UK commercial radio stations are attempting to force an investigation into BBC programme budgets.

They say they have the right under the UK’s Freedom of Information Act.

But the publicly funded BBC is refusing to reveal its financial data. It says it’s not legally obliged to do so under the 2000 FoI Act and that the information is commercially sensitive.

The Commercial Radio Companies Association’s complaint to information commissioner Richard Thomas seems timed to cause maximum harassment to the BBC as it negotiates with the government an increase in its licence fee.

The BBC says they are not a commercial company but they operate in a commercial environment so there are limits to what they can say. Unveiling the budgets would also reveal the BBC’s strategy to its competitors.

Commercial radio has struggled this year to capture audience share. Figures for the last quarter, ended September, were 43.5%. To add to the gloom advertising revenues are also sluggish.

The BBC, on the other hand, gained a record 54.6% of the UK audience in the three months to September.

(Data sourced from MediaGuardian.co.uk)