Written evidence from Mr Dermot Lavery,
Director, DoubleBand Films
Overview headlines for the Committee to consider:
— That Northern Ireland has been and
continues to be failed by UK network Public Service Broadcasting
in the UK.
— That this is a matter for the political
leaders of Northern Ireland and Westminster as a Citizenship issue,
a license fee payers issue, an issue of un-realised opportunity
in the economic and cultural re- building of post-conflict Northern
Ireland.
— That engagement and intervention
on this issue is made more crucial by the likely settlement for
a generation of all these issues by the soon to be concluded Lord
Stephen Carter "Digital Britain Report".
EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW
1.1 This contribution to the Parliamentary
Committee Inquiry is focused by the author's point-of-view as
a television Producer in, and resident of Northern Ireland. It
is underpinned by a conviction that Public Service Broadcasting
has failed Northern Ireland in a number of key respects, and that
Ofcoms "light touch" regulation has compounded that
failure.
1.2 With the analysis that ITV1's and FIVE's
incentives are no longer "aligned with public service purposes",
then the establishment of a robust funding model for the primary
carriers of these PSP purposes, namely BBC and Channel4, becomes
critical.
1.3 The BBC's admittedly far reaching plans
for out-of-London strategies and their stated ambition to increase
the Nations output on the networks to 17% has been hugely welcomed.
The BBC's reluctance to create absolute quotas for individual
Nations (rather than discretionary targets set by population %
levels) along with an eight year delivery schedule, leads to the
deduction that the BBC may not wish to make the structural and
stimulating investments in Northern Ireland that will be required
to bring it's indigenous capacity up to the competitive levels
of the other Nations and Regions. Recent anecdotal evidence (since
the data is not made public) is that the BBC is already failing
on its Nations target for Northern Ireland.
1.4 Channel4, with its further retrenchment
into metro-centricity, and a growing pressure on its business
model must now (as part to the new dispensation) be compelled
to re-state its PSB credentials with particular focus on its relationship
with the Nations. There was considerable unease when Channel4,
as part of its 2008 strategy launch "Next on Four" stated
the incomplete ambition to "double output from the Nations".
This was perceived as almost meaningless for Northern Ireland
where production from and on-screen representation of, has been
so low as to be barely measurable.
1.5 Ofcom's subsequent and regrettable suggestion,
as part of their Phase 2 PSB review, that Channel4 in its newly
re-configured structure (likely to be with BBC Worldwide), need
only commission 3% of it's output from the three Nations has been
greeted in Northern Ireland with huge disappointment. The three
Nations make up 17% of the population. This is a clear message
from Ofcom that Channel4 need not consider on-screen representation
of, or commissioning from Northern Ireland as one of their priorities.
Channel4 however, is a publicly owned and commercially funded
Public Service Broadcaster.
1.6 In the context of both BBC and Channel4
both having side-stepped the full flowering of their obligations
with regard to network output from, and on-screen representation
of Northern Ireland, then the central recommendation of the Ofcom
model 3 and the creation of a competitive PSB fund specific to
Northern Ireland becomes a very credible safety net.
EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW
RECOMMENDATIONS TO
THE COMMITTEE
2.1 That the BBC and Channel4 are re-affirmed
and enhanced as the primary carriers of PSB purpose and that their
business models are re-assessed to allow the full flowering of
their obligations with regard to the Nations and in the context
of historical failure with regard to Northern Ireland in particular.
2.2 That the BBC and Channel4 as part of the
new dispensation "sign-up" to the full and meaningful
expression of their obligations to production from and on-screen
representation of the three nations in line approximately with
their population sizes.
2.3 That in the spirit of Lord Stephen Carters
recent proclaiming of the merits of "incentive regulation"
and in acknowledging the historical failure of the system of voluntary
Broadcaster "targets" and light touch regulation, the
Government urge Ofcom to adopt and firmly regulate a measurable
system of quotas.
2.4 That a new cross genre PSB competitive
fund for Northern Ireland is created to cope with the already
clearly established Public Service Broadcasting deficit (a situation
likely to worsen without Ofcom's and the Government's intervention).
Such a fund could be truly "landscape changing" for
Northern Ireland with its potential to absorb issues of classic
PSB concern: plurality of content cross genre, local and network:
local news and current affairs provision outside of the BBC: provision
for the minority languages with the focus on the Irish language
and Ulster Scots.
