A Future for Public Service Television: Content and Platforms in a Digital World

News

SUBMISSION: Pluralism Needs to be Viewed in Terms of the Range, Form, Purpose and Tone of Programmes

The Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) submits to the Inquiry its recently published Media Audit for 2015. It raises concerns over the decline in spending on television programming for Wales, emphasising that this decline is particularly severe for English language television content produced for the audience in Wales. This is an issue as ‘pluralism needs to be viewed not just in terms of the number of providers, but also in terms of the range, form, purpose and tone of programmes and the voices they carry.’ One of IWA’s recommendations, therefore, is for the BBC to ‘create a funding and commissioning system that devolves a significant tranche of network funding so that commissioners in the nations can have the freedom to bring other cultural perspectives to bear, to improve ‘portrayal’ and so diversify the output.’ Below are links IWA’s Executive Summary – English Version, Welsh Version and IWA’s response to Clementi’s Review.

IWA_Executive Summary

IWA_Executive Summary_Welsh

IWA-Clementi-submission

IN THE NEWS: Des Freedman – Interview on U105

Des Freedman, the Inquiry Project Lead, talks to Frank Mitchell about the remit of the Inquiry, on Monday 4th April 2016. Listen again here.

SUBMISSION: Television Industry in Northern Ireland Suffers from a Significant Lack of Investment

Bernard J. Mulholland offers a short submission in which he argues that an overall failure of investment into Northern Irish television and film industry makes it comparatively disadvantageous to other regions of the United Kingdom. There is a strong case to be made, Mulholland asserts ‘that the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA) should collect the television licence in NI and use these monies to set up our own indigenous NI state broadcaster.’ Read the submission in full here.

IN THE NEWS: UTV’s local shows ‘will not be lost under new owners’

by Margaret Canning, Belfast Telegraph

Media commentator Don Anderson said he believed ITV, which snapped up UTV in a £100m deal, would value local shows. Mr Anderson, author of 50 Years Of UTV, spoke after Lord Puttnam, who is heading up an inquiry into the future of public service broadcasting, said he feared for the future of local shows under ITV’s stewardship.

Puttnam, the producer of classic movies such as Chariots Of Fire and The Killing Fields, and who has also held senior positions in broadcasting, said his experience as a director at Anglia Television suggested locally-made programming could be at risk.

Under a licensing deal with telcoms watchdog Ofcom, UTV in Belfast currently broadcasts four hours of news and two hours of other content a week, with the rest of its schedules filled with content from ITV.

Ofcom is currently carrying out a change of control review to ensure UTV continues to abide by the terms of its licence.

Lord Puttnam, who now lives in Skibbereen in Co Cork, was a director of Anglia from 1982 to 1998 during a period when it became part of the wider ITV corporate family.

He said that takeover had resulted in the immediate erosion of local programming.

“I really hope the same thing does not materialise in Belfast, and the media must ask the right questions to ensure that doesn’t happen,” he added.

“Forget all the economic arguments and think: ‘Will your region and your people be better represented, and will it have good job opportunities in the long-term?’

“I think the short answer has got to be – looking at what happened in all the British regions – a big no.”

Lord Puttnam also told how he had visited Havelock House during his time at Anglia. “I always felt it was being run by people who wanted what was best for the local community,” he said.

SUBMISSION: BBC Should Provide a Whole Range of Content Across Different, New and Emerging Media

The submission by the Campaign For Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF), originally formulated in response to the BBC Charter review, continues to raise issues regarding the future of the BBC. For public service television to thrive, CPBF argues, ‘there should be thorough review of the current legislation governing the regulation of communications, particularly the Communications Act 2003. The goal of regulation in this area should be three-fold: (a) to support the development of public service communications across all platforms and insulated from commercial pressure (b) the development of diverse range of commercially funded outlets with clear public service obligations and (c) a root and branch reform of the system of governance across all communications.’ Read CPBF’s submission in full here.