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

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A FUTURE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE TELEVISION We recognise that ITV continues to produce high quality news coverage and some worthwhile current affairs, notably in the Exposure strand, as well as an impressive, albeit diminished, roster of drama. However, it has all but exited some key genres, reduced it spending and commitment to public service overall, and, mindful of the need to retain popular appeal in programming, has allowed a certain amount of ‘dumbing down’ to take effect, with celebrity-fronted documentaries and a more consumer-led approach to current affairs (see Chapter 10 for a further discussion on current affairs). Without a fresh discussion of its role as a public service broadcaster, it could lobby for further dilution of its commitments to the point whereby it ceased to be a public service broadcaster in any meaningful sense. It is now more than a decade since Ofcom published its first public service broadcasting review that accepted the case that ITV’s PSB contribution would change and reduce over time. 239 We believe that, given the changes to the market since then and the importance of finding ways of sustaining the overall public service ecology, it is time to look again at the role ITV could play in the future. A new deal for ITV The original deal under which ITV produced public service broadcasting was simple: its franchise holders enjoyed advertising monopolies so were required to make public service television in return. They were held to account by regulators who were able to monitor the quality of their output properly. Today, as a result of the multichannel revolution and digital switchover, the deal is less clear cut. It is important to recognise that ITV’s great asset in the past – its access to scarce analogue spectrum – has now disappeared. It is because of this that it no longer has to pay anything other than nominal licence fees and has to do much less public service television than before. But ITV retains two key advantages today: its right to ‘appropriate prominence’ on electronic programme guides and its reserved capacity on the digital terrestrial TV platform, where its channels enjoy a disproportionately high level of exposure. 240 Gauging just how important these advantages are is crucial to any attempt to set criteria for ITV’s public service commitments in the future. Many argue credibly that EPG prominence remains very beneficial to ITV at least in a world where the majority of viewing remains linear, in continuing to reinforce the traditional prominence ITV has had in public culture and the national conversation. Arguably, the benefit that ITV has derived and continues to derive from it has been underestimated; it is highly unlikely at this point in time that ITV would choose to walk away from its third channel status. This is not to say that ITV does not face challenges. While the benefit of EPG prominence remains considerable for now, there is a growing threat to its viability. At some stage in the future, Internet Protocol television (IPTV) will become the norm effectively ending the benefits associated with EPG prominence for broadcasters such as ITV. Even in the short term, the development of new interfaces on some TV sets and other viewing platforms, where 239 Ofcom, Ofcom review of public service television broadcasting, 2004. 240 ITV’s operates a multiplex on Freeview through its subsidiary SDN and all of ITV’s channels apart from ITV Encore are found there; ITV2 is at channel 6 and ITV3 at channel 10. The digital terrestrial platform accounts for the highest share of viewing hours of any platform – 44.3% of the total in 2014, ahead of 40.5% for satellite and 14.6% for cable. ITV’s main channel enjoys a better share on terrestrial TV than on satellite or cable – 15.5% in 2014, compared with 13.6% on satellite. See Ofcom, CMR 2015, p. 195. 84
The changing face of ITV 1993–2002 2016 Grampian TV Central STV ITV Scottish TV Anglia Border TV HTV UTV West Country Tyne Tees Carlton LWT Yorkshire Meridian Granada 85
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A FUTURE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE TELEVIS
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Contents Foreword by David Puttnam
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To instruct democracy, if possible
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Welcome Television is leading a cha
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CONTENT AND PLATFORMS IN A DIGITAL
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PSB channels 71.9% All other channe
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Why television matters Television i
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1982 1990s 2012 The BBC-ITV duopoly
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Time for action Today’s policymak
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Basic principles At the core of pre
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Page 33 and 34: CONTENT AND PLATFORMS IN A DIGITAL
Page 39 and 40: The multichannel revolution Perhaps
Page 51 and 52: The BBC For most people, the BBC is
Page 67 and 68: Channel 4 If the BBC is the most im
Page 71 and 72: Only 8% of Channel 4’s total spen
Page 79 and 80: ITV and Channel 5 The focus of atte
Page 83: CONTENT AND PLATFORMS IN A DIGITAL
Page 91 and 92: New sources of public service conte
Page 103 and 104: Television and diversity We have ea
Page 107 and 108: THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE TELEVISED If t
Page 115 and 116: Nations and Regions Public service
Page 129 and 130: Content diversity One of the key wa
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Sports content now accounts for som
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Talent development and training In
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Conclusion Television is changing.
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Recommendations General The UK’s
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Appointing the BBC board Sir David
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APPLICATION OF THE NOLAN PRINCIPLES
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BAFTA members’ survey delivered i
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Public service broadcasting, public
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Inquiry events Do we still need pub
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Acknowledgements Inquiry Report Con
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A FUTURE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE TELEVISION CONTENT AND PLATFORMS IN A DIGITAL WORLD

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