2.5 That funding for the above is made available
through, in the case of a PSB Fund for NI, direct Government funding
secured and copper-fastened to include the future-proofing of
the Irish Language Broadcast Fund and any future Ulster Scots
broadcasting provision.
2.6 That the Government/Ofcom make a clear
statement on the lack of parity for Northern Ireland when compared
to PSB provision in the Nations of Scotland and Wales with respect
to matters of indigenous language broadcasting, plurality, network
production and on-screen representation.
2.7 That the Government/Ofcom have a more
robust regulatory profile on all the above matters with less semantic
consideration of "markets and consumers" and more of
matters of classic public service provision—plurality, inclusion,
and citizenship. In Ofcom's own words "to ensure that the
broadest possible interests of the UK public are served."
3.1 With the decline in TV viewing habits
nowhere near as marked as was first feared at the turn of the
millennium (a decline of only 2.7% over the last five years) and
the main five public service channels still commanding nearly
two thirds of all television viewing, clearly television and in
particular the main public service broadcasters continue to be
the main carriers of public service purpose in broadcasting in
the UK.
3.2 It is an imperative that the Government/Ofcom,
in a move away from "light-touch" regulation in this
matter seeks to protect this unique PSB quality in British Broadcasting
life—a socially cohering imperative as we move towards the
uncertainties of the digital age.
3.3 But beyond this the Government should
consider the meaning and influence of PSB culturally, politically
and economically for the whole of the UK. That the benefits of
PSB are shared and experienced equitably into every corner of
every Nation and Region.
3.4 As has already been identified by Ofcom,
UK originated programming is and will continue to be the backbone
of PSB delivery in the UK. Audiences in the UK have historically
had access to high levels of programming made in the UK, reflecting
the particular UK values, cultures and perspectives.
3.5 On a closer examination of the four
purposes of public service broadcasting as identified by Ofcom
however, the main PSB broadcasters have signally failed the Nation
of Northern Ireland, particularly in regard to Purpose 3—cultural
identity: the essential purpose of content to reflect national
and regional identity as can only be featured in programming originated
in the UK.
3.6 For the citizens, licence fee payers
and general television consumers of Northern Ireland, UK network
broadcasting is a "cold house". Statistical report after
report has underlined this view, yet neither the main PSB broadcasters
nor a historically "light touch" regulatory tier, both
of which have the capacity in their strategies to effect real
change and difference in this matter, have to date chosen not
to do so.
3.7 2008 and 2009 has seen a period of extraordinary
debate on all these issues in British Broadcasting. Notwithstanding
the just completed two phase Ofcom PSB Review, and Lord Stephen
Carter's crucial soon to be revealed Digital Britain report, both
the BBC and Channel4 generated high hopes by their far reaching
internal "PSB soul-searching".
In late 2007 both of these key PSB broadcasters
launched internal reviews,—the Caroline Thomson BBC Network
Supply Review and the Channel4 Underperformance in the
Nations internal report commissioned in the run up to it's
"Next on 4" PSP future strategy launch. These were genuine
and largely welcomed initiatives by the PSB broadcasters to re-examine
the core values and move to address the issues of under-delivery
that were highlighted by the processes.
These reviews were further informed by the crucial
parallel activities of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission (2008)
and the Out of London report (2007-08) commissioned by
the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT). In each
of these circumstances the clear message is that, regardless of
their funding model the PSB broadcasters had obligations and responsibilities
to "reflect all national and regional identities of the UK"
and to deliver equitably and with conviction on the universally
accepted Out of London/Nations and Regions production quotas and
targets.
3.8 The PACT statistics however tell us
that the previous failure to deliver on this obligation has continued
into 2007/8. The imperative for Northern Ireland (while the Government,
Ofcom and the PSB broadcasters are in the process of resolving
for the foreseeable future their place in the PSB landscape) is
that it demands parity of treatment and esteem in this crucial
national conversation.
The PACT statistics are startling and far-reaching
in their meaning. The total value of network output from Northern
Ireland in 2007 was just 0.1% of total network spend. The population
of Northern Ireland is just under 3.0% of the UK total. This is
a 30-fold disparity. If the principle underlined by the Scottish
Broadcasting Commission (and acknowledged by the BBC) that output
from any given Nation should broadly be in line with population
levels, then this is an indefensible reality in British broadcasting
life.
