{"id":870676,"date":"2026-08-27T21:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T21:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870676\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T21:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T21:10:16","slug":"bbc-boss-matt-brittin-outlines-concept-for-public-service-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870676\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Boss Matt Brittin Outlines Concept For “Public Service Algorithm”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe BBC<\/a>\u2018s Director General, Matt Brittin<\/a>, has said the British broadcaster\u2019s streaming service could benefit from a \u201cpublic service algorithm\u201d that allows it to function more like YouTube.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe striking plans, which Brittin warned was not \u201cpolicy\u201d at this stage, would see the BBC iPlayer<\/a> opened up to creators and make the service more like YouTube, the platform that the exec oversaw in EMEA before joining the BBC. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn his first address to the industry today at the Edinburgh<\/a> TV Festival, the former Google exec once again warned the BBC iPlayer had \u201cfallen behind\u201d rivals due to a focus on content spend over technology in recent years. He first made similar noise in a town hall speech to staff<\/a> in May soon after he became DG.<\/p>\n

\n\tBrittin was careful to say this was \u201cno fault of the team\u201d at the BBC and that the content spend meant he \u201cinherited incredible audience reach,\u201d but leaves a puzzle over the iPlayer\u2019s future and an immediate challenge in improving the iPlayer recommendations functionality.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis blue-sky solution was for the iPlayer to function more like YouTube by hosting creators from around the UK \u2013 \u201cproviding they stick to the guidelines we choose to set.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe didn\u2019t detail how this would be achieved, what the remuneration offer would be or why creators would choose to opt for BBC digital services over YouTube or other social media platforms, but it is still one of the more tantalizing ideas to be floated by a director general of the BBC for some time.<\/p>\n

\n\tBrittin also called for the BBC to be \u201ca more open platform\u201d and that there was a need to \u201ccreate sovereign media public space,\u201d while adding the UK could build something \u201cunadulterated by commercial interests, by algorithms that have other interests at heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe service, which he dubbed \u2018iPlayer 2.0\u2033, would be based around \u201ceducating, informing and entertaining the public here and ideally around the world,\u201d he said, adding it should be created \u201cit in a way that\u2019s not biased towards the incentives of a U.S. tech company or commercial interests. It should be biased towards what we want public service to be all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is likely the BBC, which is in the midst of cutting 2,000 roles to save around \u00a3500M ($679M), will have to cut programs to pay for improvements to the iPlayer. He noted that the BBC had shed \u00a31.3B over the past decade and services and programs would inevitably come under pressure. <\/p>\n

\n\tBrittin has spent his first 100 days at the BBC travelling to different parts of the mammoth organization to identify where to prioritize his efforts and how to wrestle with the type of existential crisis that outgoing BBC presenter Amol Rajan described earlier today. <\/p>\n

\n\tBrittin admitted he had not \u201cunderstood quite the severity\u201d of the financial pressure heaped on the BBC. \u201cObviously, to get to that scale of savings, there\u2019s uncertainty hanging over a lot more colleagues than those who will eventually leave the organization,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s really hard to deal with. But 90% of the people in the BBC will remain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC\u2018s Director General, Matt Brittin, has said the British broadcaster\u2019s streaming service could benefit from a \u201cpublic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,1576,74141,58385,60884,134,271915,427],"class_list":["post-870676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bbc","tag-bbc-iplayer","tag-edinburgh","tag-edinburgh-tv-festival","tag-entertainment","tag-matt-brittin","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}