Further written evidence from Northern
Ireland Screen
INTRODUCTION
The Digital Britain White Paper is extremely
disappointing in the extent to which it addresses the issues around
Public Service Broadcasting in Northern Ireland.
OFCOM and the BBC Trust repeatedly capture clear
evidence that Northern Ireland is the least well-served Nation
of the UK in the following three core areas of Public Service
Broadcasting:
Network production reflecting and portraying
Northern Ireland
Network production produced in Northern Ireland
Indigenous language provision
In Scotland and Wales these 3 areas of Public
Service Broadcasting amount to substantial economic activity and
critical cultural expression.
It is therefore a rather bitter irony from a
Northern Ireland perspective that Digital Britain has declared
plurality of news provision the only essential area for further
public intervention.
It is an unintended consequence of the Digital
Britain proposals that Northern Ireland, the Nation receiving
the least value from PSB, is excluded from the government's proposed
immediate intervention; that is, Independently Funded News Consortia
pilots.
Northern Ireland Screen submits that at this
key time in the development of a devolved United Kingdom, Northern
Ireland cannot be left so poorly served by the proposed changes
to the PSB framework. Nor can its position as the receiver of
least PSB value in the UK be exacerbated by a further intervention
to which it is excluded.
PROPOSALS
Digital Britain has taken the importance of
plurality as its touchstone. Its proposals are based on an assessment
of which public service content genres must be delivered from
more than one source. Digital Britain's answer to this question
is that news provision is the only form of public service content
that must be delivered from more than one source.
This argument has an internal logic but from
a Northern Ireland perspective its relevance is very distant.
Before plural sources become a priority, a stable single source
must be a priority. Northern Ireland does not have a stable single
source of a number of key elements of Public Service Broadcasting;
that is, network production, network portrayal and indigenous
language provision.
This is why Northern Ireland Screen strongly
supported OFCOM's proposal that contestable funding addressing
the specific needs of the given Nation should be considered.
It is very disappointing that OFCOM's conclusion
that a "one size fits all" approach to PSB provision
in the Nations should be avoided has gone unheeded. It is the
"one size fits all" approach that has created the anomaly
that Northern Ireland, least well served by PSB at present, should
not have the benefit of an Independently Funded News Consortia
pilot.
Northern Ireland Screen's view is that Northern
Ireland, above any other region of the UK, cannot afford to do
without this early public cash injection into our digital future.
Digital Britain argues that UTV is stronger than STV or ITV Wales
but in the opinion of Northern Ireland Screen this is irrelevant.
Northern Ireland cannot afford to lag 2 years behind other regions
of the UK in embracing the digital revolution. And it certainly
cannot afford to lose out again on the economic value of a UK
PSB intervention.
Northern Ireland Screen would not have prioritised
news provision as the single type of programming requiring support
and would have preferred to see a broader based contestable fund
supporting a range of programming.
However, news provision is what has been prioritized
in Digital Britain and within that context it is Northern Ireland
Screen's view that Northern Ireland cannot afford to be behind
other parts of the UK in embracing new business models for the
digital age.
If the slots are not available on UTV to underpin
the new Independently-Funded News Consortia, then it is Northern
Ireland Screen's view that the fund should be broader based supporting
a wider range of programmes.
FUNDING
Northern Ireland Screen supports the use of
License Fee revenue to fund Public Service Content beyond the
BBC, provided that a suitable mechanism is found for Northern
Ireland to benefit equally with the other Nations from this redistribution
of funds at the earliest possible moment.
We agree that a maximum percentage of the License
Fee should be set as the contained contestable element but would
propose that stronger obligations should be placed on the BBC
to deliver its PSB commitments to the Nations, and to Northern
Ireland in particular.
The Digital Britain White Paper's proposals
for the PSB framework are entirely predicated on the BBC acting
as its cornerstone. Accordingly, from a Northern Ireland perspective
it is imperative that the BBC's devolved production targets for
the Nations are met at the earliest opportunity. 2012 remains
a perfectly reasonable completion date and it is only BBC internal
considerations that stand in the way of delivering this increase
in production from Northern Ireland by 2012.
CONCLUSION
It is untenable that Northern Ireland, well
documented as receiving the least value from the UK's PSB framework
in a number of the core PSB areas, should be locked out from the
proposed new contestable elements of funding presently earmarked
for Independent News Consortia Pilots.
The nature of the contestable funding pilot
for Northern Ireland should be developed with specific reference
to the needs of Northern Ireland. Neither availability of slots
on UTV, or the perceived short-term viability of UTV's broadcasting
operation should be presented as reasons for denying Northern
Ireland a PSB pilot.
October 2009
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