[cma-l] DCMS Consultation

[Phil Shepherd]

Dear Marilyn and Bill

Thanks to both for bringing our attention to this pressing DCMS consultation
and for also ensuring that we don't lose sight of the bigger picture, as we
are drawn by what is of course a government exercise!

The DCMS 'Consultation on Community Radio' document specifically and
exclusively  'seeks views on community radio funding'.  The two questions
Bill has circulated today are the two questions enshrined in the document.
However limited they may appear for those of us engaged in this work, they
are the ones we have to work with.

I know I can speak for staff and Council when I offer that CMA is totally
conscious of the pressing need to promote local and community TV as a vital
element in public service broadcasting.  The United for Local Television
campaign group (of which CMA is a part and Northern Visions a leading
player) is doing fantastic work right now in progressing that message to
government, industry and regulator.  This campaign too needs all our support
in winning the arguments.

The Community Radio consultation  being undertaken by DCMS demands a
particular response.  The consultation was promised by the department when
the fund was established and was always going to focus on radio, where there
are pressing needs around sustaining the established and emerging licensed
radio operators.  We would want to add in the needs of the many other sound
based projects beyond the licensed regime (as well as TV), but right now
they are not the focus of government attention, in this context or indeed in
most others.  

What DCMS wants to know right now is whether the licensed radio sector in
particular sees value in strategic deployment of the (extremely limited)
community media (currently radio) fund.  Strategic that is beyond simply
making grants to individual stations, strategic work being undertaken on the
whole sector's behalf by CMA being the pertinent example.  This is of course
an important argument for all of us (not just licensed stations) to
contribute to, not just for the immediate health of the radio ecology but
also for the cross platform community media environment we seek.

It's never a bad time to keep our goals in sight and to keep flagging them
up, hopefully we can progress our wider vision while also addressing the
particular demands of this exercise.

All power to all community media! Please do respond to DCMS (using the
online form or by any other means) - before the end of next week!  Friday
June 6 is the deadline.

Best wishes

Phil Shepherd
Chair of CMA Council
Somerset Film
The Engine Room
Bridgwater