Written evidence from Below the Radar
BACKGROUND:
1.1 Below the Radar is grateful to the committee
for considering this submission to its enquiry.
1.2 We are an independent production company
based in Belfast and specialising in news and current affairs.
We were acquired by the Plc Ten Alps in February 2009 because
of our record in news and current affairs.
1.3 We are enthusiastic proponents of an
independent fund being set up in Northern Ireland to pay for and
regulate high-quality public service content made by the best
producers for a local audience. We were the first interested party
in Northern Ireland to put forward the case for a competitive
fund and have remained very much at the forefront of the debate
locally.
1.4 We believe the current model of PSB
on either the BBC or UTV Television is now broken. While BBC Northern
Ireland continues to be well-funded for PSB, UTV's revenues have
declined substantially and this has been reflected in diminishing
content, both in terms of quality and quantity.
1.5 We are also critical of Ofcom's relegation
to a "light-touch" regulator and believe it has failed
to hold UTV to account for its failings.
NETWORK:
2.1 We have lost all faith in London-based
broadcasters, particularly BBC nationally and Channel 4, to deliver
on their targets for production in and portrayal of Northern Ireland.
Our experience has been of a profoundly rigid mindset which considers
events and cultural expression outside the M25 as inferior.
THE BBC NETWORK
AND NORTHERN
IRELAND
3.1 The cultural bias which exists inside
Channel 4 has been evident inside the BBC network too. We and
many other producers have long been critical of a smoke and mirrors
approach to the nations on the part of the BBC, based on box-ticking
rather than a genuine attempt to engage. A recent example has
been the appointment under the BBC's Out of London initiative
of two executives to enhance output from Northern Ireland. Both
executives are based in Scotland. The BBC Trust has made the issue
of nations and regions one of its priorities, but it appears that
it still has a mountain to climb.
3.2 Another initiative we are highly critical
of has been the BBC's handling of its designation of Northern
Ireland as a Centre of Excellence for Current Affairs. We have
been told that the "Centres of Excellence" concept involved
the movement of talent between in-house BBC and independent producers
and journalists, ensuring cross-fertilisation of talent, the creation
of a strong base for generating programme ideas, all to benefit
the viewer. The BBC NI Audience Council was assured in February
2006 that this was the model for the NI Current Affairs centre.
3.3 Under this initiative, episodes of the
flagship network current affairs programme "Panorama"
are being produced from Belfast.
3.4 The outworkings of this initiative,
however, have been something of a curiosity. Firstly, all network
current affairs carrying the BBC NI badge has remained ring-fenced
for in-house—the door of the Belfast centre has remained
firmly closed to any story ideas from independents here. Secondly
the production credits which run after BBC NI-branded Panoramas
reflect that in-house BBC Northern Ireland talent remain shamefully
underused—sometimes the only local talent has been administrative
staff. Thirdly, those involved in the programmes have eschewed
even carrying out processes which are eminently doable in Belfast
such as the programme edit. Finally, the most recent revelation
has been the news that "BBC Northern Ireland Network Current
Affairs" had recently opened an office to work from in BBC
Bush House, London. Even a member of staff long-established in
Northern Ireland had taken up residence there. The Panorama experience
is a classic example of "brass plating" which the current
Nations initiative is supposed to have eradicated as well as being
a scandalous waste of licence-payers' money and a discarded opportunity
to provide really good, diverse current affairs.
3.5 The BBC, however, officially, continues
to deny that there is any problem at all. If the BBC is willing
to mislead the public about this initiative, what confidence can
we have that it will meet its so-called targets on other genres?
CHANNEL 4
4.1 Ofcom have failed at all levels to regulate
Channel 4's PSB output in general and its commissioning from the
nations in particular. Northern Ireland has failed to make any
impact on Channel 4, either in terms of portrayal or production.
The regulator failed to notice that when the channel claimed to
be "doubling its output from the nations" that twice
nothing is still nothing! In 2007, 0.1 per cent of the channel's
output originated in Northern Ireland.
4.2 The relationship between Northern Ireland
and Channel 4 is nicely illustrated by the following: in its submission
to Ofcom's PSB II review, Channel 4 did not even mention Northern
Ireland in a section specifically set aside for the nations and
regions. Failure to hold Channel 4 to account has contributed
significant to the low production base to be found in Northern
Ireland. It is a salutary lesson to those now charged with reconfiguring
the broadcast landscape.
UTV
5.1 Ofcom argues that its research shows
that audiences in Northern Ireland appreciate having UTV. But
we would argue that this observation does not reflect that there
are various element/s of which UTV to which the respondents surveyed
could be referring.
5.2 The UTV television operation comprises
two key elements: (i) the platform which is "Channel 3"
button on your remote control; and (ii) the content which is overwhelmingly
an ITV London-based schedule, with some slots for locally-produced
news, current affairs and other programming.
