BBC Charter Review, BBC Audience Council Northern Ireland Submission to the BBC Trust, December 2015

This paper represents the advice of the BBC Audience Council NI, on behalf of local audiences, on the BBC’s future as the government considers its new Charter. Our advice is rooted in our understanding of local audiences and the broadcasting landscape in Northern Ireland. It is informed, above all, by our rolling programme of audience engagement, which allows us to hear the views of local licence fee payers in all their diversity. The Audience Council has responded in two sections. The first relates to the questions that the government posed in its Green Paper in July 1 2015, as relevant to audiences. The second relates to BBC management proposals for the future BBC outlined in the document British, Bold, Creative. The scope of these consultations is very wide and we have tried to focus on what matters most to audiences, as distinct from stakeholders and the industry who are also represented in the consultation process.