coalition website, both for ease of collection and to enable long term public access.
Items featured include, but are not limited to:
Official Charter Review process publications by the UK Government, parliament, the BBC and other ‘primary’ groups.
Draft and final copies of the Royal Charter, BBC framework agreement and other formal policy texts.
Consultation submissions, campaign literature, studies and reports published by groups engaged in Charter review debates.
Letters, meeting minutes and statements issued by politicians, media organisations and others - including ‘open letters’ published in the media.
Links to reports, videos or transcripts of speeches, events and public evidence sessions e.g. parliamentary committees.
Notable pieces of media coverage by newspapers, broadcasters and others.
Anyone is welcome and encouraged to submit or suggest a document, event or item to the Whose Beeb? Archive (if you have permission to share or redistribute it) - please contact me.