EBU TOLD REGIONAL BROADCASTERS CAN COMPETE

S4C Chief Executive Huw Jones has told a conference of top European television industry delegates that regional broadcasters can compete in a multi-channel commercial market.
In a keynote speech delivered at the European Broadcasting Union's Presentation 2001 conference in Mainz, Germany, Huw Jones said that these were crucial times for public service broadcasting in Europe. He told delegates that the key to facing up to the challenge of commercial broadcasters was to deliver high-quality programming. However, he warned that public service broadcasters needed the commitment and support of their national governments if home-grown programming in Europe was to fight off cheap, attractive American imports.
He said that broadcasters needed to get the message across that programmes in their national languages were to be cherished as part of the national culture and heritage: “National governments everywhere have to believe in the crucial importance of public service broadcasting for sustaining national culture. Part of our job is to help politicians and viewers see the big picture in the future of television, to persuade them to create appropriate and effective regulations and organisations for their own countries.
“We have to get on with the job of creating, delivering and promoting services which our audiences will truly cherish, services which people feel are a crucial part of their daily lives, services which they will demand that their politicians will protect and support. We have to do this while taking full account of the attractions and methods of our wholly commercial competitors. We have to master the skills needed to compete in a commercial environment while not becoming slaves to its rules.”
The S4C Chief Executive added that even though the cost of making quality programmes was exactly the same, smaller countries unable to readily access substantial revenues from either public service licences or from advertising faced a far greater danger of television becoming dominated by commercial broadcasters free to import high-quality American programmes.
The fifth EBU Presentation conference is held annually at the ZDF Conference Centre in Mainz. The three-day conference is aimed at those specialising in promotion and branding in the television industry.
This year’s conference agenda was organised by the Welsh-language channel, S4C, and the central theme was reinforcing the value of public service broadcasting.
The conference, which attracts delegates from all over Europe, will also discuss themes such as the promotional potential of the internet on television, and the challenge of attracting a younger audience. (SP)