Jowell rejects proposal for BBC youth channel

The BBC's ambition to compete with rival broadcasters in the era of digital television suffered a setback yesterday when the Government blocked the corporation's plan to launch a channel aimed at young people.

The rejection of the new BBC3, intended for those aged 16-34, took the industry by surprise. The BBC had wanted to replace its current digital channel, BBC Choice, with BBC3 and turn BBC Knowledge into an arts and culture channel called BBC4. The latter plan was sanctioned by Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on the condition that the new channel's programmes added to rather than replaced the current output on BBC1 and 2.

Greg Dyke, the BBC director general, said: "We are surprised and disappointed that the Secretary of State is not yet convinced by our plans for BBC3. We believe that our proposals do meet the BBC's core public-service criteria of distinctiveness and quality."

The decision is in part a victory for the commercial broadcasters who have opposed the BBC plans. A concerted lobby argued that the BBC had no business using licence-fee money to fund services that overlap with those already provided by commercial operators. The views of David Liddiment, ITV's director of channels, were typical. "Shovelling up more of the same makes the BBC's claim to value ambition and range over ratings look deceitful," he said.

The corporation is, though, determined to broaden its services before the analogue signal is turned off by 2010, a move that will make multichannel television universal in the UK. The BBC was given the go-ahead by the Government to run children's programmes on two digital channels and to launch five new digital radio stations. Ms Jowell said: "I have given the BBC a chance to create high-quality, home-grown programmes which educate, inform and entertain. The new stations must fulfil its public-service remit and offer value for money for licence-fee payers.

"The BBC still has not made the case for BBC3, the station for 16-34-year-olds. It was not clear that its proposals were distinctive in an already crowded market. I have asked the corporation to rethink.

"But overall, the new stations should attract a wider range of viewers to all digital services. This can only be good news for all broadcasters and for the viewer and listener. Not all games are zero sum; sometimes everyone can win."

Ms Jowell's announcement reflects the Government's eagerness to show that the BBC will be held to scrutiny. Even the newly approved services come with strict conditions.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society meeting in Cambridge last night, Ms Jowell spelt out her reasoning for enforcing these strict conditions: "I wish to extend the clearest guarantee that I can. These new services are to extend the BBC's offer in the digital environment, not reduce its range on offer or its main services," she said.

"The BBC is big but not over-mighty. It should have an important but not over- powering presence in the digital future, a presence not only shaped by the competition, but which also helps shape the competition as the two interact. If it maintains its historic standards on BBC1 and 2, and on its radio services; if it reaches out to new audiences in the digital world, if it challenges the market to do even better, then the BBC has nothing to fear and everything to gain.

"The digital changeover is already under way. The broadcasting ecology of the last 20 years has been successful. We must now take the successes and build a new ecology.

"Since TV broadcasting began in earnest after the Second World War, public-service broadcasting in general, and the BBC in particular, has served British viewers and listeners well. The BBC is a loved and respected institution. When asked in polls what makes people proud to be British, the BBC is up there with the NHS, the Queen and our armed forces.

"It is not an affection that should ever be taken for granted or should be set in amber. Public-service broadcasting is not synonymous with the BBC; its writ runs much wider. ITV and Channel 4 make major contributions and will continue to do so. It is my job to create the space in the digital environment for the BBC to continue to flourish, but to do so alongside a vibrant market."