Examination of Witnesses (Questions 352-359)
24 APRIL 2007
MS IONA
JONES, MR
BOBBY HAIN
AND MR
DAVE RUSHTON
Chairman: We now move to the second part
of the session and can I welcome Iona Jones, the Chief Executive
of S4C, Bobby Hain, who is the Managing Director of STV, and Dave
Rushton, who is appearing on behalf of the Institute of Local
TV. I think our questions will be fairly clearly directed specifically
at individual members, so we will make that clear, and I think
we start off with Wales.
Q352 Mr Evans: For some reason or
another, they have asked me to do it! Iona, how are things going
with Sianel Pedwar Cymru?
Ms Jones: We are making considerable
progress in our strategy towards digital switchover which, as
you know, happens in Wales in 2009-10. The primary focus has been
on building up our content and that content is to be in the creative
excellence sphere, so it has taken quite a lot of work, together
with our partners in the independent sector, to raise the creativity
in terms of content. We have also adopted a new regime in relation
to rights which means that the producers, for the first time,
have the capability to exploit the intellectual property, and
that is part of the role that we have adopted as a channel which
is to see whether it is possible to further develop the creative
industries, particularly in Wales, given the opportunities which
other broadcasters are now presenting in terms of production from
the nations and regions. In terms of measuring success, the focus
on the content and, in particular, in peak has delivered an increase
in our audience in terms of share and reach which is obviously
very satisfying, given the efforts of everybody involved. The
next development is really in relation to platforms where we have
been quite progressive in our use of the web, for example. We
have a 35-day window to actually show content on broadband and,
as of today, we will be streaming the channel live and, subject
to rights, it will be available throughout the world, so that
is part of building up the availability and accessibility of content
which is original UK production of high quality in genre which
others are not as engaged in as we are. The other area which is
occupying our minds at present is the provision for children,
so I was obviously very interested in hearing the last session.
As you know, children and young people are very important for
any public service broadcaster, but uniquely for us. This is a
growth market because of the requirement for all children in Wales
up to the age of 16 to learn Welsh and we are aware of the huge
increase in the numbers of children speaking Welsh which the last
Census demonstrated, so we have a changing audience profile which
we need to address, and we also know that their habits in terms
of the use of television are very similar to other children. They
are looking for discrete channels listed on an EPG which are readily
accessed, and that is the area which we are proposing to move
into, the area of a dedicated children's channel, hopefully within
the next 12 months.
Q353 Mr Evans: That is very exciting
about the streaming, subject to rights. For instance, when you
do the rugby, does that mean that the rugby will be available
for people living in Patagonia if they want to watch it?
Ms Jones: Yes. In fact, we have
been providing some rugby coverage on our broadband service as
it currently stands and this is the next step to actually making
the channel available so that you can watch it on your PC or TV
at the same time and get the same service, but rugby has been
available to date.
Q354 Mr Evans: A good driver, I would
have thought. What is the percentage of your audience that is
within Wales and the percentage, therefore, outside of Wales?
Ms Jones: I will do it in hundreds
of thousands, if that is okay, because I will not be able to work
out the percentages. We are currently reaching a million individuals
a week and the split is roughly 140,000 outside and 800,000 within
Wales, but obviously that changes from month to month, depending
on the kind of content that we are providing at any given time.
Rugby is obviously a fairly big driver in terms of the UK market,
but we have also adopted a strategy whereby we are going to be
the leading provider of live events and we are going to be in
the creative excellence categories as far as music is concerned
which is actually part of engaging with an audience which may
not necessarily even speak Welsh, but it is just that they are
music-lovers and they want to see Bryn Terfel singing in German,
the flying Dutchman from the Wales Millennium Centre, which I
think would resonate with people.
Q355 Mr Evans: With Welsh subtitles!
Ms Jones: And English subtitles;
we provide both.
Q356 Mr Evans: You do not seem to
be so concerned about asking for any extra financial subsidies
for Sianel Cymru. You are doing all of this within the budget
that you have currently got?
Ms Jones: We are, yes. We have
reprioritised and I think there is an issue around how much range
and diversity we can actually manage over time, but we have actually
commissioned fewer programmes in order to invest at a higher level
within the peak-time schedule, and it is actually, I think, about
identifying a place for S4C in this new market which actually
makes us as relevant, both culturally, linguistically and socially,
as we have been for the past 25 years. There has also been a considerable
change within the organisation. We have restructured, we have
established a new Board of Directors, we are currently in the
process of reducing our staff levels and our overheads currently
stand at 4.3% which, I am sure you are aware, compares very favourably
with some of our colleagues in other broadcasting organisations.
Q357 Mr Evans: You mean better than?
Ms Jones: Significantly better,
yes.
Chairman: Could we move on to Scotland.
Q358 Rosemary McKenna: Good morning.
Bobby, there has been a substantial shake-up at Scottish Television
since SMG made their submission.
Mr Hain: Yes.
Q359 Rosemary McKenna: Have you discussed,
have the Board discussed your submission and did they agree with
the submission that you made on public service broadcasting?
Mr Hain: Yes, I think that the
difference in the Board composition and the shareholder composition
really does not change the fundamentals of what we had submitted
in January of this year, and I have had discussions with our new
Chief Executive about the evidence that we gave at that time and
the kinds of things that we would be saying today and there is
no real change in what we had said and the identifying of issues
that we made to the Committee in writing. I think there is a great
optimism and a desire to be absolutely at the heart of public
service broadcasting and I think that the focus on television,
which is really the change which has happened at Board and strategy
level, is to be welcomed because it means that we will not be
distracted, if you like, by our other media businesses—we
have announced the flotation of Virgin Radio, for example—and
really we see an opportunity which I am very glad that the Board
has now underwritten to develop the television business within
Scotland, and I think there are two separate workstreams to that.
I think that we can play a very strong role in the delivery of
public service broadcasting, notwithstanding the particular issues
about the landscape and the financial impact of switchover and
so on, and I think that that will build on the success that we
have with our viewers that we have established over a long period
of time which goes back far beyond the change in the Board more
recently. I think the other area that is a growth area for us
and where we see an opportunity is to deliver more public service
broadcasting and high-quality content into the UK system as a
whole, and I think that, with network commissions for Scotland
still running around the 2% mark, we see a big opportunity in
trying to persuade and convince commissioners that this is an
area where Scotland, in general, and SMG, in particular, can play
a strong role. I think that the submission which really says that
we are looking for recognition of our particular place as a public
service broadcaster in Scotland, the fact that we are, if you
like, in a regulatory sense considered as part of the ITV network,
as the English regions are, in actual fact we are something very
different from that; we are a broadcaster for the nation of Scotland.
That is something that we really want to get across and I think
that we also look to the regulatory devices to ensure that, where
people have a commitment to increasing their out of London and
their nation's commissioning, actually that is followed through
because that to date is not really our experience.
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