3.8 The levels of BBC network output from
Northern Ireland across all their channels are far below what
they should be in the context of the stated ambition of 17% equitable
output from the Nations, and much worse than they previously acknowledged
(only finally accepting the more credible Ofcom definition of
Out of London production in 2008). BBC2 commissioned no programmes
from Northern Ireland in 2006. Channel4's commissioning from Northern
Ireland has over recent years been so low that it is barely measurable.
ITV1 commissioned nothing from Northern Ireland in 2007 and FIVE
commissioned nothing from Northern Ireland in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
While welcoming the BBC Trusts genuine engagement
on these matters and in particular it's overseeing of the Network
Output Review, the Trust's most recent press statement on the
matter has indeed declared that. "The BBC exists because
of the contribution of licence fee payers right across the United
Kingdom, and so we have a duty to reflect the whole of the country"
and continued "we have approved a strategy that signals the
start of some big changes to increase the volume of network television
production across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland".
And yet it has been noted with consternation
that in acknowledging the overall 17% from the nations goal, the
Trust has declared that:
(i) there will be no formal targets for individual
nations; and
(ii) there will be an eight year timetable to
2016 to deliver on the 17% ambition.
The recent history of broadcasting in the UK
tells us that without individual nations' quotas the `market'
will default to the detriment of Northern Ireland. Compounding
this, an over long eight year delivery schedule could lead to
a grinding and crippling outcome from which this region's creative
industries may not recover.
The ultimate challenge for the BBC Trust on
this issue is whether it acknowledges and intervenes as a matter
of principle on behalf of Northern Ireland for the good of broadcasting
in the UK. And whether it follows through with conviction on it's
Charter promise to "further deepen it's commitment to the
nations.. to spend the licence fee more equitably... (and crucially)
to stimulate local creative economies".
3.9 In doing this it would copper-fasten
and build on the exemplary PSB delivery by BBC Northern Ireland
at the local level. This is a success that goes un-rewarded at
a network level, as BBC Northern Ireland like those network focused
independent production companies in the region has had it's significant
investment in network ambition rebuffed by a centralised (and
metro centric) commissioning power structure.
3.10 What requires further consideration
here is the corollary between production and on-screen regional
representation in the context of purposes three and four of the
Ofcom articulated key PSB purposes: Reflecting UK cultural identity
and Representing diversity and alternative viewpoints. In a post-conflict
Northern Ireland seeking to re-build, re-invent and regenerate,
it hardly needs re-stated that the challenge and opportunity for
the BBC to make a difference as the key PSB entity in the UK,
is indeed profound.
3.11 This is further under-lined by Ofcom's
own audience research that tells us that the people of the Northern
Ireland region rate (by a long stretch) higher than any other
the importance of portraying nations and regions well to the rest
of the UK. The irony cannot be lost on Ofcom with Northern Ireland
almost nowhere to be seen on the screens of the main UK broadcasters.
3.12 Channel 4's challenge is no less profound,
if of a different scale and order. The Channel's welcomed intervention
with 4IP in the on-line provision of public service purpose is
typically visionary and characteristic of the Channel's ability
to re-invent itself for a future PSB multi-platform age. It is
to be welcomed too that this being driven by the Channel as a
Nations and Regions initiative.
The real and present challenge for Channel 4
however continues to be in it's status and obligation as the second
most important television Public Service Broadcaster, re-stated
and freshly celebrated in it's "Next on 4" strategy
launch this year. From a Northern Irish point of view its seemly
laudable drive to "double the Channel's output from the nations"
was viewed as cynical.
Critically, from such an already low base the
impact of a doubling of output from Northern Ireland would have
little or no significance. The suggestion might be that through
a little careful wording Channel 4 had side-stepped a meaningful
intervention in the Northern Irish sector and in doing so de-valued
one aspect of it's claim to be the only real risk taking national
PSB broadcaster. However, in the context of the current economic
climate and its finance model funding gap, Channel 4 now has both
a challenge and an opportunity to re-launch its PSB credentials.
[NB Given the unique nature of broadcasting
in Northern Ireland, and although clearly not within the remit
of this Inquiry (but already identified as significant by Ofcom),
it is worth noting for the record that there are a number of issues
in this debate that concern the broadcasters in the Republic of
Ireland.]
30 April 2009
| 