5.3 Looking first at UTV's entitlement to
sit on Channel 3: if UTV was relieved of its obligations to provide
local news, current affairs and other local programmes—and
DCMS is considering relieving the Channel 3 Licencees of these
obligations—UTV could conceivably relinquish all local programming
output and simply carry the entire ITV schedule if the cost benefit
lay there, eradicating all local programming outside BBC NI.
5.4 UTV says it is currently minded to continue
delivering local content. That, however, could easily change—the
markets are incredibly unstable at the moment—and there
is no contingency plan on the part of the regulator or government
for that scenario.
5.5 Turning to the issue of content, some
of UTV's best-known local programmes, such as "Lesser Spotted
Ulster" are produced out of house. If UTV Television suddenly
no longer paid for the series, the makers of "Lesser Spotted
Ulster" could continue to make the series.
"THE NORTHERN
IRELAND BROADCAST
FUND" AND
UTV
6.1 This would be possible if there was
a separate fund of money set aside for public service programming
to which the makers of "Lesser Spotted" could apply
and argue its public purpose. By setting a programming budget
outside UTV, such a fund would be protected both from the vagaries
of the market and the profit imperative of UTV.
6.2 In a scenario where UTV did not wish
to broadcast programming carrying a public purpose, the programme-makers
could find another platform. There are other channels on the spectrum
which would doubtless be happy to acquire programming for free.
6.3 The same scenario applies to local news
and current affairs, which is still made in-house in UTV. UTV's
commitment to quality news has already been called into question
by its recent decision to make redundant the majority of its most
experienced journalists. The station has also ditched self-contained
current affairs, in the form of its Insight strand, in favour
of a cheap mix of news and studio chat, lacking the depth needed
to qualify as true public service TV, we believe.
6.4 There is no reason why local news and
current affairs cannot be produced out of house and broadcast
either on slots opened up by UTV or another channel. Since the
inception of ITV 50 years ago, it has followed this model—ITN
is an independent producer.
6.5 We believe that the producers of all public
service TV—be that UTV or another producer—should
have to compete for the right to make those programmes. A news
contract which is paid for by the PSB fund and contested every
2—3 years, would hold the producer to account over the quality
of their programming and their use of public money.
6.6 It is also critical that safeguards are
in place to ensure that such a process was not corrupted. That
is why we believe selection and evaluation should be carried out
independently, by a panel of publicly-spirited individuals who
do not profit from the process. We have already encountered this
sort of organisational set-up with the Irish Language Broadcast
Fund. Do not believe those who say it must be bureaucratic. It
is not. It is more transparent and works faster than some broadcasters'
commissioning rounds we've encountered, and is professionally
run and is fair.
LOCAL NEWS
AND CURRENT
AFFAIRS—ALWAYS
ON UTV?
6.0 The debate about the platform, though, continues
to move very fast and once high-speed broadband is rolled out
and competition issues are overcome—in the next couple of
years—broadband will merge properly into our TV sets so
that viewers can summon up programmes either the moment they are
uploaded—the equivalent to the moment they "go on air".
Or they can watch it later as they can currently with, for example,
the iPlayer. The difference is, though, that the channels—the
number on your remote control button—will increasingly become
irrelevant. That includes UTV.
7.0 Northern Ireland News, current affairs and
other local public service programmes—or other public service
digital content—would be part of that broadband mix, perhaps
as part of a wider UK PSB site. Depending on the circumstances,
the fund may have to consider ways of helping the audience find
it during the transition period. There are traditional marketing
methods like billboard campaigns, advertising across media or
the Amazon/Genius technology which points internet/broadband TV
surfers towards the programme, based on the material they've already
been browsing.
THE NORTHERN
IRELAND FUND
AND NETWORK
8.0 One other point: a competitive fund
can and should be about more than programming for a local audience.
It can also correct the scandal of how poorly Northern Ireland
has been portrayed on network TV outlets like Channels 4 and 5
and ITV nationally. These channels will increasingly be looking
for money to pay for their programmes beyond advertising revenue
and a Northern Ireland public service broadcasting fund could
be one source—with the fund holding the network commissioner
to promises over production from Northern Ireland and/or portrayal
of it. This chimes perfectly with Lord Carter's vision of "incentivised
regulation". However we believe that compulsory minimum quotas
should to be imposed, complete with penalties for non-compliance,
at least until the industry's production and portrayal profile
has been firmly established at network.
9.0 To sum up, we believe that the digital
revolution provides many rich opportunities for viewers in Northern
Ireland and those with an interest in Northern Ireland. More of
the same is no longer an option; we fervently hope that the industry
in Northern Ireland is not allowed to fester any longer.
1 May 2009
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