A <strong>FUTURE</strong> <strong>FOR</strong> <strong>PUBLIC</strong> <strong>SERVICE</strong> <strong>TELEVISION</strong> CHAPTER SEVEN NEW SOURCES OF <strong>PUBLIC</strong> <strong>SERVICE</strong> <strong>CONTENT</strong> 90
New sources of public service content As we outlined in the earlier part of this report, public service content is no longer confined to the traditional public service broadcasting system. The conventional definition of public service broadcasting, as set out by the 2003 Communications Act and understood by Ofcom, is everything produced by the BBC, and the programming undertaken by the main channels of ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 that fulfils the commitments of their broadcast licences. 252 But there is now much audiovisual material being produced outside these parameters – either broadcast or made available online – that shares many of the traditional features and aims of public service television. Some of this is provided by the many commercial operators that broadcast on multichannel platforms, such as Sky or Discovery, as well as by Local TV services; some of it is offered by the new on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon; while some of it is being produced online by arts and cultural organisations such as the Tate or the National Theatre, and by many other bodies besides. Here we offer an overview of this new world of provision and suggest how some of these new forms of public service content could be strengthened through a specific public intervention. Public service television outside the PSB system In Chapter 3, we described how the multichannel revolution has changed the television landscape. Up to 30% of traditional linear television viewing is now to channels not owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5. 253 None of these channels has anyso-called ‘’positive’ public service obligations attached to the terms of their broadcast licences, although they still have to observe the Ofcom code on broadcast standards, including requirements for due impartiality, fairness and protecting the vulnerable. The multichannel world has been allowed to develop without the restrictions that were attached to the traditional analogue broadcasters, and essentially in accordance with market forces. Nevertheless, some of the key genres associated with public service television – news, arts programming, highquality original drama – play a part in the programme mix offered by some of these services. It is important to state, however, that the multichannel operators’ investment in UKoriginated programming, while growing, is limited. In its review of public service broadcasting published last year, Ofcom found that, taken in total, the UK’s ‘non- PSB’ channels (ie also including the portfolio channels of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) spent only £350m in 2013 on first-run UKoriginated programming excluding sport, just 15% of the total investment across the board in all non-sport genres. Sport accounted for more than 80% of the non-PSB services’ investment. 254 252 Communications Act 2003, section 264 (11). S4C is also a public service broadcaster. 253 The combined share of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 portfolios was 72% in 2014 – so 28% was to the rest. See Ofcom, Public Service Broadcasting in the Internet Age: Ofcom’s Third Review of Public Service Broadcasting, 2015, p. 7. The portfolio channels of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 do not count as public service channels, so the share of viewing accounted for by non-public service channels is more than 40%. 254 Including sport, the total was £1.96bn, up from £1.38bn in 2008; non-sport investment rose from £245m in 2008, a 43% increase in real terms. These figures are restated based on 2014 prices. See Ofcom, PSB in the Internet Age, p. 8. 91
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