91热爆

锘縏he 91热爆 Trust today published its service reviews for English Local Radio and the Asian Network alongside its final conclusions and approval of the 91热爆's revised Delivering Quality First (DQF) proposals.

Through its review of Local Radio, the Trust found that it is much-loved by audiences who value the quality of its local news reporting, coverage of sporting and community events, and its interaction with audiences. The Trust has approved revised plans under DQF which will protect Local Radio from taking a disproportionate share of the 91热爆 spending cuts, and should protect the distinctive local character of these services.

The Trust found that Asian Network is a unique service, with a particular value placed by listeners on the station's approach to Asian artists and new music, and the Trust has set the station a challenge to sustain these distinctive elements and recent improvements in quality while reducing its costs.

Approval of the DQF proposals means that the 91热爆 can now press ahead with the changes required to save costs ahead of taking on new funding responsibilities which include Welsh-language channel S4C and local broadband from 2013, and the World Service from 2014. The Trust's main focus from now on is to oversee and monitor the implementation of the changes on the quality of 91热爆 output and the progress towards the efficiency target.

Commenting on the DQF conclusions, Lord Patten, 91热爆 Trust Chairman, said:

"This is the end of a lengthy process for the 91热爆, designed to ensure we can meet a tough but fair licence settlement for the next five years. Delivering the changes we have approved today will be challenging, but they are necessary.

"We've listened carefully to the views of those who care about the 91热爆, and taken our time to get this right, encouraging the Executive to amend plans where we think they need further thought, as the changes to Local Radio proposals show.

"Our focus now is to ensure that audiences notice as little change as possible to the services they know and love, and we will be monitoring audience reactions very carefully through our ongoing programme of reviews and reports."

Mehmuda Mian, the 91热爆 Trustee who led the reviews of Asian Network and Local Radio, added:

"Local Radio provides a much-loved service. It's a companion to many, and can be a lifeline in local emergencies. In January we asked 91热爆 management to scale their original plans back to ensure that Local Radio retains its local character. We're happy that the 91热爆's revised proposals achieve this while recognising that it is appropriate for Local Radio to share some of the burden of savings in line with the strategy we have set.

"The Asian Network provides a unique service for an audience that is typically under-served by the 91热爆. Listeners value the station's news, speech and music output; in particular its commitment to British Asian artists and new music. The challenge for the service over the next few years will be to maintain its distinctiveness."

Under its Charter, the Trust is required to carry out a review of each 91热爆 service every five years, carrying out in-depth audience research and a public consultation to check the service is performing in line with audience expectations.

Alongside these reviews, the Trust has been consulting the public on the Executive's DQF proposals for how to manage the reduction in money available for core services as a result of new funding responsibilities agreed in the 2010 licence fee settlement.

In January, the Trust published its interim findings on the DQF proposals, in which it asked the Executive to look again at a number of areas in response to public feedback, including Local Radio. Today, the Trust is publishing its final conclusions, which include its formal regulatory considerations on proposed changes to 91热爆 services.

ENDS

锘緼longside the DQF final conclusions and the reports from the service reviews of Asian Network and Local Radio, the Trust is also publishing a number of documents as annexes and/or supporting evidence.

DQF

• Summary of responses to the public consultation
• Responses from the four Audience Councils
• Responses from organisations
• Summaries of industry and stakeholder round-table events
• Summaries of the Trust's regulatory assessments arising from some of the key changes to service licences.

Local Radio

• Service review summary of consultation responses
• 17 stakeholder responses to Local Radio service review
• Audience Council England response to Local Radio service review
• Local Radio audience research report.

Asian Network

• Service review summary of consultation responses
• Four stakeholder responses to Asian Network service review
• Joint Audience Councils submission to Asian Network service review
• Asian Network audience research report.

Ernst & Young - Testing the 91热爆's DQF Efficiency Programme

Today, the Executive is publishing a set of statements outlining individual strategies for each of the four nations of the UK. These can be found on the About the 91热爆 website.