A FUTURE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE TELEVISION CONTENT AND PLATFORMS IN A DIGITAL WORLD

BAFTA members’ survey
delivered in partnership with
A Future for Public Service
Television Inquiry
Omega Douglas
April 2016
Introduction
BAFTA members, who are at the coalface
of enormous changes in the broadcasting
industry and will be responsible for
navigating their way through them in order
to continue to deliver the UK’s globally
respected television content, were invited
to complete a survey addressing some of
the major issues being examined by the
Inquiry. These range from the quality of
UK-originated content delivered by public
service television broadcasters and their
willingness to take risks in the commissioning
of new programmes, to regionalism and the
adequacy of investment in key genres.
The survey, which was anonymous and
voluntary, was completed by 156 BAFTA
members between March and April 2016.
89.6% of respondents are professionally
based in England, 6.5% in Scotland, just 0.65%
in Wales and none are based in Northern
Ireland. The vast majority, 74.5%, have been
working in the television industry for more
than 20 years, or between 10-20 years
(16.3%). A small proportion of respondents,
4.6%, have worked in the industry for five
years or less.
Responses to the 12 survey questions,
most of which were multiple choice but
included space for comment, opinion and
recommendations, threw up a range of
distinct, but related, themes. Broadly, these
can be categorised as follows:
1. Risk: This relates to the extent to which
respondents believe public service television
broadcasters are willing to take risks in
the commissioning of new programmes.
There are numerous comments about this
issue, with many members reporting having
experienced a notable decrease in risk taking.
2. Quality: A recurring theme throughout,
respondents frequently highlight their
concern over the quality of content. They
often link this concern with calls to support
public service broadcasting and mitigate
against commercial pressures.
3. Regions: The issue of whether television
production is too London-centric is the
focus here, with much contrasting opinion
regarding the question of whether production
based in the capital hinders programme
diversity.
4. Governance: Many respondents
commented on both internal and external
governance. The former in terms of
management structures, which most
respondents say requires revision, and the
latter in terms of political interference, which
all who commented say must be avoided.
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