[Community Television] Local Television as Public Service Broadcasting

[local.tv at virgin.net]

Hi

The following paper was for 'City-television: Future Perspectives' held 
in Brussels 5th March - hopefully it might assist framing individual 
responses to Ofcom on their Annual Plan to be submitted by 11th March 
and also for responding as members of the public - on the scope of 
public service broadcasting. The easiest way to get your views over on 
PSB is to go to

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/content/thoughts

and to fill in the very, very short questionnaire.

In the questionnaire I suggest the main point to get across to Ofcom is 
that local and community television provides 'public service 
broadcasting' to 'local communities' - otherwise PSB will remain 
steadfastly thought of as 'national only'.

So it would very be useful to have individual representations made to 
Ofcom of how and why local and community TV is public service 
broadcasting - before the public consultation formerly closes.

Regards,


Dave Rushton

Copied because we can't attach it - so do please ignore if not really 
deeply/hugely interested in local and community TV (or bored rigid with 
me banging on about it)!!!!!!!

Brussels Talk – 5th March 2004

FIRST SLIDE

Local Television as Public Service Broadcasting

It is two years since a flurry of local terrestrial television channels 
peaked and then started to collapse in the UK. A small number of 
services are still running – holding onto the ambition. Once again the 
search is on for a route through new communications regulations to 
secure for the future a more permanent network of local digital 
television channels.

ADD Brief intro re DUNDEE and EDINBURGH – on importance of teletext

The search for a new role for public service broadcasting coincides 
with a serious option to propose a national local digital terrestrial 
television network in the roll out of digital television.

The spur to this enquiry in the UK has been the Communications Act of 
2003 and its creation of a new regulator to accelerate digital 
switchover and manage the convergence of telecoms and broadcasting by 
combining the functions of five separate regulators. The new regulator 
is called Ofcom and its priorities for the next year are being shaped 
by a series of public consultations, which began last month.

It remains to be seen whether the local TV lobby ACTO has sufficiently 
impressed the regulators for local television licencing to be resumed 
for analogue transmission and for the necessary work to begin on a 
frequency plan for a local digital terrestrial network – but that has 
been the goal.

Firstly though - how did the UK’s local television rise and then 
stumble badly?

Cable has never been a serious option for local TV in the UK – poorly 
regulated and with low reach it has by and large been a hostile 
environment.

In 1997 more than thirty organisations applied to the television 
regulator – the Independent Television Commission – for frequencies on 
which to run local television services for their areas. Where 
successful the applicants were offered licences to run local TV under a 
‘restricted services licence’ or an ‘RSL’.

At the same time as local television was arriving on frequencies in the 
analogue spectrum, arrangements were well under way to introduce 
digital terrestrial television on frequencies also being squeezed 
alongside the five main analogue television channels. This digital 
multiplex plan was a priority so whatever frequencies remained 
available for use for local television were limited and of low power - 
so there were mixed results for local television reception.

For a ‘national’ model of terrestrial television broadcasting it is 
irrelevant that a TV signal broadcast to (say) a big city like 
Manchester carries the same programmes as a signal reaching a smaller 
city thirty miles away (such as) Liverpool.

A second problem when transmitting television to towns and cities 
affected by hills is that several transmitters are required to reach a 
particular population in a town or city.

The problem of differentiation has not been thought to matter – until a 
demand for local television was identified.

Public service broadcasting traditionally represented its ‘universal’ 
appeal by not differentiating between viewers. By its nature local 
television seeks to address particular communities – populations living 
in cities, towns or distinct rural areas, language or minority 
communities. Where it is available cable provides the better prospect 
for tailoring a fit between service and viewers.

When analogue frequencies were offered to local television in the UK in 
1997 they had to fit in alongside the spectrum used for national and 
regional analogue and also the spectrum used to carry the digital 
terrestrial television channels.

POWERPOINT SLIDE HERE
• the local television signal must be transmitted from the site from 
which the TV audience is already receiving  its TV signals – for 
existing roof-top TV aerials to pick up the signal it must be the same 
site or at least in line of sight with the aligned transmitter site.
• the local television frequency must be in or close to the aerial band 
used by the existing TV services – in order for it to be received 
clearly.
•  the power of the local signal must not be significantly weaker than 
that of the prevailing TV signals – so the local signal is not swamped 
in comparison with reception of the other services.


