The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) met on Friday, November 18 at BBG headquarters in Washington, D.C., with a focus on its strategic management of U.S. international broadcasting.
The Board received briefings on the Agency’s Performance Accountability Report and global audience estimate. In addition, broadcast executives updated the Board on programming and coverage issues.
On November 18 the BBG discussed a report by Deloitte Consulting LLP (“Deloitte”) about the feasibility of merging the three BBG “grantee” broadcasters — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) — into a single corporate structure, sharing a unified administrative and legal framework.
In the interest of openness and transparency, the Board is sharing the executive summary of that report. The Board has agreed to study the proposal further. No decision has been made at this time.
The Board commissioned the report following adoption of a new strategic plan that called for exploring a merger of the “grantees” as part of streamlining operations and improving editorial operations.
The Deloitte study included assessment of qualitative benefits and risks of integrating, as well as estimating savings and costs to implement.
Further, Deloitte developed a high level roadmap and potential timeline for the merger. Finally, Deloitte summarized the considerations related to the potential integration of Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuban Broadcasting (OCB).
The executive summary of the report is here. Comments and questions are invited. You can join the conversation at www.bbgstrategy.com.
Minutes of November 18, 2011 Meeting
Special Event On Demand Links
Windows Media Broadband On Demand Link
Windows Media Dialup On Demand Link
Windows Media Audio On Demand Link
MP3 Audio On Demand Link
RELATED DOCUMENTS:
Record of Decisions
2011 Grantee Consolidation Assessment (Redacted)
Minutes of the BBG Meeting of October 13, 2011
Broadcasting Board of Governors Grantee Merger Assessment, executive summary
Letter to the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Executive Admin Council regarding interference with broadcasting signals by Iran
The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency, supervising all U.S. government-supported, civilian international broadcasting, whose mission is inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. BBG broadcasts reach an audience of 187 million in 100 countries. BBG networks include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Marti).
For more information, please call the BBG’s Office of Public Affairs at 202-203-4400 or e-mail publicaffairs@bbg.gov.
