Supplementary memorandum submitted by
BSkyB
SKY NEWS AND BBC NEWS 24 VIEWING
At the 25 November 1999 Culture, Media and Sport
Committee session with the BBC, questions were raised about the
audience figures for BBC News 24 and comparisons with Sky News.
It may be helpful to provide BSkyB's figures on this subject in
advance of the company's appearance before the Committee. As with
the BBC's evidence, we are only able to provide firm audience
figures for BBC News 24 v Sky News in non-digital homes.
1. ITC RESEARCH
FIGURES
The ITC publishes quarterly reports on television
audience share figures. The share figures given are the ITC's
determination for the purposes of establishing that licensees
are not in breach of the ownership provisions contained in the
Broadcasting Acts. Figures are given rounded to one decimal point,
and only those channels achieving a share (rounded to one decimal
point) of 0.1 per cent are included.
The base for the calculation of these audience
share figures is the viewing of all television channels received
in the British Islands in the period. A number of sources are
consulted in arriving at the ITC's estimates.
The ITC published on 29 October 1999 its 13th
quarterly report on television audience share figures. The audience
share figures given for BBC News 24 and for Sky News for the 12
months ended September 1999 are:
| BBC News 24 | 0.1 per cent
|
| Sky News | 0.4 per cent |
The ITC does not measure viewing of any News 24 programming
simulcast on BBC1 or BBC2 as attributable to the news channel,
as this would result in the same time period being double-counted.
In BSkyB's view, this is the correct approach. Otherwise, universally
available analogue terrestrial broadcasters could simulcast any
number of low-audience satellite or cable channels (eg Live
TV, also measured as 0.1 per cent by the ITC before the channel's
recent demise) and artificially bump up the reach and share for
such channels. However, that would not be indicative of viewing
in multi-channel television homes or the viability of these as
individual digital channels.
2. SKY NEWS/BBC NEWS
24 VIEWING SHARE
IN CABLE
HOMES ONLY
In cable homes, Sky News consistently outperforms BBC News
24:
|
| 1999 Share of Viewing in cable homes (%)
|
|
| Sky News
| News 24 |
|
| April | 0.99
| 0.65 |
| May | 0.75
| 0.51 |
| June | 0.73
| 0.54 |
| July | 0.75
| 0.51 |
| August | 0.73
| 0.54 |
| September | 0.53
| 0.49 |
| October | 0.59
| 0.62 |
|
Source: BARB
At the 15 November 1999 Select Committee session, the BBC
stated that in the month of October, BBC News 24 had achieved
a higher audience share than Sky News in cable homes. We would
assume this corresponds to the October figures of 0.62 per cent
v 0.59 per cent above (an apparent "lead" of 0.03 per
cent of viewing). However, it is important to note that the share
figures reflect total BBC News 24 viewing in the 96 per cent of
cable homes where it is available, compared to viewing of Sky
News which is only available in 76 per cent of cable homes.[92]
In homes that receive both services, Sky News' share is
(and always has been) higher than BBC News 24.
3. SKY NEWS/BBC NEWS
24 REACH IN
CABLE HOMES
In additional written evidence to the Culture, Media and
Sport Committee circulated at the 25 November 1999 session, the
BBC gave figures on "15 minute reach" and "3 minute
reach" of BBC News 24 and Sky News for the month of September
1999. These figures indicated that during the month of September,
3.2 million individuals tuned into BBC News 24 for at least 15
minutes (compared to 2.1 million for Sky News), and 5.4 million
individuals tuned into BBC News 24 for at least three minutes
(compared to 3.8 million for Sky News).
It appears to BSkyB that the BBC's figures were actually
for the average weekly reach in the month rather than the
total monthly reach. But in any event the BBC's figures aggregated
the analogue cable audience for BBC News 24 with those viewing
the overnight and weekend simulcasts of BBC News 24 on BBC1 and
BBC2 (universally available analogue terrestrial networks). This
was then compared to the more limited availability of Sky News
in analogue cable and satellite homes. BSkyB does not accept these
as valid comparisons.
The closest like-for-like comparison is to examine Sky News
and BBC News 24 in cable homes only (despite BBC News 24's availability
in 96 per cent of cable homes v 76 per cent for Sky News).
The 15 minute reach and 3 minute reach for each of the channels
for the most recent three months are as follows:
— Monthly 15 minute reach, in cable homes:
|
| Sky News
| BBC News 24 |
|
| August | 1.7m
| 1.2m |
| September | 2.2m
| 1.1m |
| October | 2.6m
| 1.4m |
|
— Monthly 3 minute reach, in analogue broadband
cable homes:
|
| Sky News | BBC News 24
|
|
| August | 3.0m | 2.4m
|
| September | 2.8m | 2.4m
|
| October | 3.1m | 2.9m
|
|
Source: BARB
November 1999
92
Sky News was available in approximately 97 per cent of cable
homes until displaced following the free wholesale supply of BBC
News 24 to cable operators. Back
| 
