[cma-l] Local TV - consultation deadline 23 Sept
Steve Buckley
sbuckley at gn.apc.org
Thu Sep 22 22:52:45 BST 2011
Dear all
Earlier this month CMA and Sheffield City Council
hosted a national consultation event on DCMS
proposals for local television. Over 50
participants converged on Sheffield from as far
afield as Scotland, London and the South West.
The event was supported by CM Solutions, Cultural
Industries Quarter Agency and
Showroom/Workstation who are also working, as
part of a wider consortium, to develop a
Sheffield local television channel. There was a
strong consensus among those present that,
although the general commitment to develop local
TV should be warmly welcomed, the proposal to
require local TV channels to use a single
monopoly provider (MuxCo) for transmission should
be rejected. Instead the local TV channels should
be free to own and operate their own transmission
systems, in the same way that community radio currently does.
The deadline for comments to DCMS is Friday 23
September. Please join us and others in calling
on Jeremy Hunt to say No to the MuxCo monopoly.
Responses should be sent to: local.tv at culture.gsi.gov.uk
For those of you that missed the event or are
beavering away on a more detailed response to the
DCMS consultation, below is a summary of the
conclusions and recommendations and attached is a
copy of my presentation to the event.
Best wishes
Steve
//
Local Television Forum, Sheffield 6 September 2011
A national workshop for local television
stakeholders, hosted by the Community Media
Association and Sheffield City Council, with the
support of Showroom/Workstation, Cultural
Industries Quarter Agency and CM Solutions.
Summary of conclusions and recommendations
a. Content and market
- Similar to the community radio model we want
the licences to be framed by key commitments
they should be local licences, for local
communities, meeting local needs, supporting the
local economy, promoting citizen participation in
media, linking with other providers ,eg
hyperlocal websites, and encourage networking with other stations
- However training is done, it is this which
gives people the capability to participate and transferrable skills for life
- Concern about what kind of restrictions there
might be on how news is delivered in terms of requirements on balance
- Consideration should be given to some kind of
limit on profit to cap return on investment, for example CIC models
b. Distribution models
- A monopoly supplied or transmission services is
not to the advantage of local TV, there are a
range of potential services providers, costs are relatively affordable.
- Stations should have the right to establish
their own transmission system rather than be
dependent on a single multiplex operator
- Some local channels might want to resell the
spare multiplex capacity, e.g. to a shopping
channels to contribute to their sustainability. This should be permitted.
- Transmission sites dont need to be located on
existing transmission masts. There should be
flexibility to allow the local services to
identify alternative transmission sites
- Some local TV stations would not want
responsibility for transmission. They should be free to buy in services
- Cable is an important alternative transmission
medium. The government should assure that
negotiations with the cable operator are fair and
linked to a must carry obligation
- The capital investment should be available to
the local TV providers for investment that can
demonstrate contribution to sustainability (not
only the transmission infrastructure)
c. Costs and funding
- Local TV might not be commercially viable
without the back up of government in terms of loan or grant funding
- Advertising is considered a crucial revenue source to survive
- Government could also act as a guarantor for initial costs
- BBC could assist with audience measurement for local TV
- Costs could be reduced by federation and
cooperation between local TV providers bulk buying, bulk sales etc
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