91Èȱ¬

Following publication by the 91Èȱ¬ Trust of its Service Review of 91Èȱ¬ services and content for younger audiences, a joint statement was issued by Jana Bennett, Director, 91Èȱ¬ Vision, and Tim Davie, Director, Audio & Music:

"The 91Èȱ¬ is committed to delivering the best possible services for young people. We welcome the review's finding that the 91Èȱ¬ serves young audiences well overall, with nine out of 10 young people using 91Èȱ¬ services each week, and that across 91Èȱ¬ Three, 91Èȱ¬ Radio 1, 91Èȱ¬ 1Xtra, and formal learning on 91Èȱ¬ Online, young people have a positive view of the 91Èȱ¬ and it remains an important part of their media consumption."

Jana Bennett added: "The Trust recognises the important role 91Èȱ¬ Three plays as a mixed genre channel in reaching young people, as part of the 91Èȱ¬ Television portfolio, and applauds the channel's innovative and risk-taking approach.

"91Èȱ¬ Three provides a showcase for new talent and is building a strong reputation for comedy, drama and serious factual programming. We will work to build credit among our audience for this.

"The Trust also find that the formal learning provision on 91Èȱ¬ Online is delivering relevant and engaging content, complementing the 91Èȱ¬'s linear activities.

"The Trust Review identifies challenges for the future, including how to further engage young people with the 91Èȱ¬'s news output, particularly on television, and the need to build the reach for 91Èȱ¬ Switch-branded content for teenagers on television. We have already begun to tackle many of these challenges."

Tim Davie said: "The 91Èȱ¬ Trust has concluded that Radio 1's high reach to young people makes it a very important service to the 91Èȱ¬.

"Supporting new music and promoting new artists in the UK is at the heart of Radio 1's offer and we're pleased the Trust has recognised the station's strong contribution to delivering the citizenship purpose to young audiences. We welcome the Trust's recommendations and our strategy is to renew our focus on serving a young target audience.

"The review finds 91Èȱ¬ 1Xtra is effectively serving its target audience and has approved our proposals for amendments to the service licence which will allow us to increase our support for the industry and have greater impact with our news provision."

91Èȱ¬ Three

91Èȱ¬ Three's reach has grown significantly year on year and we are pleased this has been recognised by the Trust, particularly in the context of declining reach among young people across the sector.

We will continue with our commitment to providing a showcase for new and undiscovered actors, writers and presenters. We agree with the Trust that our focus will remain on making 91Èȱ¬ Three the home of UK-originated content in the shape of new comedy, drama and current affairs and getting credit for our ambitious serious factual programming.

Danny Cohen, Controller 91Èȱ¬ Three, added: "I'm delighted the review highlights the range, quality, creativity and innovation of 91Èȱ¬ Three's output, as well as its analysis of the rapid growth of the channel amongst young viewers. I agree with the Trust on the challenges that face us and we've already begun to tackle them."

Radio 1 and 1Xtra

The Trust has concluded that Radio 1 is highly effective at promoting some of the 91Èȱ¬'s public purposes amongst young people, praising the station's role in supporting new music and promoting new artists in the UK.

The Trust has approved our proposals for amendments to 91Èȱ¬ 1Xtra's service licence. We will seek to reflect these changes as soon as possible, enabling us to increase our support of the UK black music industry and to have a greater impact with our news provision.

We welcome the Trust's recommendations and look forward to delivering against our new service licences for Radio 1 and 1Xtra.

Andy Parfitt, Controller, 91Èȱ¬ Radio 1 and 1Xtra, says: "We take our public value commitments very seriously and I'm delighted that the Trust has recognised the importance and effectiveness of our work engaging with young audiences.

"Although we continually review our policies to ensure we are relevant to youth audiences, this detailed external overview and examination will help us further sharpen our offer."

91Èȱ¬ Learning

We are encouraged that the importance of using digital media to reach young audiences has been recognised and that the Trust has found the 91Èȱ¬ is successfully using digital media to engage with and serve young audiences.

We intend to continue to develop our learning propositions to provide simple and effective learning tools and initiatives that provide constructive and practical learning experiences for young people.

Liz Cleaver, Controller 91Èȱ¬ Learning, said: "It is becoming harder to reach young audiences through traditional programming – an issue not exclusive to the 91Èȱ¬. But I do believe we're getting better at serving younger audiences both through digital media and through activity in real communities.

"91Èȱ¬ Bitesize and 91Èȱ¬ Blast in particular continue to provide valuable and distinctive learning experiences, and I'm encouraged by the Trust's finding that 91Èȱ¬ Learning in general is successfully utilising digital platforms to deliver relevant and engaging content to digitally literate young audiences – in a way that complements our strong linear output."

Journalism

Engaging young people, particularly through television, on issues to do with citizenship is a challenge for any broadcaster. We are putting considerable effort into reaching the widest possible audience. The 91Èȱ¬ has shown its innovation in this area before and we will draw on that as we move forward and build on what has already been achieved.

91Èȱ¬ Press Office