European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 3, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Cover Story current trends continued from Page 5 Bob Jobbins the editor of by cd a world service news. A these Days you can hear political commentary almost anywhere and so the audience for cabaret has dropped off. We done to want the same thing to happen to  the bbl has added a ukrainian language service and wants to begin an uzbek service As Well. And it launched a television news network to compete with the Cable news network. The Voa and the bbl Are juggling programming schedules adding More music and instruction in the English language. John Tusa the general manager of the bbl talks about what he Calls a a Marshall plan of the mind a which would use radio to bring instructional broadcasts in history banking accounting or communication to the emerging democracies of Europe. Other Western broadcasters have also jumped into the Competition. Radio France internationale has increased its hours of foreign broadcasting. The swedes have a service aiming at the Baltic states. And Deutsche Welle the German foreign broadcasting service has leased and adapted old jamming transmitters from the soviet Union to boost its signal into Asia. Radio free Europe makes an argument for its own future by broadcasting regular primers on democracy and free Market economics a strategy that has been welcomed by officials in Eastern Europe. The new leaderships in Poland Czechoslovakia and Hungary have All urged the United states to extend the life of radio free Europe describing it As an a a irreplaceable resource. At stake ultimately Are not advertising dollars but political and cultural influence. With a nod to the effectiveness of Western propaganda in the cold War decades Congress is studying a proposal for a new target a China. The idea for a radio free Asia like the european service is for a a a surrogate broadcast of news and commentary to China and other parts of the Region As if it were a Domestic station. A cliche though it May be information is what drives the world a said Eugene Pell a former network television correspondent who is president of radio free Europe and radio Liberty. A if you want your Point of View considered you be still got to find a Way to get it in front of  Battles Static about pulling the plug a British broadcasting corp. World service audience researcher right at work in Tanzania. By Tim Miles the associated press in the Marble Halls of broadcasting House Home of the British broadcasting corp. For nearly All of its 64 years unprecedented questions Are being asked. What is the bbl and what is it for now the worlds largest and most diverse Programmer bbl television gave the world Monty pythons flying circus and Kenneth Clarkes civilization. Bbl radio broadcasts to the world in 37 languages and kept soviet president Mikhail s. Gorbachev informed when he was held prisoner in his crimean Dacha during the attempted soviet coup in August. But the bbl dependent on a to License fee that is not keeping Pace with inflation faces financial pressures and Competition from new broadcasters. A the bbl has a major problem if it wishes to maintain its current Range of Public service broadcasting within a Static income a said Michael Check land the corporations director general. The by cd a Royal charter is up for renewal in 1996, and Check land has created a panel to review operations and Craw up a plan for the bbl for the next Century. The panel will announce its initial proposals this summer. Check land retains a bullish vision of by cd a role at the heart of British broadcasting. A if Britain is to have a Strong broadcasting Industry it must have a Strong Center. There is Only one Strong Center around and it is not going to be 15 Independent i to companies it is the bbl a he said. The bbl operates two to and five radio networks 37 local radio stations the International world service radio and world service to. The today morning news program on radio 4 is required listening and an important podium for Britain a news makers. The bbl has a staff of 25,001 and a budget of nearly $2.5 billion. It also has critics some of them in parliament who believe the bbl does Many things that might be done As Well by private broadcasters. A was More commercial broadcasting comes on Stream i cannot see the justification for the bbl to carry the amount of broadcasting it does at the moment a said Roger Gale chairman of the conservative party a informal Media committee in the House of commons. He believes the bbl should dump soap operas such As East Enders and neighbors and Chat shows such As Wogan and concentrate on one Public service to Channel and one radio station carrying news sports films and documentaries. A Why should the Public pay through the License fee to have so called Public service broadcasting which Isnit really Public service at All and which is duplicated by commercial to a Gale said. Chartered As the a National broadcasters in 1927, the bbl is mainly financed by License fees paid by everyone in Britain who has a to set. Home Secretary Kenneth Baker raised the annual fee this year by $10 to $130, an increase of 3 percent less than the rate of inflation. A government commissioned report by the accounting firm Price waterhouse identified potential savings of More than $337 million in the by cd a budget. The bbl had already planned to Cut spending by $126 million by 1993, but the reductions have been accelerated. More than 3,000 jobs will be eliminated in the by cd a network television operation in London. The corporations introspection is not prompted by Belt tightening alone. The broadcasting world is changing. New broadcasters Are bidding for franchises to run the commercial to stations that make up one of Britain a Independent channels and another inde pendent Channel is to be created. In addition three new commercial radio networks will provide the first National Competition to the by cd a radio networks. The bbl faces further erosion of its share of the broadcasting Market because of the steady growth of satellite and Cable channels in Britain which will accelerate in 1993 when Trade barriers within the european Community come Down. The justification for funding the bbl by a License fee is that most people watch and listen to it. The by cd a share of the television Market is Down to 48 percent compared with 52 percent for it though More than 90 percent of britons tune in to some bbl broadcasts every week. Right Wing free Market critics have Long criticized the License fee and what they see As the by cd a entrenched near monopolistic Power. The bbl they say should be broken up and funded by advertising or possibly by subscription pay per View to. Even the left leaning Institute of Public policy research has advocated abandoning the License fee in favor of annual appropriations from the government. Check land dismisses that out of hand saying the annual budget Battles would make Long planning impossible. And he says that pay per View would be inappropriate for a general to service going to 20 million Homes. Quot no doubt the bbl will have to adjust its definition of Range a he said. A but what it wont adjust is its definition of Quality. It has to be High Quality programming in the areas that we decide to  Page 6 a sunday May 3, 1992