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

A FUTURE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE TELEVISION
So while we may not all watch Games of
Thrones at the same time and on the set in
the living room, millions of us will nevertheless
still watch it – perhaps days later, perhaps
as part of an all-night binge and perhaps on
our tablets on the train home from work. Our
routines and access points may not be the
same but there is little evidence that we have
lost our appetite for television-like content.
On the other hand, there is ample evidence
that television is changing – and changing
fast. Only 35 years ago, the UK had three
channels, a powerful duopoly and audiences
for individual programmes that were
regularly in the tens of millions; now we
have a multichannel landscape, fragmented
audiences, more complex consumption
patterns, new sources of production and a
constant innovation in distribution platforms.
In particular, there is the prospect of a mass
exodus of young people from linear television
to online video consumption that is not
controlled by traditional channels and voices.
This is “the unhooked generation which
does not regard themselves as watching
television” 6 , given that they are now likely to
consume content across a range of platforms
and devices, and we cannot be sure whether
they will ever return to a quiet night in front
of the TV. On the other hand, even the most
‘disruptive’ voices are launching television
channels with Vice Media, a relatively new
entrant to newsgathering that has millions
of subscribers to its videos, set to launch
‘Viceland’ on Sky from the end of 2016. The
fact remains that even the young remain
voracious consumers of television content.
Television is, therefore, characterised by its
durability as well as an underlying fragility
and uncertainty. Just as the landscape is
undergoing enormous change, it is also
characterised by important continuities. The
public service broadcasters (BBC, Channel
3, Channel 4 and Channel 5) continue to
command the majority of viewing – their
share of viewing (if you include their portfolio
channels) has fallen but only from 78.3% in
2004 to 71.9% in 2014; the PSBs also continue
to account for some 85% of investment in
original programming; and the vast majority
of our viewing continues to take place
live via a television set. 7 It is important to
acknowledge these continuities if we are to
appreciate the significance of the change that
is taking place and then to consider how best
to sustain high quality television in the UK.
Sometimes, this means going beyond the
headlines. For example, a recent report
examining the crisis affecting TV news
notes the “significant declines in traditional
television in technologically developed
markets” and argues that television is now
facing the same collapse as the print press
with audiences in the UK declining by some
3-4% per year since 2012. 8 That is true but
highly selective. Viewing to the TV set has
indeed fallen by 26 minutes a day in the
last five years but this has simply brought
it back to exactly the same level that it was
in 2006: 3 hours and 36 minutes every day. 9
Meanwhile, Enders Analysis predict that the
broadcast sector is likely “to account for the
greatest share of viewing for many years to
come” with a scenario that sees over four
hours a day of viewing in 2025 of which
three-quarters continues to take place via a
television set. 10
6
Dennis Broe, ‘Broe on the Global Television Beat’, 2016.
7
Data taken from Ofcom, ‘Public Service Broadcasting the internet age’, presentation to the Inquiry, September 29, 2015. Overall share of
viewing includes the PSB portfolio channels.
8
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen and Richard Sambrook, What is Happening to Television News? Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 2016, p. 3.
9
Thinkbox, A Year in TV: Annual Review 2015, p. 8.
10
Enders Analysis, Watching TV and video in 2025, November 2015, p. 1.
8