APPENDIX 10
Memorandum submitted by the Community
Media Association
FUNDING LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
THE CASE FOR A COMMUNITY MEDIA FUND
1. The Davies Report on the Future Funding
of the BBC calls for a licence fee supplement to provide additional
revenue to the BBC in order to support the development of digital
services. In this paper we outline the views of the Community
Media Association on the funding of public service broadcasting
and we propose the establishment of an independent Community Media
Fund for forms of local public service broadcasting outside the
BBC system.
2. The Community Media Association (formerly
Community Radio Association) is the UK membership association,
founded in 1983, for organisations working in the community media
sector. It groups together community radio stations, local and
community television operators and community-based Internet networks.
3. Members of the Community Media Association
have adopted the Community Media Charter as a definition of community
media. The Charter affirms a primary purpose "to promote
the right to communicate, to assist the free flow of information
and opinions, to encourage creative expression, and to contribute
to the democratic process and a pluralist society". Community
media have a vital role to play in combating social exclusion
by offering an outlet for creative work, by providing access to
information, by promoting local dialogue and active citizenship
and by offering training and education in media and information
skills.
4. In its reponse to the Government Green
Paper on Regulating Communications, the CMA outlined a public
service approach to the development of local broadcasting. At
the heart of this approach are two principles:
— The BBC does not have a monopoly
on public service provision. Some local public broadcasting services
are better delivered by locally led and editorially independent
providers using a mixture of both public and private financing.
— A locally led and editorially independent
approach should retain the core Reithian principles of public
service broadcasting—to educate, inform and entertain—with
the addition of a fourth principle "to encourage participation".
5. We therefore believe there is a strong
case for a part of the licence fee funding to be deployed in
support of public service provision outside the BBC. The approach
we outline could be achieved by using a small part of the existing
licence fee as leverage for new sources of public and private
funding at local and community level to support community broadcasting
projects. We suggest initial planning be based on a figure of
£20 million per annum or 1 per cent of the licence fee revenue.
The Community Media Fund should be administered by an independent
body set up for this purpose and channelled through local community
broadcasting organisations which meet a set of clearly defined
criteria.
6. Community broadcasting is considerably
under-developed in the UK. It has been held back by regulatory
and economic constraints and the absence of a clear public policy
framework. At the same time there is enormous interest at local
level in the development of such services. This is demonstrated
by the large number of applications for radio and television Restricted
Service Licences. Since the 1990 Broadcasting Act there have been
over 2,000 Restricted Service Radio Licences issued by the Radio
Authority of which nearly half were for community-based radio
services. These licences are generally limited to 28 days duration
although most operators would like to move to broadcasting on
a year round basis.
7. The 1996 Broadcasting Act provided for
Restricted Service Television licences which the ITC has determined
should be limited to four years duration in the first instance.
Over 100 such services could be licenced over the next year.
8. An assessment of existing services demonstrates
that community broadcasting would bring a valuable addition to
the range of public service provision.
9. BBC Local Radio is not very local,with
most services county wide or wider. There is no BBC local radio
in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. BBC local radio targets
audiences in the over 40 age range and is poor at attracting younger
listeners and ethnic minorities. The current regulatory framework
for independent radio carries no public service requirements.
Although many commercial radio stations play a role in their local
community only a very small number of independent Local Radio
licences are run as community radio services by non profit distributing
bodies with a clear public service remit. These are mainly located
in remote rural areas of little interest to commercial providers.
10. The Radio Authority has indicated a
preparedness to operate a new experiment in community radio which
could allow a number of pilot services. The Government is undertaking
a frequency audit as part of a separate review, the objective
of which includes meeting the demand for specialist and experimental
services. Many of the unused frequencies are currently locked-up
in the BBC sub-bands. The CMA has argued that if they are to be
released they should be ring-fenced for public service provision.
The establishment of a support fund for the sector drawing on
a part of the licence fee revenue would be an additional and complementary
part of a clear public policy framework for the development of
community radio services.
