BBC Trust

The BBC Trust has today introduced new protections for the amount of current affairs programming on BBC One.

A change to the BBC One service licence now requires the BBC to broadcast at least 40 hours of current affairs programming in peak time on the flagship channel each year.

This is the first time the Trust has introduced a condition to safeguard the volume of current affairs on the BBC’s main channel and follows a commitment made by the Trust in its service review of BBC News and Current Affairs published earlier this year.

The service review found that audiences rate BBC current affairs highly for quality and for keeping them informed, but the evidence also showed that audiences expect more and BBC current affairs should be securing wider recognition and impact, particularly given that the BBC makes the most significant investment in current affairs programming in the UK.

The Trust has also strengthened the expectations set out in the service licence for the BBC’s overall approach to current affairs, with an improved emphasis on current affairs output that goes “beyond observation and illustration to offer a broad audience insight into, and revelation or analysis of, issues of national and international concern.”

The amended service licence can be found here.