[Community Television] CMA Local and Community Television Research Project (Modified by Michelle McGuire)

[Chris Hewson]

--- PLEASE FORWARD ---   (Apologies for Cross-Posting)

***WANTED: VIEWS ON THE FUTURE OF LOCAL TELEVISION***

The Community Media Association, in association with the University of  
Lincoln, has commissioned an update of Simon Blanchard’s CMA/AHRB  
report: “A Third Tier of Television: The Growth of ‘Restricted Service  
Licence’ TV in the UK – Trends and Prospects” (2001). The remit is to  
expand upon, as well as update, Blanchard’s original findings.

The report, provisionally entitled “Local and Community Television in a  
Digital World”, will be geared towards a fortification of the CMA’s  
policy base, as they seek to develop a coherent ‘sector-wide’ approach  
to underpin forthcoming contributions to DCMS and OfCom initiated  
consultation processes – particularly around the development of a  
‘Local Digital Television Order’, the securing of digital spectrum for  
local television services, and the continued development of  
media-centred community regeneration programmes.

ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE WELCOME – to be received (preferably) before  
Friday October 22nd, so they can be included in the report’s first  
drafting, and be included within ongoing strategic discussions.  
Contributions will be treated (on request) with the degree of  
confidentially stipulated.

A summary of the research is included below. Feel free to contact me.

Chris Hewson (c.hewson at lancaster.ac.uk)

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LINKS

Community Media Association - www.commedia.org.uk

CMA/AHRB Report - www.bftv.ac.uk/projects/thirdtier.htm

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LOCAL AND COMMUNITY TELEVISION IN A DIGITAL WORLD

RESEARCH BRIEF

This report foregrounds the vital role which LCTV stakeholders must  
play in ongoing debates around media reform and regulation – arguments  
centred around competing visions, and definitions, of ‘converged  
media’. It will argue that a clear understanding, and vision, of social  
and technological change, within an increasingly networked media  
ecology, is imperative, in order that the LCTV sector might develop  
robust policy positions, and appropriate business strategies, going  
forward. Through a brief examination of a number of LCTV cases, and  
building upon previous research the report will provide a concise  
synopsis of an increasingly diversified sector – in terms of both  
organisational form, and content created – as well contributing a  
number of significant recommendations which could inform forthcoming  
LCTV discussions.

The report will embrace three key policy clusters. Firstly, new  
provisions within the Communications Act , in particular the burgeoning  
relationship between OfCom and the community media sector as a whole.  
Secondly, the work of the DTi/DCMS Digital Television Project, in  
particular the opportunities and dangers which digital switch-over  
presents for the LCTV sector, as well as the manner by which  
digitisation expands the range of prospective distribution mechanisms  
at the disposal of community media organisations. Thirdly, the OfCom  
Review of Public Service Broadcasting, in particular it’s relationship  
to the DCMS review of the BBC Charter, and how the LCTV sector should  
both seek to understand, as well as influence, these entwined  
processes.

THE REPORT WILL PERFORM A NUMBER OF FUNCTIONS

* It will form an initial basis for future consultations with the DCMS  
and OfCom, towards both the refinement of the current LCTV licensing  
regime, initiated by the iTC, as well as the development of a Community  
Television Order and parallel LCTV working group.

* It will consider the issue, and likelihood, of LCTV being recognised  
as public service broadcasting, and the implications for future  
spectrum management.

* It will assess the concomitant issue of partnership working, with  
specific reference to the BBC’s forays into local and community media  
schemes, as well as the disparate arguments advanced for the public  
funding of LCTV.

* It will outline a number of LCTV models, principally the proposed  
delineation of the sector into ‘profit-making’ and ‘non-profit  
distributing’ components.

* It will consider lessons drawn, thus far, from the Community Radio  
licensing process, particularly regarding the definitional construction  
of ‘local’ and ‘community’.

IN SUMMARY THE REPORT WILL PROVIDE INITIAL ANSWERS TO THREE PERTINENT  
QUESTIONS

* How can the LCTV sector maintain an adequate stake in both the new  
‘communications settlement’, and other New Labour policy schemes?

* How can the CMA best advance specific policy proposals, as well as  
its wider outlook, to Government, OfCom, and the wider media industry?

* Which distinctive models, and paradigms, might the LCTV sector seek  
to invest in, both financially and socially, in order to enshrine  
itself within the new communications ecology?