We are holding an inquiry event with special emphasis on the situation here in Northern Ireland next Monday, April 4, at 1pm. It’s being held at the Coleraine campus of Ulster University and has a great line-up of speakers including Michael Wilson (UTV), Margo Harkin (Besom Productions), Ian Kennedy (formerly with Creative Skillset), Pat Loughrey (former head of nations and regions at the BBC) and Colm Murphy (Ulster University).
The inquiry is crucial, because established habits are changing fast. For example, we’ve seen a significant decline in consumption, particularly among younger audiences, as well as the rise of new streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon, which offer alternatives to the established channels. In this volatile environment, Northern Ireland presents us with some specific challenges.
First, figures from the TV regulator Ofcom show that broadcast TV viewing appears to be falling faster here than in other parts of the UK, with a decline of 15 minutes a day – more than twice that of Scotland. It also appears that it’s the public service channels that have been hardest hit, given that Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK in which the share of viewing of these public service channels has fallen below 50%. A significantly higher proportion of respondents told Ofcom that they were watching fewer programmes on public service channels than anywhere else in the UK. Now, this may be because of the widespread availability of RTE services, but it is worth reflecting on whether our main channels are sufficiently attentive to the needs and interests of citizens in Northern Ireland.
Read the article in full in today’s Belfast Telegraph
According to Jeremy Tunstall (Emeritus Professor, City University) Arts, Children’s, Education, Science, Religion, National History and Current Affairs are ‘seven UK TV genres which have been, and still are, in relentless decline’ despite their traditional status as essential elements of UK public service broadcasting. As UK television has become much more market-driven and commercial, public service broadcasters are asked to do more with less money, with subscription services ‘increasingly creaming off selected high cost-and-prestige genres’ such as ‘quality popular’ drama. Read Tunstall’s submission in full here.
Listen here to this morning’s interview with Lord Puttnam on BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster, in which, amongst other issues, Lord Puttnam addresses a worrying audience decline for public service television in Northern Ireland. Our next Inquiry Event for Northern Ireland takes place on Monday 4th April 2016 in Coleraine, with the following speakers: Michael Wilson (UTV), Ian Kennedy (ex BBC and Creative Skillset), Margo Harkin (Besom Productions), Pat Loughrey (Goldsmiths, University of London and former Head of Nations & Regions, BBC) and Colm Murphy (Ulster University). The event is chaired by Maire Messenger-Davies (Ulster University).
- The event is free but registration is required on Eventbrite.
Teledwyr Annibynnol Cymru (TAC), which represents the independent TV production sector in Wales, argues for ensuring that independent TV companies are distributed across the country and embedded in their respective communities, so that they can reflect to the rest of the UK the stories, perspectives and ideas from their areas. This is particularly important, according to TAC, for those audiences and in areas where there is a disconnect. ‘The BBC and ITV have Wales-based services but this has not resulted in large-scale investment in production from across Wales… There is a failure to ensure that networks commissioners are a visible presence in the nation.’ Read the submission in full here.
Sir Lenny Henry has called for obligations on diversity to be written into the BBC’s new charter and reiterated his ambition to create a ring-fenced fund for content that reflects British society.
At the Goldsmiths University event, he argued that the lack of diversity in the industry was a “systemic failure” which could be eased through investment in representative content.
He highlighted the TV industry’s tendency to opt for BAME training schemes over other solutions, which he said “inadvertently creates the perception that the reason why BAME people are leaving the industry, the reason why our numbers are at their lowest in years, is because we’re not good enough”.
Broadcast, 23rd March 2016