Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80-94)
9 DECEMBER 2003
Mr Mick Desmond, and Mr Clive Jones, examined.
Q80 Ms Shipley: All right, so Birmingham
got reduced down to news.
Mr Jones: It has not been reduced
down to news: news, regional programmes and it is the home of
CITV links, which is done seven days a week.
Q81 Ms Shipley: I could be wrong here
but I think if you really wanted to do production in the Birmingham
studio now you would have a lot of problems because of the lighting
rigs, you would have to bring in outside riggers; there is not
the staff—
Mr Jones: It is used seven days
a week.
Q82 Ms Shipley: There is a very limited
number of lighting rigs there. The news that is going out would
mean that all of that would have to be taken out, and then put
back in, taken out, put back in—so realistically, although
if you are going to get down to semantics there is the potential,
it is not going to happen. From what you have just said, it sounds
like Nottingham is on the same agenda, and it is all going to
go out to location broadcasting, and although location broadcasting
is very nice it does mean that the studio potential for the Midlands
will be gone.
Mr Jones: The vast majority of
our programmes are not made in the studio any more. There is a
very major studio in Cardiff—
Q83 Ms Shipley: I take it you are agreeing.
Mr Jones: I am not agreeing, I
am not saying that at all. What I am saying is we are going to
carry out a review of all our facilities, which any sensible company
would do. We have a very major studio in Cardiff which was built
in the 1980s and which now we do not use at all; it is run by
a small independent company.
Q84 Ms Shipley: Do you think if there
was a loss of the studio facility in Nottingham and, therefore,
the studio facility for the Midlands, that is a problem? From
what you are saying, you do not think that is a problem.
Mr Jones: I do not necessarily
think it does because I do not think the majority of television
programmes are made in studios any more—as Donald Emslie
referred to earlier. The main studio in Southampton has been used
once in the last year; it was used by an independent production
company to make Question Time for the BBC.
Q85 Ms Shipley: You could say the same
about Birmingham. Very little is done in Birmingham because you
would have to take out the news facility every time if you are
going to do it; therefore you do not do it, therefore it is not
made, therefore you can argue "We do not do it in Birmingham,
therefore we do not need it".
Mr Jones: The studios in Birmingham
were not used before.
Q86 Ms Shipley: They were not there before.
Mr Jones: There were three major
studios which were mothballed.
Q87 Ms Shipley: They were moved; you
moved to a new facility. In that new facility—
Mr Jones: Because we were required
to do so by the ITC. Yet another intervention in the market.
Q88 Ms Shipley: In the new facility you
have not made studio programmes because you cannot, because you
would have to take out the TV news all the time and put them back
in, although you can argue there is the potential. However, then
you can also argue "We are not making any programmes there,
we are doing much more outside now, therefore we do not need the
facility because we are not using the facility."
Mr Jones: I can only say that
as we go forward, as we are now, we shall be judged by the programmes
we put on our screens and not on the bricks and mortar.
Q89 Ms Shipley: What sort of impact do
you think digital camera filming will have? It is a lot cheaper—£3,000
instead of about £30,000—it has a lot of flexibility
and it has many positive sides to it. What are they?
Mr Jones: Most of my newsrooms
are already digital. The only newsroom which is not digital is
Nottingham. The majority of our regional programmes are already
shot in digital cameras. I think we are going to have a mixed
format. A lot of drama, for instance, will continue to be made
on film because directors enjoy working on film. However, as we
move towards high-definition television, which is all-digital,
maybe that will have an effect. I could not anticipate what it
might mean.
Q90 Ms Shipley: I am sure they enjoy
doing it and I am sure all the technicians and everybody, professionals,
enjoy making that sort of film, but if the industry moves towards
the one-person operated camera, sound facility, everything, how
can the skill base be kept up in order to enjoy making those sorts
of films?
Mr Jones: I think you are always
going to have an enormous variation in terms of the levels of
skills. In certain news situations and in certain regional programme
situations a one-man operation is appropriate. I think in others,
in terms of certain types of features, certain types of drama
and certain types of entertainment, it will continue to work on
the basis that one has now, with full crews. You cannot do major
drama productions with the same sort of commitment that we have
on a feature film.
Q91 Ms Shipley: And news and current
affairs?
Mr Jones: News and current affairs
have gone through an enormous revolution. When I started—
Q92 Ms Shipley: No, please, not a history
lesson. News and current affairs with a digital camera?
Mr Jones: Digital cameras enable
you to operate, to some extent, a one-man crew. Does that mean
that all our newsrooms will be staffed by video journalists shooting
everything and asking questions? No.
Q93 Ms Shipley: So definitely, for the
record, you see it as complementary and not taking over?
Mr Jones: Yes.
Q94 Chairman: You referred to the ITC.
On whose initiative was the application made to the ITC to move
the Ten O'clock News to 10.30?
Mr Jones: It was at ours.
Chairman: Thank you. Thank you very much
for your evidence.
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