1 INTRODUCTION
1. The BBC, when setting out its manifesto for the
future in Building Public Value in June 2004, forecast
that:
"Digital radio and TV audiences will soon
have the same flexibility as Internet users to control when and
where they watch and listen to programmes. We expect seven in
ten homes to be able to schedule their viewing and listening at
a time that suits them best by 2016. Many will use personal video
recorders (PVRs), which will be able to hold as much as 4,000
hours of content (equivalent to six months of output of a 24-hour
television channel), compared to just 40 hours today. At the same
time, downloading and file sharing of video and audio from the
Internet will become commonplace for many people."[1]
2. Less than three years later, much of that vision
has already come to pass, and the predictions for 2016 seem, if
anything, conservative. A revolution is underway not just in the
way in which we watch television programmes and film but in the
way we listen to music, gather news information, and use all forms
of creative content: it could be said that the reproduction and
dissemination of creative content has come to new life thanks
to recent technological developments.[2]
This revolution challenges all elements of the delivery chain,
from creators themselves through to distributors, broadcasters
and consumers. These challenges are largely ones for the market
to address and resolve, by adapting, by exploring ways in which
it can draw upon what technology can offer and by judging how
to meet the public's appetite. There are, nonetheless, roles for
regulators and the Government in ensuring an open and fair marketplace,
and in preserving a balance between public access to knowledge
and ideas on the one hand and the right and ability of creators
and rights holders to exploit full commercial value from creative
products on the other. This report is about those challenges,
roles and balances.
3. The inquiry was announced in November 2005. The
terms of reference were:
— The
impact upon creative industries of recent and future developments
in digital convergence and media technology;
— The effects upon the various creative
industries of unauthorised reproduction and dissemination of creative
content, particularly using new technology; and what steps can
or should be taken—using new technology, statutory protection
or other means—to protect creators;
— The extent to which a regulatory environment
should be applied to creative content accessed using non-traditional
media platforms; and
— Where the balance should lie between
the rights of creators and the expectations of consumers in the
context of the BBC's Creative Archive and other developments.
4. We received submissions from bodies representing
creators' interests, distributors of creative content, broadcasters,
regulators, providers of media services based upon new technology,
libraries, public bodies with responsibilities for film, arts
and collections, Government, and interested individuals. By far
the larger part of this evidence is printed along with this report.[3]
Many gave oral evidence in a series of eight sessions between
May and November 2006. We have also benefited from informal presentations
on new technology and services both in the UK and in Korea. We
are grateful to all those who have helped us, and we owe a particular
debt to our Specialist Adviser on broadcasting, Mr Ray Gallagher,
for his guidance.
5. This has been a particularly stimulating and challenging
inquiry. The terrain covered has been vast, not least because
of the incredible range of the creative industries and the complexities
of technological innovation. In addition, the speed of technological
change in this area is such that even during the course of our
inquiry, developments provided answers to some of the questions
we originally posed while also provoking new ones. The evidence
has taken us into many distinct policy areas, including support
for the creative industries, regulation of content, policy on
allocation of spectrum, and, above all, copyright and the protection
of intellectual property. We could have held an in-depth inquiry
into any one of these areas (and may well do so at some point
in the future). We have instead chosen to take an overview and
to try to identify strands common to different sectors within
the creative industries. This report does not claim to be an exhaustive
analysis of any of the areas covered; and there are some subjects
on which evidence was sought but little was submitted, such as
fashion and design. We hope, however, that we have succeeded in
enabling views to be aired and in making useful recommendations
in advance of the forthcoming Green Paper on the creative industries.
1 Building Public Value, page 51 Back
2
See Design and Artists Copyright Society Ev 54 Back
3
HC 509-II, Session 2006-07 Back
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