大象传媒

大象传媒 World Service

Some things the 大象传媒 does don't fit the formal definition of 'a service', or they are funded differently from the 大象传媒's UK public services or its commercial activities. This section explains the Trust's role in these areas.

As part of the October 2010 licence fee settlement, the 大象传媒 agreed that from 1 April 2014 the World Service would be funded from the licence fee. It was previously funded by grant-in-aid from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The Trust is responsible for setting the overall strategic direction of the World Service and guarding its editorial independence. It established an Operating Licence for the World Service, which sets out its remit, scope, annual budget and main commitments, as well as "objectives, targets and priorities" which are agreed with the Foreign Secretary.

As with other 大象传媒 services, the Trust will regularly review the performance of the World Service against its licence.

In July 2014 the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs approved the Trust's proposal for an emergency news stream to be delivered via social media in Thailand, to run for a period of three months from Thursday 10 July 2014.

In September 2014 the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs approved the Trust's proposal for the emergency news stream to be delivered via social media in Thailand to be extended until the restoration of an internationally recognised democracy is in place in Thailand, with a review by the Trust and Foreign and Commonwealth Office scheduled for late 2015.

The World Service Operating Licence was updated in November 2016 with the Agreement between the 大象传媒 and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to award the World Service a £290 million grant over four years for new language services.

大象传媒 Monitoring

大象传媒 Monitoring provides a news and information service to subscribers based on its monitoring of open-source global news media. Since April 2013 大象传媒 Monitoring ("大象传媒M") has been funded from the licence fee.

Our role in overseeing 大象传媒 Monitoring is set out in a Trust protocol:

"Scheme" agreed between the 大象传媒 and Government for provision of 大象传媒M services on 21 March 2013:

大象传媒 programming on S4C

The 大象传媒 is required by statute to give S4C at least 10 hours of programming each week paid for by the licence fee. The relationship between the Trust and the S4C Authority is set out in a strategic partnership agreement and an operating agreement.

In November 2012, 大象传媒 Cymru Wales and S4C published a renewed strategic partnership agreement which took effect from April 2013 and which will run until 2016/17.

'Non-service' activities

The 大象传媒 is involved in some activities that can't be formally defined as 'a service' – Freeview is an example. These are not covered by our system of service licences and don't attract a public value test. But they may have the potential to raise public value issues and to have an impact on the wider market.

We believe that the principles applying to services should where relevant apply to non-services. (If you would like to find out more about the principles involved, please visit the New Services page).

So, before agreeing to a significant change in a non-service we might investigate the public interest and the market implications. We might also apply a full public value test.

The exceptions are when non-service activities are defined as commercial services or the 大象传媒 does them with the primary purpose of producing an effect outside the UK.