> Stringer said that the publicly-funded BBC has failed to embrace international advertising and sponsorship opportunities

Publicly-funded BBC is prohibited by charter to advertise. It’s remit is also localised to the areas which it receives the TV license fee from homes. Only BBC Worldwide can advertise, and it’ll only do so where it believes it can be profitable to do so. BBC Worldwide reports approximately 11% profit margin on revenue, I doubt the figures posed in this article are realistic.

> require a BBC-wide commitment to provide the investment and accept the loss of some revenue
It is expected of other, commercial broadcasters to enter non-profitable markets for some long term gain that may not be fiscally related? I doubt this as well.

> The One Show and Countryfile
Are both programs that are entirely localised to the UK. Countryfile in particular is localised to rural UK, with a large portion of its viewership outside of major cities. Unless your audience is up to date with lateset UK news and events, as well as regional culture, The One Show may not be suitable for the region. I question wether Stringer has bothered to look at BARB figures for either of these shows or consulted with the BBC’s Marketing & Audiences department.

Public Service BBC, which compromises in part of UK news services, TV and Radio broadcast within the UK (where UK equates to “every jurisdiction where the TV license fee is payable to the BBC) has no real obligations at present to service anyone outside of the UK. The BBC World Service, which up until April this year was funded by a grant-in-aid from the British Foreign Commonwealth Office is now paid for by the license fee. Justifying any any increased expenditure for it will become hard because by default its audience is outside where it derives funding from.

BBC Worldwide on the other hand is a separate commercial arm. Unlike the public broadcast side it can show advertisements and generate profit, and it’s focus is purely on creating and re-selling BBC created/licensed content to the rest of the world and then giving the profits back to the public service. It in part controls BBC Global News Limited, the company specifically responsible for BBC World News and the bbc.com domain.

Still with me?

In summary, BBC World Service will have an uphill battle justifying entering a new market now it’s being paid for by people who aren’t its audience, and Global News Limited will only go into markets where it can profit. If World Service was continuing grant in aid, efforts from the various interests within the Korean region in providing a new source of news could have lobbied with the UK government to insist the World Service and FCO make it happen. The reality is that thanks to Tory cutbacks in spending, that’s not going to happen. Keep blogging about it, I don’t see this position changing any time soon.