BBC's dominance remains despite recent setbacks

"How big should the BBC be?" is the 21st century equivalent of the rhetorical question "how long is a piece of string?" With a licence fee set at around £3 billion (Dh16.4 billion) , the corporation has been able to spread its wings across a vast amount of the media market.

The BBC has tackled an issue that has been stalking the corporation for the best part of a decade with its strategic review. It is a tide that has risen very slowly but inevitably.

Suddenly we are at action stations with director-general Mark Thompson taking brisk charge of the bailout operation, suggesting that the BBC would focus on "five" key areas: journalism, music, culture, drama, comedy, children's programming and events. Which is more than five, but perhaps this is a trick of BBC downsizing, to announce five areas and pick seven.

Certainly, the shocking outcome of the BBC strategic review is that the casualties are two radio stations, 6 Music and Asian Network.

Good housekeeping

The news that the BBC is also to slash its web presence looks like a dramatic retreat from an expansionist strategy, but it's just good housekeeping.

The BBC does appear to be bowing to political and lobbying pressure. But despite its misjudgments, the public instinctively values what the BBC does above the collective output of all the former. But the pruning carried out by Thompson's team, while politically motivated, will also suit the BBC's long-term strategy.

It is clear that by introducing extra channels such as 6 Music on the radio and BBC3 and 4 on the television, the corporation has absolved its main broadcast outlets of featuring the more differentiated programming, which sets it apart from commercial rivals. Comedy and documentaries can thrive on BBC2, and supported by the growing power of the iPlayer, make the need for more channels redundant.

With dominant broadcasting outlets like BBC1 and 2 and Radio 1 and 2, a brilliant on-demand service and an archive that will be increasingly available to all, the BBC not only does not need so many channels, but the cost of supporting and marketing them is becoming a distraction from making programmes.

Thompson is the man who, even before becoming director-general, articulated a vision of the BBC's multichannel future. But the world has changed quicker than Thompson or anyone else could have predicted. Instead of scattered brands across the web, mass audiences have coalesced around the one or two vital and best services that meet their immediate needs.

The BBC might look like it is in retreat, but it is perfectly placed to carry on being the dominant force in British media for the foreseeable future.