[Community Television] OFCOM Public Service Broadcasting consultations

[Joe Fortey]

I have just attended an all-day OFCOM consultation event in Plymouth
about the future of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) & I thought those
of you with an interest in community TV might want to hear more -
particularly as there are still two events to go, which some of you
might be able to attend (but you will have to be quick): Swansea on 19
February & Glasgow on 24 February.

See:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media_office/latest_news/nr3_20040126

Call OFCOM on 020 7981 3000 and ask about how to participate.

The event in Plymouth was apparently advertised in the local paper, but
I only heard about it just over a week ago, when I was checking out the
OFCOM website.  The event had attracted a fairly representative
cross-section of local people from Plymouth and the South West, but
nobody else (whether deliberately I don't know) with much background
knowledge of the issues of public service broadcasting, above and beyond
what anyone might be expected to know who watches a lot of TV.

I contacted OFCOM by email, asking to be part of the Plymouth event, but
initially received no response. Due to the looming deadline, after a few
days I contacted them by phone and they took my details and passed them
on.  Their Plymouth co-ordination team then contacted me to invite me.

I felt it was important to represent the case for community TV within
this consultation and I was curious to find out if community TV had been
included by the organisers as an option for those being consulted to
consider.

I found the event quite prescriptive.  Community TV and its potential
had not been considered at all by the organisers and only a limited
range of options were presented for how OFCOM might develop or take
forward public service broadcasting.  There was a substantial
over-simplification of complex issues, which I suppose was because it
was a consultation with an "uninformed" audience, but I feel this went
too far - it suggested OFCOM had pre-set agendas for how they wanted PSB
to progress.

The event included opportunities for people to question members of the
BBC and ITV about their PSB provision. This was good, but there was an
implicit assumption that PSB was limited to whatever the main
terrestrial broadcasters and cable companies could offer (SKY is
excluded from PSB remits, apparently).  Also, most of the questions that
were asked in the breakout sessions and the questionnaire, were based
only around the main five terrestrial stations and what these could
offer.

In spite of the limited options and the prescriptive facilitation of the
event, I was pleased that there were several good opportunities for
those attending to say what they thought in open-mic sessions, and much
of this was recorded on video. I duly did my duty in selling the virtues
of community and more localised TV broadcasting, suggesting that digital
terrestrial channels (via Freeview) could potentially be made available
for community TV access, allowing local / regional variation and were
perhaps the most promising option.

In addition to the open mic sessions, they provided opportunity for
participants to choose an "alternative" option to the (rather
prescriptive) three that were on offer and define what that alternative
should be.

These three pre-defined options were:
1) Exempt ITV and C5 from PSB regulations, but retain BBC & C4.
2) Retain PSB regulation at the same level for all terrestrial
broadcasters, but lower it, so there is less regulation than at present
3) Place PSB restrictions / regulations only on the BBC.
4) Something else - an alternative.

There was some discussion in breakout groups of the relative merits of
each option, but most people favoured the "alternative" option, with a
strong consensus for retaining existing levels of PSB commitments across
the board but to extend them with extra "specialist" channels, such as
community TV and to allow or encourage existing channels to specialise
in particular PSB requirements.

I found it telling that when most people voted for the "alternative"
option at the end of the event, they were then asked which of the
previous three options they would have voted for if the "alternative"
was not available!

Whether it was just the effect of my own comments earlier in the day, or
whether Plymouth people are really more community focused, one of the
facilitators from the research company running the event, told us he was
surprised how big an issue local and community broadcasting was in this
area, compared to the response they had received at the previous
consultation events.

I would suggest that if participants at previous events had not been
given the option of more localised TV or additional channels as a
solution to some of the problems and issues discussed, it is hardly
surprising that few of them had been thinking outside the box - if
people don't know the options, it is unlikely they will come up with
solutions given that most participants would not have had to consider
these issues before.

There are two remaining events, as I mentioned - I would urge anyone who
is available on those days and lives in those areas to contact OFCOM and
try to attend one or other of the meetings to put the case for community
TV within the PSB context.  As I discovered, of the cross section of
ordinary people attending the event, most were very much in favour of
the idea WHEN they had been given the opportunity to think it over.

Hopefully, the research company doing this work will now suggest the
community TV options at the remaining events, but it may be too much
hassle for them to alter their framework at this stage, so better if
someone can attend who knows the issues and can put the case to others
attending.

(by the way, as an unexpected bonus, I got paid £100 as an attendance
fee - considering there were about 70 participants attending, you can
work out what this must be costing OFCOM for all the events throughout
the country. It's public money fronted by the tax-payer, so you should
take the opportunity to go and have your say!)

Joe Fortey