11. There is no BBC local television at
present and the ITV sector has substantially reduced its regional
output which, in any case, is editorially diffuse. The recent
development of Restricted Service Television has demonstrated
the level of interest in more localised TV services. There are
now five stations on air in the Isle of Wight, Leicester, Lanarkshire,
Londonderry and Oxford. A further 122 cities and towns are having
frequencies identified for their own local stations.
12. Lord Puttnam has suggested that the
BBC should harness technological developments and social trends
"to bring about the birth of `community television' in the
truest sense of the word" (Guardian, 28 June). Many
Restricted Service Television stations have voluntarily committed
themselves to public service objectives. Support from a part of
the Licence Fee revenue could reinforce these developments and
assist to ensure they continue beyond a two year analogue licensing
period and into the digital television age. Support might also
be provided by offering access to BBC transmission systems and
unused channel allocations.
13. The Davies Report strongly supports
the BBC's Webwise campaign to encourage take-up of the Internet.
BBC Online and the BBC Webwise campaign are actively encouraging
the development of community-based Internet networks. BBC support
to date has extended to publicising the concept of online communities,
offering tool kits and guidance, promoting demonstrator projects
and providing a national gateway. It is not offering to fund the
establishment or running costs of community networks and many
people working in community Internet networking would oppose the
BBC taking control and subsuming community-based Internet networks
into the BBC's domain. There is a need for these new forms of
community media to also protect their independence and accountability
to their own communities of locality or interest.
14. By way of comparison in the Netherlands,
a country of 16 million people, there are 330 community radio
stations and 100 community television stations, most of which
also have an Internet presence. They operate year round with a
public service remit on a non-profit-distributing basis and are
locally controlled and accountable. The Dutch licence fee service
agency distributes £5 million per annum in structural support
to the community broadcasting sector. The total turnover of the
sector is near to £25 million per annum with the remainder
coming from local grants, sponsorship and advertising. The average
community radio station has a turnover of £60,000. Community
television services in the Netherlands operate at a similar economic
level by mixing text, still images and teletext with a limited
amount of moving image production. The Dutch community broadcasting
sector sustains some 500 jobs but involves more than 25,000 active
volunteers.
15. We are of the view that there is enormous
scope and a tremendous opportunity for the development of a range
and diversity of new local public service broadcasting and media
provision throughout the UK. Existing analogue technology remains
underused at the local level and new digital systems provide opportunities
to produce text, pictures, sound, moving images and interactive
media and to have them distributed by wired and wireless delivery
systems. Existing services could be joined by new AM, FM and digital
community radio services, analogue and digital local television,
community media delivered by cable and telephony and virtual communities
using interactive online systems.
16. To grasp this challenge the starting
point must be an acceptance that new forms of local public service
broadcasting should be locally owned and led, accountable to their
community and editorially independent. A part of the licence fee
then ring-fenced as a defined percentage could be independently
administered in support of such developments. This would act
as direct leverage for other new sources of public and private
funding. It would also bring substantial indirect economic impact
by unlocking local creative potential, by encouraging volunteering
and active citizenship, by contributing to community identity
and social inclusion and by providing opportunities for training
and education in highly transferrable skills.
17. An independent fund in support of local
forms of public service broadcasting along the lines described
above should be applied primarily in support of development of
infrastructure such as studios and transmission systems, together
with operational costs, including programme making. In its early
years the fund would be primarily deployed on capital costs and
infrastructure development. As the rate of development of new
community media services reduces, the fund's priorities would
shift towards revenue and production funding.
18. Support should be channelled through
local not-for-profit organisations which have clear public service
objectives and which are able to provide or establish public access
to production and distribution facilities. In order to balance
the demands of different media the major part of the fund should
be ring-fenced into four parts for initiatives which primarily
fall into one of radio, TV, Internet or multimedia.
19. The review of the future funding of
the BBC should address the public service gap in provision at
local level. A public policy framework for community media should
include a funding system to underpin appropriate licensing arrangements.
Using a part of the licence fee would provide a straightforward
and cost effective funding solution in line with its purpose to
support public service broadcasting.
October 1999
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