LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) - Britain's government will askthe BBC's competitors to scrutinise the broadcaster's remit andscale, the government said on Sunday, after years of controversyover how it has been funded.
The BBC, the world's largest broadcaster, has longbeen criticised by government ministers and by its rivals forits dominance of British media.
Finance Minister George Osborne said earlier this month ithad become "imperial" in the scale of its online operations.
"You wouldn't want the BBC to completely crowd out nationalnewspapers, and if you look at the BBC website, it's a goodproduct but it's becoming a bit imperial in its ambitions," hesaid on the BBC's Andrew Marr show.
The BBC gets some income from allowing other broadcastersaround the world to show its dramas, documentaries and lifestyleprogrammes. But its main funding comes from households paying alicence fee, enforced by a system to detect who is watching livetelevision. Now many viewers watch online.
Culture Minister John Whittingdale said the eight-strongpanel would contribute to the review of the BBC's charter, whichis due for renewal next year.
It includes Dawn Airey, an executive at Yahoo and the formerCEO of Channel 5, Ashley Highfield, chief executive of localnewspaper publisher Johnston Press, and Alex Mahon,former chief executive of Shine, a TV production company ownedby Rupert Murdoch's Twenty First Century Fox.
"Each member of the independent advisory group bringsindividual skills, experience and expertise," Whittingdale said.
A government spokeswoman also said a preliminary paper ofproposals on the BBC would be published this week. She declinedto say what it would contain.
The Sunday Times said it would herald the largest shake-upof the corporation for a generation, including replacing theuniversal 145.50 pound ($225) licence fee and the scrapping of the BBC Trust regulator.
Last week the government told the BBC, already facing ashortfall in licence revenue, to meet the 650 million pound costof free licences for the over-75s.
In return, the government said it would be allowed to chargefor its online iPlayer service.
The BBC's Director General Tony Hall told the Observernewspaper that although he had secured a financial settlement,"we should be under no illusion that this is a period of highrisk for the BBC." ($1 = 0.6441 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
