THE BBC must embrace the sweeping changes of the media world if it is to survive. That was the message of Alan Yentob, the BBC's Director of Television, to an audience in Oxford.

Mr Yentob, responsible specifically for BBC1, BBC2 and the BBC's new digital services, says the media world has become multi-faceted and changed beyond all recognition.

And in a speech to the Oxford Union, he spoke of the conflict between public sector broadcasting surviving in a commercial world.

He said: "There is a revolution happening. Habits are changing and barriers are coming down. The Internet is changing everything. When I first started my career there were only a few doors to knock on but now the media is a massive industry.

"We must think what the BBC's role will be in this changing world."

He remembered the time his family bought their first TV set in 1950. "It was a glorious creation made from walnut. It sat in the corner, underneath a pot plant, and was treated more like a piece of furniture.

"Everything has changed since then. It is all happening so quickly. The possibilities of modern technology are awesome."

Services such as the Internet news service BBC On-line, believed to be the most popular website in Europe, have brought the BBC into the technological age.

And under Mr Yentob the BBC has clinched its own merger deal with the American-based documentary channel, the Discovery Channel.

Top-level talks went on for more than 18 months to hammer out a deal which would benefit both organisations. Discovery bosses wanted to expand outside America but they knew their main competitor in providing documentaries would be the BBC.

By teaming up with the BBC, Discovery will be able to eliminate the competition and the BBC will have a huge injection of cash.

Mr Yentob said: "We each had to understand the others cultural prejudices before we could finalise the deal. But it means we will make the history programmes we want and this will ultimately be in the licence-payers interest. "Things are changing very fast but we must not lose sight of what people want and what people care about."

Though people are suspicious of the benefits that services such as digital TV will bring them, once the changes are in place they will probably wonder how they ever lived without them. The same was true when video recorders were first introduced.

The nature of public sector broadcasting means the BBC need not bow entirely to commercial pressures.

But one development it has been unable to cope with has been the level of competition to cover sport. The BBC has lost out on major events, notably Test cricket and top football matches.

Nevertheless, Mr Yentob defends the decision to cut coverage on the grounds of cost. He says the price for covering events such as Premier League matches has spiralled out of of control.

"When the next contract for Premier League coverage comes up it will cost £5m a match. It cost £3.5m to make the adaptation of Pride and Prejudice screened a few years ago. Make your own judgement."

Story date: Thursday 17 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.