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British Broadcasting Corporation Room BC2 A4 Broadcast Centre White City Wood Lane London W12 7TP
Telephone 020 8008 2882 Email xxx@xxx.xx.xx
Information Rights
bbc.co.uk/foi
bbc.co.uk/privacy
Mr T. Bonnett
Ema
il: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx 15 January 2018
Dear Mr Bonnett
Freedom of Information request – RFI20171877 Thank you for your request to the BBC of 15 December 2017, seeking the following information
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act):
“Please can you confirm the top 10 most viewed shows on your BBC Channels since the year 2000? It
should be based on viewership when the program was aired live, not to include repeats or Iplayer views.”
The information you have requested is excluded from the Act because it is held for the purposes
of ‘journalism, art or literature.’ The BBC is therefore not obliged to provide this information to
you and wil not be doing so on this occasion. Part VI of Schedule 1 of the Act provides that
information held by the BBC and the other public service broadcasters is only covered by the Act
if it is held for ‘purposes
other than those of journalism, art or literature”. The BBC is not
required to supply information held for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output or information
that supports and is closely associated with these creative activities.
1 The limited application of the Act to public service broadcasters was to protect freedom of
expression and the rights of the media under Article 10 European Convention on Human Rights
(“ECHR”). The BBC, as a media organisation, is under a duty to impart information and ideas on
all matters of public interest and the importance of this function has been recognised by the
European Court of Human Rights. Maintaining our editorial independence is a crucial factor in
enabling the media to fulfil this function.
1 For more information about how the Act applies to the BBC please see the enclosure which follows this letter.
Please note that this guidance is not intended to be a comprehensive legal interpretation of how the Act applies to the
BBC.
That said, the BBC makes a huge range of information available about our programmes and
content o
n bbc.co.uk. I can also advise that audience ratings are measured by an external organisation called BARB
(Broadcasting Audience Research Board). They use an independent research panel in order to
calculate ratings. BARB has been delivering official viewing figures for UK Television since 1981.
For more information, please see their websit
e: http://www.barb.co.uk/about-us/how-we-do-what-
we-do/ Appeal Rights
The BBC does not offer an internal review when the information requested is not covered by the
Act. If you disagree with our decision you can appeal to the Information Commissioner. Contact
details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire,
SK9 5AF, tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate) or you may wish to visit
their website at
http://www.ico.org.uk/. Please note that should the Information Commissioner’s Office decide that the Act does cover
this information, exemptions under the Act might then apply.
Yours sincerely
Paul Kettle
BBC Content
Freedom of Information
From January 2005 the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) gives a general right of
access to al types of recorded information held by public authorities. The Act also sets out
exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities. The term
“public authority” is defined in the Act; it includes al public bodies and government
departments in the UK. The BBC, Channel 4, S4C and MG Alba are the only broadcasting
organisations covered by the Act.
Application to the BBC
The BBC has a long tradition of making information available and accessible. It seeks to be
open and accountable and already provides the public with a great deal of information about
its activities. BBC Audience Services operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week handling
telephone and written comments and queries, and the BBC’s website bbc.co.uk provides an
extensive online information resource.
It is important to bear this in mind when considering the Freedom of Information Act and
how it applies to the BBC. The Act does not apply to the BBC in the way it does to most
public authorities in one significant respect. It recognises the different position of the BBC (as
wel as Channel 4 and S4C) by saying that it covers information “held for purposes other than
those of journalism, art or literature”. This means the Act does not apply to information held
for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output (TV, radio, online etc), or information that
supports and is closely associated with these creative activities.
A great deal of information within this category is currently available from the BBC and will
continue to be so. If this is the type of information you are looking for, you can check
whether it is available on the BBC’s website bbc.co.uk or contact BBC Audience Services.
The Act does apply to al of the other information we hold about the management and
running of the BBC.
The BBC
The BBC's aim is to enrich people's lives with great programmes and services that inform,
educate and entertain. It broadcasts radio and television programmes on analogue and digital
services in the UK. It delivers interactive services across the web, television and mobile
devices. The BBC's online service is one of Europe's most widely visited content sites.
Around the world, international multimedia broadcaster BBC World Service delivers a wide
range of language and regional services on radio, TV, online and via wireless handheld devices,
together with BBC World News, the commercially-funded international news and
information television channel.
The BBC's remit as a public service broadcaster is defined in the BBC Charter and
Agreement. It is the responsibility of the Ofcom (the BBC’s independent regulator) to ensure
that the organisation delivers against this remit by setting key objectives, approving strategy
and policy, and monitoring and assessing performance. Ofcom also safeguard the BBC's
independence and ensure the Corporation is accountable to its audiences and to Parliament.
Day-to-day operations are run by the Director-General and his senior management team, the
Executive Board. Al BBC output in the UK is funded by an annual Licence Fee. This is
determined and regularly reviewed by Parliament. Each year, the BBC publishes an Annual
Report & Accounts, and reports to Parliament on how it has delivered against its public
service remit.
