[CMA TV] 'Public service publisher' plan back in play

[Michelle McGuire]

'Public service publisher' plan back in play

Chris Tryhorn
Wednesday September 27, 2006
MediaGuardian.co.uk


Media regulator Ofcom is to put its controversial proposal for a  
"public service publisher" back on to the agenda following a series  
of internal workshops exploring the idea.
The regulator is working on a discussion paper, to be published later  
in the autumn, that will set out some of the options for the PSP - a  
content provider that would give the BBC competition in public  
service programming.

It is hoping its paper will set the agenda for the new year season of  
broadcasting conferences, seminars and conventions.

Ofcom is keen to get away from the idea of the PSP as a new "channel"  
and is interested in creating a model centred on new media.

"Any new institution needs to be rooted in the new media," said the  
Ofcom deputy chairman, Philip Graf.

"It needs to capture the imaginations of the 16-24 cohort, who by  
simple arithmetic will be the 22-30-something cohort by switchover."

With the growth of broadband and mobile viewing, along with the  
greater availability of on-demand, there is less reason to mould a  
new content service around the traditional broadcasting model.

There is an additional reason for making new media part of the PSP  
plan: it is cheaper than traditional broadcasting.

Mr Graf said the PSP would have to cost "enough to provide 'quality'  
to attract users; to distinguish it from user-generated content and  
commercially-generated viral marketing".

He repeated Ofcom's previous guidance that the PSP's budget would be  
around £300m a year, equivalent to the amount Ofcom expects to  
disappear from public service broadcasting budgets between now and  
digital switchover in 2012.

When Ofcom came up with the idea of a PSP, it met with a cool  
reception from broadcasters who feared it was just a flashy, eye- 
catching initiative that lacked substance or clarity.
But with its chief architect - the Ofcom chief operating officer, Ed  
Richards - favourite to become the regulator's next chief executive,  
its chances of getting off the ground have increased.

The recent workshops, led by Anthony Lilley of production company  
Magic Lantern and Andrew Chitty of new media group Illumina, involved  
new media experts, journalists and internet service providers.

They discussed what form the PSP might take and how it could provide  
different services from those already available from broadcasters, as  
well as how it could be funded.

The basic idea of the PSP is to provide competition to the BBC and to  
avoid the UK being left with just one public service broadcaster.

Existing broadcasters or any other group, including a newspaper firm,  
could run the service, or it could be run collaboratively.

The money for the service would come from either an increased licence  
fee, a World Service-style government grant, or a tax of the turnover  
of UK broadcasters.

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Source: Media Guardian -  http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/ 
0,,1881548,00.html




Michelle McGuire
Editor, Airflash Magazine
Communications Officer
http://www.commedia.org.uk
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