The problems were not all of a technical nature and the renewed 
interest in a local digital network questions whether local television 
ambitions must be abandoned

A recent BBC Scotland journalism survey found that 81% of viewers 
wanted a more local television news service than was available from 
regional television. This finding confirms studies undertaken by the 
Institute of Local Television in the early 1990s and of the Henley 
Centre for Forecasting who found that the public were particularly 
interested in news that came from within approximately a five-mile 
radius of where they lived. Civic news and news relevant to viewers 
originates within a relatively small area – covering schools, 
workplace, local tax, politics, leisure and so on. It is in this local 
universe that we live our immediate political and social lives and 
fulfil a civic role.

In a paper published in 1993 I examined research conducted in 1976 by 
the Independent Broadcasting Authority – the then regulator of the 
regional independent television companies. The conclusion I came to was 
that the term ‘regional’ and ‘local’ were both used interchangeably by 
those writing the study, whereas it was less evident that regional and 
local had meant exactly the same to those being interviewed.

In the absence of a local television service, regional television is as 
local as it gets.

For the sake of brevity I will repeat the EBU definition: -

"That the system of public broadcasting in the Member States is 
directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs of each 
society and to the need to preserve media pluralism".

Ofcom has been charged with "maintaining and strengthening the quality 
of public service... broadcasting in the UK."

Channel 4 chief executive Mark Thompson suggested at an Oxford Media 
Convention in 2003 that:

"The dominant language of Ofcom is going to be the language of 
economics, competition and public policy rather than the historic 
language of public service broadcasting, culture and high culture.

"If we want to preserve and develop public service broadcasting as a 
cultural force, we have to find arguments and evidence that are based 
in the new language.

The real problems arise when it comes to delivering the cultural 
purposes of public service broadcasting. How do you measure the extent 
to which programmes educate citizens or 'facilitate civil 
understanding"?

Mark Thompson described these as "merit goods," programmes that have 
"positive secondary benefits over and above the immediate benefit they 
confer on the consumer."

"Thoughtful, inspiring television like this can jump categories and 
make real differences among the public... Public service broadcasters 
can be seen as engines to create as many merit goods as possible and 
across as wide a range of genres as possible. I certainly think this 
approach is preferable to one that restricts 'true' public service to a 
handful of hardcore traditional genres."

Local TV interests are arguing that local television be reintroduced as 
a public service broadcaster – with local service requirements geared 
to scale and reach. The ideal may be simply that as public service 
broadcasters an element of content should fulfill accepted criteria – 
as yet to be defined, which in turn would enable the service to access 
the community media fund. In all the local television services that 
have been running recently, there is a public service element – all 
encourage some volunteer and/or educational involvement. The general 
qualification for PSB status is that within each local universe – town 
borough, county or city - it is local TV which is well placed to offer 
participation by its viewers in their service – as managers, producers, 
programme contributors, trainers and trainees and as policy makers. The 
argument is that it is feasible at a certain scale of broadcasting – 
and in rural areas the scale is bigger than for towns and cities – for 
local television (and local and community radio) to address 
constructively a raft of social, cultural and media literacy issues and 
for viewers (and listeners) to meaningfully participate in the 
organization and implementation of their broadcast media.

OFCOM POWERPOINT SLIDE HERE

media literacy – a comprehensive (and surprisingly detailed) duty upon 
Ofcom. Elsewhere I have teased out what I think are potentially useful 
ways in which the local TV community might offer its services to help 
deliver a meaningful media literacy – one which includes an 
understanding of making broadcast media as part (or alternative) to a 
more sophisticated interpretation or understanding. That is – 
encouraging media writing alongside the media reading of existing texts.

Of greater interest (perhaps) is the idea in the media literacy 
paragraphs of the Act that the public should become aware of – and 
participate in – media regulation.

Here this suggests a possibility for subsidiarity – or for devolution – 
of media policy and regulation to smaller more local agencies – local 
to the area in which a broadcast frequency is used to deliver a 
service. One suggestion is that broadcasting should be regulated at or 
near its area of transmission, that regulation and policy should 
involve the stakeholders in the service, national, regional and 
ultimately local – each layer corresponding to the footprint of service.

community media fund – with the intervention of the Community Media 
Association this was successfully changed from an access radio fund to 
a community media fund – with an indication that local digital 
television would be able to receive funds from this source – when (or 
if) there are local digital television services.

Local authority broadcasting licences – for the first time local 
authorities can become licensees – of any broadcasting service. The 
interest among local authorities is low – but there is potential for 
alliances with local digital television.

