As a national broadcaster, the BBC is the flagbearer for British content. And that content is supported and protected by its senior lawyer in the commercial rights and business affairs department, Kate Reid. As head of the digital legal team, Reid has played a key role in delivering the iPlayer, the Sounds app, BBC Online and the news and sports apps. She’s also been managing the commercial and legal implications on the BBC’s ongoing project of growing and finding new audiences. This has involved her team creating the first playbook on how to act responsibly when commissioning editorial that is delivered via gaming platforms, such as the Fortnite launch of the hit reality TV show The Traitors.
But for Reid, 2024 will inevitably be dominated by Gen AI. As the legal lead on the BBC’s AI project, and working closely with the corporation’s director of strategy, she spent much of last year investigating how Gen AI would impact relationships with suppliers, talent and contributors. One of her most important considerations is how to continue to prevent web crawlers scraping BBC content, thereby protecting the content funded by licence-payers. In 2024, Reid will be at the absolute cutting-edge of technology and public interest and play an important part of the dialogue between the BBC and tech companies to create a structured and sustainable approach.