Mixed blessings for regional programmming in Ofcom PSB report

The BBC must remain the cornerstone of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB), Channel 4 should not receive a portion of the licence fee and ITV1's quota for regional production should be increased to 50%, according to an Ofcom review of PSB, published today.
The Communications Act 2003 required Ofcom to report on the effectiveness of the existing television public service broadcasters - BBC, ITV, Channel 4, S4C, five and Teletext - in the delivery of their PSB obligations; and to make recommendations for maintaining and strengthening the quality of PSB for the future. Today’s publication completes the period of analysis and public consultation.
The report finds that the BBC should remain strong, independent and properly funded by the licence fee; ITV1 should remain a free-to-air broadcaster and should focus on its core strengths of original production, news, regional news and drama; Channel 4 should remain a publicly owned, commercially funded broadcaster, with a specific remit for innovation; And five should be primarily market-led, focusing on UK original production.
The report also found that other commercial digital channels should be encouraged to develop further their investment in high-quality UK content, using an incentive approach to PSB classification.
The report states that there is not an "immediate case for the direct public funding of Channel 4", instead the broadcaster should develop further its proposals for self-help including cost savings, commercial ventures and alliances. In the immediate future, however, Ofcom will consider the proposals for assistance which have been put forward by Channel 4, including conferring the benefits of PSB on specific Channel 4 activities, with possible benefits in terms of EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) positioning, rights agreements and exemption from spectrum pricing. Consideration should also be given by government to proposals for funding the exceptional one-off expenditure associated with Channel 4’s transitional digital switchover roll-out costs, according to the report.
While Ofcom proposes to increase ITV1’s quotas for out-of-London production to 50% (both value and volume), representing more than £40 million additional spend per annum outside London in 2006 and beyond, the report states that regional programming in England should be reduced. Ofcom will implement reductions for non-news regional programming in the English Regions from three hours a week to 1.5 hours in 2005, with all of the reductions occurring out of peak hours. Additionally, when digital switchover begins, Ofcom proposes to reduce the minimum requirement for non-news programming in all the English Regions to 0.5 hours a week.
Regarding public service broadcasting in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Ofcom proposes that Scottish TV, Grampian TV, ITV Wales and UTV be required to broadcast at least four hours per week of English language non-news regional programming, to be reduced to three hours per week upon digital switchover.
Stephen Carter, Ofcom's Chief Executive, said: “We believe that our decisions and recommendations are rooted in the realities of the developing digital television market.”
He added: “The challenge for the next five years will be to guarantee the provision of high quality public service content from a variety of providers.”
(GB)