By Joey Gardiner, 28 May 2002 17:02
NEWS The BBC has rejected claims the UK e-learning industry will be decimated by its plans to pump £150m into its own Digital Curriculum service. On Friday, the BBC applied to the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport to create a new public service of online learning resources for schools. It plans to become a key part of the "Curriculum Online" launched by the government late last year. However, the country's nascent e-learning industry has cried foul, saying the industry will be destroyed if the BBC is allowed to steamroll its way into the market with millions of licence-payers' money. The industry called for a judicial review of the situation. However, the BBC today countered that allegation. A spokeswoman for the organisation said: "We are very disappointed the industry has taken this attitude. We feel the BBC has an essential role to play in the future learning of this country - we can make a big investment in future generations." She added that the BBC would be barred from providing more than 50 per cent of the content for the government's plans. And of the content it does produce, at least half will have to be contracted out to the industry. She said: "We think the BBC's presence will encourage user confidence in the new market and will actually grow the industry." The e-learning industry is not the only industry to have been upset by the BBC's licence fee-sponsored largesse recently. Search engine firms have voiced concerns about plans to launch an "unbiased" BBC search engine in conjunction with Google.
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