Introduction and summary
About this document
1.1 Ofcom’s report on Phase 3 of its Review of Public Service Television Broadcasting (PSB) was published on 8 February 2005. It included a consultation paper on a range of issues related to the provision of dedicated programming and services for the Nations and Regions of the UK.
1.2 Following publication of this paper, we undertook a wide-ranging consultation across the UK. The consultation took place from 8 February to 19 April 2005, and included:
- stakeholder meetings in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland;
- a series of individual meetings with key organisations;
- further detailed analysis of some of the policy options set out in the consultation paper; and
- more than 125 written submissions to Ofcom from a wide range of individuals and organisations, including broadcasters, government departments, statutory bodies, community groups, trades unions, Ofcom’s own advisory groups and panels, professionals working in the television industry, members of the public, and schoolchildren.
1.3 This document contains the outcomes of that consultation. It describes the feedback we received on the Phase 3 consultation paper; our consequent decisions on those areas in which Ofcom has direct decision-making responsibility; and our final recommendations on a range of other issues relevant to PSB, but on which Ofcom does not have direct or sole authority.
Summary of decisions and recommendations
1.4 We will implement our core Phase 3 proposal, that minimum requirements for regional news and non-news programmes should be standardised across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, at 5.5 hours per week and 4 hours per week respectively.
1.5 We will introduce a range of measures to support sustainability of these requirements in the short term, including exemption of national licensees from paying for network programmes they do not broadcast, relaxing guidelines on coproductions and (in Scotland) allowing the two licensees to share all their non-news programmes. To create more scheduling flexibility, we will also allow the National licensees to show regional current affairs in place of some network current affairs.
1.6 When the first UK region achieves switchover, we will make a further reduction to minimum non-news requirements, to 0.5 hours per week in the English regions, as proposed in Phase 3.
1.7 When the first UK region achieves switchover, our current intention is to reduce minimum non-news requirements in the Nations to three hours per week. However we will review the sustainability of this requirement again at the next PSB Review (or before the first region achieves switchover, whichever is the sooner), in light of the available evidence about the economic viability of non-news programming at that time.
1.8 We recommend that dedicated digital services are the most effective way of meeting the needs of Welsh, Gaelic and Irish language speakers. However we also believe that alternative ways of engaging these audiences – exploiting the interactive and on-demand capabilities of digital technology – should be developed. The introduction of elements of contestable funding to the provision of indigenous language services may, in the longer term, support plurality in this area of public service broadcasting, and help provide access to new providers with new ideas. We invite further debate about whether and how this should be achieved.
1.9 The BBC and S4C in Wales should develop a new relationship driven by three core principles: transparency, financial commitment and editorial control. We welcome the constructive steps already taken by both broadcasters to develop such a relationship, and support the BBC’s proposals to establish a new Strategic Partnership between itself and the S4C Authority. However in certain respects we feel that more could be done to ensure that S4C has effective control over the nature of its service, its programme strategy and the direction of investment. The overarching goal should be to ensure that accountability for the S4C service, and the powers needed to carry out its strategy, clearly rest with the S4C Authority.
1.10 Longer term, consideration should be given to alternative funding models for Welsh broadcasting based on contestability, including a review of the possibility of a Welsh Public Service Publisher funded partly by a transfer of the portion of licence fee revenues spent by the BBC on Welsh broadcasting.
1.11 Sufficient funding and in-kind support for a Gaelic digital channel could now be secured from a number of sources. We recognise the BBC’s vital role in supporting the Gaelic language over many years and concur with other stakeholders that it would be the preferred broadcast partner for any new channel.
1.12 Given the potential for a new digital channel, SMG’s role should now begin to switch from being one of the main broadcast providers of Gaelic programming to providing support for the new service and establishing an analogue ‘shop window’ for it, alongside the BBC’s continuing analogue contribution. SMG should make a significant cash-and-kind contribution to the new channel, in return for reductions to its broadcast commitments, in particular initially to its requirement to broadcast Gaelic programmes in peak time. Over time its other Gaelic obligations should gradually be removed, subject to Parliament agreeing the necessary changes to primary legislation.
1.13 The ultimate goal for Irish language speakers should be a dedicated digital service broadcasting to all viewers in Northern Ireland. The main Irish language public service channel in the Republic of Ireland, TG4, would currently appear to be the obvious vehicle for such a service. Consideration needs to be given as to whether and how it might be possible for TG4 to continue to be broadcast in Northern Ireland after switchover.
1.14 However it is not appropriate for the provision of services from the Republic of Ireland to be the whole of the solution to Irish language broadcasting in Northern Ireland. Other options should be examined, including an enhanced relationship between the BBC in Northern Ireland and TG4, for example involving greater use of coproductions. There may also be scope for an expanded role for the Irish Language Broadcast Fund and for enhanced new media services, especially those relating to news and current affairs, pre-school children, school pupils and drama.
Responses to other issues relating to broadcasting in the Nations and Regions
1.15 In addition to the issues on which we were consulting, some respondents referred to other elements of our longer-term vision for broadcasting in the Nations and Regions. Although not strictly part of the consultation, we have summarised these responses here.
1.16 On local TV, many respondents expressed their support for our intention to carry out further work on the future of digital local TV. Some felt that local services provided a more dynamic and compelling prospect than regional television, and urged us to explore ways to transfer resources from regional broadcasting to more local services (for example, making regional airtime on ITV1 available to local providers). These are interesting proposals, although we do not feel as yet that local TV has proved its potential sufficiently to warrant such a radical intervention in the TV market.
1.17 As previously stated, we will carry out further work on the prospects for local TV and consult on our proposals later in the year. We note that the BBC is developing a pilot of its own local television service in the West Midlands, and welcome its offer to share its evaluation data with Ofcom to contribute to our own work.
1.18 Respondents also welcomed our proposals to improve the dispersal of network production more widely around the UK. Many agreed that the Nations were under-represented in current network programming, and one or two argued that without quotas little progress would be made. We remain of the view that voluntary action is preferable and believe that ITV has already begun to take steps to improve the dispersal of production. We will continue to monitor progress before a further review in 2007, which will consider the introduction of quotas if progress has not been achieved.
The full document is available below