[Community Television] [Fwd: CMA Council meeting January 2004]

[Bill Best]

I am resending this email to the comtv-l mailing list since it relates 
to Community Television but was originally sent to the general CMA-L 
list only.

With best regards

Bill Best
--
http://www.commedia.org.uk


-------- Original Message --------

Subject: CMA Council meeting January 2004

Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 18:24:06 -0000
From: Mary Dowson mary[at]bcb[dot]yorks[dot]com


Dear members

I am writing to inform you of the outcome of the CMA's recent council
meeting in relation to the workshop resolutions at last year's AGM.

The resolutions from the "Community Media Fund", "Community Media in
Scotland" and "Creating Distinctive & Connected Community Media"
Workshops were noted and will be fully discussed at the CMA's strategic
planning weekend in February.

The resolutions put forward from the "Building an Alternative Community
Television Network" required more urgent attention and this was
discussed in depth.

The first resolution called for the CMA to seek to continue the
Millennium Award scheme with the Community Channel as a broadcast
partner. The Council felt that this resolution fell within the CMA's
long term objective of setting up a grant making fund for the Community
Media sector and that this would be discussed further at the strategic
planning weekend.

The second asked if the Council would formalise a working group
comprising the workshop group and other co-opted members to work on
community television development. The Council decided it would not
formalise the workshop group that met at Glasgow because policy
proposals and discussions made to Ofcom should come directly from the
CMA, as the sector umbrella, on behalf of and in discussion with the
sector, not from a third party.

It decided therefore to set up a Community Television Working Group as a
sub group of the CMA council.

This working group will be established to investigate future strategy
for television. It will be co-chaired by two council members - Eleanor
Stephenson and Jane Mote. Mark Langdon has also agreed to sit on the
working group. The Council wishes to broaden the consensus of the group
and invites members involved in Community Television to join.

It is intended that this group will work virtually through e-mail and
telephone conferencing where possible to reduce the strain on already
busy members. No other working group has a mandate to carry out work on
community television on behalf of the CMA.

Finally, the workshop asked the CMA to write to Ofcom to ensure that
RSLs, the Community Channel and other community television broadcasters
be recognised as public service broadcasters.

The council agreed that the CMA's relations with Ofcom needs to be
conducted strategically by the leadership of the CMA with a coherent
cross sector approach. The CMA has therefore requested an early meeting
to discuss Ofcom's strategy regarding community media development and
the pressing need for a new initiative on community television.

To help the Community Television working group, and to assist CMA in
representing the concerns of all members who work in television, a needs
analysis questionnaire is being prepared which we would urge you to
complete. The information gathered in this questionnaire will help CMA
decide future strategies and priorities for community television and
start a mapping process that analyses community television
production and broadcasting in the UK. Your feedback on this is
important and we are aware that many television members were unable to
contribute to the AGM in Glasgow.

The Council was keen to highlight the amount of work already completed
to help progress the case of community television. These new measures
will strengthen our position further and ensure we are responding to
your concerns and needs.

The questionnaire will follow shortly,

best wishes

Mary Dowson
CMA Chair