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Ofcom on Public Service Broadcasting - Part II
Granville Williams
DATELINE: 25/9/08
The widely-trailed Ofcom document on Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) contains few surprises. Yet again the high value viewers place on public service content outside the BBC has been confirmed by Ofcom research.
Key findings were:
* 9 out of 10 people do not want the BBC to be the only provider of public service content
* there is a high value placed on PSB programming which complements the BBC and three quarters of the people interviewed would pay on average £3.50 per month for PSB services on ITV, Channel 4 and five
* a majority of people want ITV 1 to provide regions and nations with news to complement the BBC
ITV Cuts
Yet, as so often is the case with Ofcom documents, policy proposals contradict the research. One key proposal in the report is to reduce PSB obligations on ITV from next year. News programmes will be cut in day time; there will be a new structure for regional news which cuts back on provision, and regional non-news programmes will also be cut. This will save ITV £40 million.Ofom have said that the changes cannot take place until the consultation is complete but Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, warns that ITV is poised to make the cuts before Ofcom completes the consultation.
Funding PSB
Ofcom estimates that in addition to the licence fee between £330-420 million will be required in 2012. Regulatory subsidies would contribute around £185 million, leaving a gap of £145-235 million to fill. Ofcom identifies sources for this funding and a communications sector levy is the best one.Channel 4 will by 2012, Ofcom argues, need replacement funding of £60-100 million to sustain investment in PSB content.. Ofcom also believes it is a priority 'to clarify Channel 4's future role and economic model'.
Future models for PSB
Ofcom sets a time frame of no later than 2010 to signal to PSBs what their long term role and funding will be, with legislation in place no later than 2011. It puts forward three models:* Evolution: The BBC, ITV1, Channel 4 and five continue to have PSB obligations.
* BBC/Channel 4: The BBC and Channel 4 receive public funding and regulatory assets; Channel 3 licensees and five lose their PSB status.
* Competitive funding model: Funding to provide public service content to complement the BBC opened up to competition from a wide range of media organisations. (This last model sounds like a re-launch of the Public Service Publisher proposal which seemed to have faded out recently).
The CPBF will respond to the consultation which closes on 4 December 2008.
Last modified: Thursday, September 25, 2008
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Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
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DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Ofcom
Ethnic minority groups lead the way
CPBF response to Ofcom consultation on TV Ads
Those TV phone-in scandals - Ofcom starts re-regulating!
Future of Radio consultation
Ofcom rejects Dispatches complaints
On the side of the market
Ofcom rules out immediate cash aid to Channel Four
Commodity or public asset?
Channel 4 Funding
Response to Ofcom's Digital Dividend Review
Ofcom consults on Public Service Publisher
Ofcom backs no change on product placement
Business as usual at Ofcom
Where did it all go wrong for ITV?
Stealth Advertising
Digital Switchover Conference
Review of Cross Promotion Rules
Pulped Fiction – or putting the clocks back
Ofcom publishes Televsion Without Frontiers report
Ofcom broadcasting code guidance
Ofcom's second batch of publications for September
OfcomWatch
Ofcom Code
Ray Snoddy trashes Ofcom
Ofcom adjudications published
Ocom publishes reaction to Ultra Wideband consultation
Ofcom publsihes latest broadcast bulletin
Ofcom awards 15 community radio licences
Ofcom Update: Television Broadcast Licensing Update May 2005
ITV - The Future? ITC & 2008 Franchises Awards
