The BBC looks like it might bow to critics’ cries of online expansionism by at least considering whether to cull some websites.

The regulating BBC Trust just announced a corporation-wide “strategic review”, to “re-shape” the corporation, will be conducted by director-general Mark Thompson. And the trust’s comments about online specifically could whet commercial publishers’ whistles…

“The trust recognises external concerns over scale and growth of BBC online operations. Equally, it’s an immensely popular service with audiences and an important tool for the UK economy. 

We have no intention of diluting BBC commitment to universal access to free news online. But, beyond that, we want to question honestly what licence fee payers really expect to get from their licence fee and what they might be surprised to see the BBC doing in the online world.

So the key questions from the Trust here are: 

—Beyond the core offer of news, sport, education, children’s and the iPlayer, which parts of the online service are essential to the BBC’s mission and which could be stopped? 

—In particular, where should the boundary be drawn between the online expression or extension of BBC programming and the creation of new online content with a less direct relationship to BBC programming?

—Could clearer boundaries help the online service to provide even greater depth and authority in core areas?”

Thompson and the trust appear ready to sharpen the knife, in response to growing discontent from some quarters (see James Murdoch’s Edinburgh Festival speech). A consultation will open after Thompson’s initial conclusions are published in the new year, giving commercial rivals the opportunity to pile in and call for all manner of sites to be stopped.

Last year’s main service review of BBC.co.uk by the trust demanded better management controls after the 2007/08 budget was overspent by 48 percent. But - though it called for better search, navigability and more third-party linking - the review concluded that BBC.co.uk ticks a swathe of Auntie’s core-purpose boxes.

The investment was “reasonable” and, at 13.8p per user per year, considered good value by licence fee payers, who rate it as high-quality, said the trust.

The British Internet Publishers Association (BIPA) had told the review that BBC.co.uk’s health, parenting, film, music reviews and Slink (fashion) sites overlap with sites already out there; the Newspaper Society said the same of local media, RadioCentre objected to BBC.co.uk’s podcasts and local content.

But the only closure the trust ordered was of BBC.co.uk’s external web search tool, and it added £30 million to the site’s budget.

Tell Thompson (in our comments): Which sites, if any, do you think exceed the BBC’s remit… ?