The annual report of the BBC has been compared to that of disgraced US energy company Enron by MP Chris Bryant. He said that it was “just about the most complacent report I have ever seen.” Mr Bryant later apologised for his remarks following protests from the state broadcaster.
The tax funded media giant reported that it had suffered a loss of £299m because of investment in digital channels, expanded news coverage and Internet services. It’s spending on programmes of the licence fee that all British TV owners are obliged to pay directly to it was up £346m on the previous year. At the end of the year it had turned a cash balance sheet surplus of £285m into a deficit of £74m.
BBC director-general Gregory Dyke said that the corporation’s governors did not accept the legitimacy of what he described as widespread allegatons of political partiality.