BBC accused of hoarding radio airwaves

The BBC has been accused of “hoarding” radio airwaves even as the struggling broadcaster grapples for extra income to offset its declining licence fee. The corporation, which is in the throes of a £500m cost-cutting programme, is under growing pressure to rent out some of its spectrum to other radio operators. Rivals argue that the BBC’s current stranglehold on radio infrastructure is “wasteful”, adding that the public service broadcaster is overlooking a chance to generate much-needed additional revenue. Phil Riley, co-founder of Boom Radio , has written to Matt Brittin, the BBC director general, urging him to open up capacity in exchange for fees. He said any move to open up spectrum for commercial rivals could be “financially very advantageous” for the BBC and generate as much as £15m in revenues each year. The windfall would come at a critical time for the BBC, which is racing to strip out £500m in costs in the next two years. ‘Hoarding capacity’ The broadcaster last week announced the closure of channels including BBC Three, while a further 100 jobs will be cut from its news operation. However, it remains less than halfway to its cost-cutting target. Jason Bryant, founder of Nation Broadcasting, which operates more than two dozen local radio stations across the UK, also said the BBC’s refusal to rent out the spectrum was “absolutely an issue”. “They are effectively hoarding a whole load of capacity,” he said. “Clearly, if there was willing, there is the opportunity to squeeze a greater number of services on the BBC.” Mr Bryant said he had suggested such a move to Tim Davie, the former BBC director general, in 2023. Britain’s radio stations are bundled into transmission groups known as a “multiplex”. The BBC’s national multiplex runs primarily on the traditional digital radio spectrum, known as digital audio broadcasting (DAB). However, the commercial version runs on the more efficient DAB+, which allows around twice as many commercial stations to fit onto their multiplex as on the BBC equivalent. Commercial rivals say the BBC could free up more capacity by upgrading to DAB+. Additional slots have opened up as the BBC starts to close stations such as Radio 4 Extra as part of its cost-cutting drive. It is understood that there are no regulations preventing the BBC from renting out space on its multiplex. However, the corporation has so far resisted any such move, with industry sources suggesting it was afraid to leave behind the small number of listeners who do not have DAB+-enabled radios. Mr Riley said: “There is a reality here, which is that the BBC multiplex is very wasteful in its use of the capacity that they have. “If the BBC were to embrace DAB+ for their services rather than DAB, they would free up a significant amount of capacity, and there are definitely commercial services which would want to rent that capacity off them.” He added that the refusal stood in stark contrast to the corporation’s push to switch off terrestrial TV signals and move to streaming in 2034. Mr Riley said: “That sits ill with the other side of the BBC where, along with ITV and Channel Four, they’re talking about the wholesale destruction of the digital television infrastructure in the space of the next eight years.” The BBC declined to comment.