Digital planning - general key role for Ofcom to ‘help drive forward 
digital switchover and broadband roll-out and competition’


LOCAL DIGITAL NETWORK
Taken together exploration of these issues and brought towards the 
conclusion that a network of local digital television channels are 
introduced as the digital multiplexes are completed and analogue 
progressively switched off.

Now this is a very big ambition. There are currently some 650 digital 
transmitter sites shared with their analogue counterparts – and this 
will be increased to over 1100 before the government analogue 
switch-off target of 95% digital coverage is achieved.

It is important that the mistakes made with the analogue RSLs are not 
repeated.

The local signal must be in band – in the same band as the prevailing 
digital multiplexes

The local signal must be of equal strength to the existing multiplexes

The local signal should be sited alongside the multiplex transmitters.

However, there is an important addition. For the efficient use of 
frequency – and the drive for efficiency is the drive to digital – each 
local television service will itself be a multiplex – not a single 
service, but six (or more) local channels.

In some parts of the country where there are big transmitters serving 
undifferentiated populations in half a dozen towns, cities or distinct 
city areas – then it is envisaged that all six services would be 
broadcast across the area – while only one of these channels may be 
particularly relevant to each area. There might be a mix of programming 
which differentiated six channels geographically at some parts of the 
day then shifted to provide six distinct minorities or community of 
interest services to reach minorities across the region at other times.

In other parts of the country – where a very local low powered relay 
transmitter is to be used – the six signals could provide a segmented 
service for most or all of their broadcasts. Here transmission would 
reach a small geographic community, but offer a variety of channels, a 
local music channel, educational service, community TV, open channel 
and local authority service.

As the planning for the digital multiplexes nears completion in some 
parts of the UK it is vital that planning for the introduction – or 
discussion of planning for the introduction – of local digital 
television gets underway.

There are, however, alternatives developing – in the one case to 
provide a transitional service upon which new broadcasters can cut 
their teeth, and in the other case – to seize on the convergence in 
capacity and character between broadcasting and broadband and to 
deliver television services as web-streaming.

To conclude – let us step away from regulated broadcasting altogether, 
throw our hands in the air in despair that the forces reigned against 
us have been insurmountable and intractable and look to alternatives …….

Broadband is one option, this is another ….

SHOW VIDEO CLIP

2.4TV POWERPOINT
The 2.4GHz frequency is recognized internationally as licence exempt 
for use at up to 10milliwatts. The Institute of Local Television has 
just completed a year long trial using this transmission and relay 
system to provide a low-cost low-powered TV service in Aberfeldy.

The e-tv service – or 2.4TV as its known is suited for delivering 
television to buildings with existing cabling to carry a TV signal to 
rooms or apartments – halls of residence, hotels and blocks of flats 
are the more obvious examples.

A service is planned for an estate in Leith in Edinburgh and other 
estates in south London are considering adopting this technology. We 
have introduced this as a ‘social franchise’ – the idea being that as 
training and experience is adopted in one location it can be passed on 
to its neighbour, that the simple engineering involved in setting up, 
adapting and extending each service rests with the community which 
adopts it. The Institute stays in the background – and is only involved 
to plug any gaps in knowledge – on kit assembly, regulations, mutual 
training etc. The technology is off-the-shelf and easily adapted and if 
it breaks down components can readily be replaced. 2.4TV has run 
uninterrupted for a year in Aberfeldy – offering a good TV and audio 
signal with teletext.

The 2.4GHz band offers the first chance for legal transmission without 
a licence. However, broadband offers the prospects of server based 
programming and web sites.

I will conclude with a paragraph from Chris Haydon a colleague at 
Southwark TV who is assisting neighborhood networks in London and in 
Cornwall.

“The new media digital territories open up a limitless opportunity as 
well as gloriously unregulated space. So my conclusion is that local 
television – that broad panoply of small-scale media must work 
together, that the opportunities from a local digital terrestrial 
network are enormous. The introduction of a truly local network would 
represent a revitalization of the public service broadcasting by 
connecting broadcasting to public involvement at all levels and in 
regulation and policy. Moreover, there are ways to start now – to begin 
that most engaging and illuminating process of seeing what you’ve done 
displayed on the TV in your house – and that that ‘interim’ process – 
may not be interim at all – that broadband may fulfill the aspirations 
of the unregulated to stay unregulated.”