VII. WEBCASTING[31]
84. In the earlier part of this Report, the Committee
has described the history and the current situation concerning
the broadcasting of Parliament—but what of the future? The
Committee considers that webcasting, i.e. broadcasting Parliament
over the internet, could offer the way forward. The Committee
was interested to note that on 17 May 2000, the Opening Day of
the Scottish Parliament's meeting in Glasgow was carried live
on the internet, as a pilot for future use of the web to broadcast
the Parliament.
85. The internet is fast becoming a viable way of
distributing moving pictures and sound. High data transmission
speeds, which are necessary for acceptable picture and sound quality,
are becoming more commonplace as the worldwide demand for such
services grows. The growth of internet transmission capacity is
likely to continue, driven by consumer demand.
86. The internet offers worldwide availability, and
is not bound by broadcast time. To the user, it makes no difference
where in the world the service originates. Broadly speaking, all
users have equal access, limited only by the capacity of their
local connection. The downside of this is that once something
is made openly available on the internet it becomes difficult
to regulate the use made of the material, and associated rights.
87. The principle of making the proceedings of Parliament
widely available to the electorate is attractive in a democracy,
if a cheap means of distribution can be found.
88. At present, Parliament controls the rights to
the use of the Parliamentary television clean feeds by licensing
most UK broadcasters, who in return contribute to the cost of
the operation which generates the feeds. Parliament has put in
place controls over the content of the signals and the way in
which the signals may be used.
89. There is growing interest among website operators
in the idea of carrying Parliamentary television pictures or sound
in a variety of guises as a way of adding value to their websites.
Parliament should take an interest in how and where the signals
appear on the internet.
90. There have been different approaches to the representation
of Parliament on the internet to date. These have included still
pictures taken from the Parliamentary television feeds (e.g. the
BBC Parliament website), audio excerpts (e.g. the Mirror Group
website special feature on Scottish devolution). As yet, there
has been no sustained attempt by UK website operators to carry
any degree of coverage with moving pictures or live sound.
91. There is real commercial interest in using the
internet as a delivery system for all types of sound and vision
broadcasting. The demands on the internet to cope with this will
lead to a quantum improvement in internet capacity which will
enable the business and home user easier access to the high speed
connections which are necessary for smooth picture performance.
92. C-SPAN, whose operation the Committee had a chance
to study during its visit to Washington DC, is a national cable
channel which carries coverage of Congress and Senate. Its website
carries a small-size version of the channel's output in sound
and vision. The website as a whole carries a great deal of background
information about the work of the channel and the US Government,
and is heavily "branded" as a marketing exercise for
C-SPAN, which is itself funded as a marketing tool of American
cable TV system operators.
93. The alternative to leaving it to the broadcasters
is to make the clean feeds from Parliament available directly
on the internet where they can be viewed in complete and unedited
form.
94. Far more television coverage is generated by
the Parliamentary television contractor than is shown on any one
broadcasting channel. At peak times this currently amounts to
two live continuous feeds from the chambers (Commons and Lords)
plus up to four live simultaneous feeds from Committee rooms.
This tally is set to grow when Portcullis House brings more facilities
into play.
95. The internet offers the possibility of making
all of this live coverage available at a cost which would
have been inconceivable only a few years ago. Furthermore, the
reach of the internet is international.
96. In simple terms, the technology required amounts
to a fast computer encoding the live television feeds into a continuous
digital data stream. This stream is passed onto the internet via
a high capacity data link to an Internet Access Provider at a
central point in the UK internet structure. At this point the
data is available both nationally and worldwide through the international
connections of the internet.
97. The logical place to locate the central video
encoding computer would appear to be in the Parliamentary television
technical area in 7 Millbank, where there is already access to
all Parliamentary television feeds. However, with modern technology,
there is no reason why the computer has to be situated
in 7 Millbank.
98. Internet capacity can now support the possibility
of distributing Parliamentary television coverage in a useful
form and whilst broadcasters may offer some coverage on their
websites, this is an incomplete solution which would not be under
Parliamentary control or direction.
99. Parliament has the opportunity, at a relatively
low cost, to make all internet coverage available from one authoritative
source, on a par with the existing broadcasting arrangements.
Imaginative licensing and other revenue streams could lead to
zero cost to the public purse, or even generate a surplus. In
such a way, Parliament would have an opportunity to put right
those failings which the Committee identified earlier.
100. This would have the effect of making Parliamentary
proceedings available throughout the country and the world beyond,
offering educational, geopolitical and administrative advantages.
101. We consider that webcasting offers the optimum
solution, and recommend that the relevant officials of both Houses
actively pursue webcast potential, and to seek those areas where
both Houses can act together in order to ensure that "access
to Parliament" is available to all. The ideal would be for
this access to include sound feed and, at least, limited vision
coverage, of all public sessions of Committees of the House to
be available via the internet.
102. As the Committee considers that access to Parliament
via the internet should be available to everyone in the UK, it
welcomes the Government's initiatives in funding high speed internet
connections in schools, other learning institutions[32]
and public libraries.[33]
These initiatives, coupled with the Committee's recommendation,
could help ensure that there is no reason why UK citizens could
not become the most politically aware in the world, and to help
spread, and strengthen, the idea of democracy to all people around
the globe.
31 Paragraphs 85-100 draw on a background paper prepared
by Westminster Digital/CCT for the Supervisor of Parliamentary
Broadcasting (not reported). Back
32
See Department for Education and Employment Press Notice 488/99,
£50 Million for high speed internet connections in schools,
2 November 1999. Back
33
See 10 Downing Street Magazine, Public Libraries enter the
Information Age, 1 January 2000. Back
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