Do you think that's likely to happen? So just on the

reporting line, I mean, I think the BBC were clear with me yesterday that the Director of News will report to Matt Britton, the Director General.

They will obviously, I think, work quite closely with Rodri as well, the Deputy Director General.

I think it's interesting that the BBC has yet to commit to Rachel having a seat on the board.

That may happen once the Nominations Committee swings into action, but...

They haven't completely ruled it out at this point.

But at the moment, Rachel does not have a place on the board.

Oh, yeah.

... can I just jump in? You're saying you're unnerved by it, but wouldn't it be strange if the Culture Secretary was offering us a running commentary on, on negotiations which are ongoing?

Uh, look, I, I, I accept that.

I think that's true that clearly there are talks that go on behind the scenes, and, and it's probably appropriate that they, um, uh, they have some level of, uh, confidentiality.

But equally, I think it would be useful to have some sort of sense as to where these talks are going.

I mean, the BBC has been very clear that it thinks that the license fee is outdated.

In fact, Matt Brittin called it a busted flush.

Um, and, uh, the government has ruled out some things.

And Jake, from your perspective talking to people, how are these cuts landing with the public and indeed with BBC staff?

in? You're saying you're unnerved by it, but wouldn't it be strange if the Culture Secretary was offering us a running commentary on negotiations which are ongoing?

I accept that.

I think that's true that clearly there are talks that go on behind the scenes and it's probably appropriate that they they have some level of confidentiality.

But equally, I think it would be useful to have some sort of sense as to where these talks are going.

I mean, the BBC has been very clear that it thinks that the licence fee is outdated.

In fact, Matt Britton called it a busted flush.

And the government has ruled out some things.

From your perspective, talking to people, how are these cuts landing with the public and indeed with BBC staff?

And kind of all those three things being the very very public value elements of what the BBC does and maybe separate that away from some of the entertainment side.

The thing I love about what you're talking about here, these are big ideas and there is a complete absence of some radical thinking in these discussions at the moment.

The government is talking about, like, evolving the licence fee.

That seems to be the preferred route and the BBC itself has said that's probably not good enough.

And what I would like to hear more from the BBC is some of these radical ideas.

I mean, they're not going to talk about carving off some of their own operations.

It's just not going to happen.

There's something there about them all working much more closely together.

[laughs]

[laughs] I think i-it's, it goes slightly deeper than just replacing actors.

I think it speaks to anxiety around the fact that, uh, artistic, human artistic creative endeavor could be jeopardized by AI because, um, the craft that goes into producing a film cannot be matched by prompting an actress to, uh, perform in a certain way and, and, and read certain lines.

And I think it has sparked huge conversation.

I think that's been for good in some ways because the industry needs to be transparent about these things.

It needs to be talking to itself about what the right guardrails are, uh, for, for artificial intelligence.

But I also think it's had a slightly damaging effect because I think the industry has responded so strongly to it that actually there is not the transparency happening.

But you're saying that actually-- Well, tell me, are filmmakers and studios embracing it but not being transparent about it? Is that what you're saying?

It's been billed as Sky taking over ITV, but is that really correct?

Well, I mean, it, it absolutely is Sky taking over ITV.

It's not Sky taking over the entire business of ITV.

ITV is essentially two units.

It's, uh, the kind of traditional linear television networks and its streaming service, and then a giant production company called ITV Studios.

Uh, Sky is acquiring the network and streaming side of the business.

And Sky was founded by Rupert Murdoch, has grown dramatically over many, many decades, and, uh, was bought by Comcast, which is a, a giant American telecoms company, in 2019.

What would it mean for the UK's other terrestrial commercial broadcasters, Channel 4 and Channel 5?

Anyway, are the European companies loosening their budgets? Are European customers still cautious about, for example, richer messaging services? What's the difference? You asked Europe.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think I see a lot.

So my career and background is mostly in North America, actually, mostly in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, working with some of the largest companies in the world.

I also spent time covering our financial services and health care sectors.

And I'd say in those two industries in particular, there's not a huge amount of difference.

Right.

what memory could change in the AI conversation?