[Community Television] comtv-l - ACTO - Summary

[local.tv at virgin.net]

Hi comtv-l

The following summary is being circulated on behalf of ACTO - the CMA 
members sub-group formed from the Community TV Group which met at the 
CMA's Glasgow AGM in November.

BBC Scotland announce that '81% of viewers want local TV news' 
(www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/aboutus) - meeting the demands of 'local' 
viewers for future television services

The newly formed Association of Community Television Operators (ACTO) – 
are community TV broadcasting and web-streaming members of the 
Community Media Association.

ACTO is convinced that there a “practical need to recapture the 
small-scale TV agenda" and address the prospects offered by the 
Communications Act 2003. The new communications regulator Ofcom takes 
responsibility for broadcasting and communications on 29th December 
2003.

ACTO propose that a network of local services can be established for 
digital terrestrial television – offering up to six distinctive TV 
channels in each area from up to 1154 transmitter sites across the UK 
currently being set-up for digital TV transmission.

These digital transmitters will be in place to provide digital TV 
before analogue TV is switched off in 2010. At this point four or five 
frequencies can be used from the analogue spectrum to add local digital 
channels from each transmitter site across the UK.

The ACTO proposal is for a cluster of six or so local TV services 
available from each transmitter across the UK, some would be commercial 
while some community or open access.

This is one of several radical suggestions called for in a shake-up of 
the top-down approach to public service broadcasting being released by 
ACTO to coincide with the media regulator Ofcom's start of a survey of 
the public's views on public service broadcasting.

ACTO are inviting Ofcom to create a distinctive tier of local public 
service broadcasting based on services provided by local and community 
television and radio channels which encourage community participation, 
ownership and civic engagement and which reflects public demand for a 
smaller-scale of TV service than is currently offered by regional and 
national TV.

When digital television – and a long way off digital radio - arrive 
there could be many highly specialized community of interest and 
geographic channels, answering local, educational, cultural and 
community needs: ACTO suggests these require local not national 
regulation and encouragement.

For the longer-term development of local digital broadcasting ACTO are 
suggesting Ofcom might explore the principle of subsidiarity in 
broadcasting – by devolving responsibility for broadcasting policy to 
those living directly within the footprint or cabled reach of the 
channel’s reception.

The development of civic and other local broadcasting services should 
come within the remit of independent Broadcasting Trusts set up to 
mirror the terrain of the new regions and nations. These might draw on 
the civic forums and regional arts and minority associations to provide 
a positive and enabling voluntary framework through which civic and 
arts broadcasting can prosper, develop, represent and encourage social 
equality and cultural diversity.

Provision for central funding has been made in the new Communications 
Act to support community radio and local digital television. ACTO 
suggests these local Broadcasting Trusts should be lean and mean 
charitable managers of this fund – a fund which might possibly be drawn 
and replenished from the licence fee and from top-slicing commercial 
broadcasting licences or other – as yet unidentified – government 
sources.

Representing small-scale broadcasters active in Scotland, Wales, 
Northern Ireland, London and South West England ACTO believes that the 
public’s call for local TV news is not a particularly Scottish 
phenomenon.

Dave