BELFAST BRIEFING:Bob Geldof is among those interested in the mooted pot of state money to fund public service broadcasting
BOB GELDOF’S signal that he intends to compete via his television company to become a key news provider in Northern Ireland comes as the clock continues to tick towards the digital switchover.
One morning in 2012 every household and business in Northern Ireland is going to wake up and be part of the digital future.
The current analogue television broadcast signal will be switched off and digital will in theory deliver a greater choice of channels for consumers in Northern Ireland.
The digital switchover is UK government policy and it is going to change not only how people view television but also have a wide-ranging impact on the overall industry.
The transition to a new digital era has already sparked a huge debate about public service broadcasting in Northern Ireland and the staggering amount of money it requires to fund it.
BBC is at the heart of the system in the UK but the North’s publicly-quoted media company UTV is also required under its licence agreement to provide public service programming.
Producing television programmes, particularly high-quality news and current affairs, is an expensive business.
According to Ofcom, the UK media regulator, one of its priorities is to ensure there is a “financially robust alternative provider of public service content alongside the BBC” in the new digital era. It believes new proposals should be developed to ensure “the supply of a choice of high-quality news alongside the BBC in the devolved nations and English regions”.
As part of this Ofcom is recommending that the UK government should sanction a whole new approach to delivering news in the North. The media regulator would like to see “independently funded news consortia” bid for a licence to deliver public service broadcasting.
In order to create the right commercial environment for this Ofcom is recommending big changes to how Channel 3 services – currently operated by UTV in Northern Ireland – are positioned.
Ofcom has recommended that a contestable pot of about
£60-£100 million (€68-€113 million) should be created to fund public service broadcasting. This could mean as much as £10 million up for grabs in Northern Ireland for production and television companies.
Ofcom also believes that Channel 3 services should be structured as “commercial networks with a limited public service commitment, with modest licence benefits balanced by appropriate obligations on a sustainable basis”. In reality what this could translate into is a possible challenge to the role UTV currently enjoys.
UTV, which this year toasts 50 years as the Channel 3 licensee, claims it is the “most watched public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland”.
Michael Wilson, managing director of UTV, believes it is also the most successful regional licensee in the whole of the ITV network. Wilson says UTV is the only ITV region that has a higher regional news audience than its BBC counterpart. And he believes it is crucially important that Northern Ireland has an alternative public service broadcaster other than the BBC.
“We are very committed to delivering a high-quality news provision. We do believe that public funding will be needed going forward to support public service broadcasting but we do not believe it should be simply tied to news provision. That does not take account of what our viewers want – our 10.30pm half hour news and current affairs programme is very successful but that could not be delivered under the current contestable funding model. What we believe is that non-news provision should be subject to contestable funding.”
Wilson said UTV is completely committed to delivering a top quality regional news provision in the North. Its current licence period runs to 2014 and he believes that if the UK government decides to introduce public funding for regional news then UTV is in a good place to defend its current position.
“There is no organisation better placed than UTV to continue to provide the most watched and valued news in Northern Ireland,” Wilson added.
But Bob Geldof appears not to agree.
His company Ten Alps is confident the UK government will reform the current regional news model and when it does he intends to make a move on Northern Ireland.
Ten Alps recently acquired the Belfast-based company Under the Radar whose managing director Trevor Birney is the former editor of current affairs at UTV. Birney says the time is now right to review how public service broadcasting is delivered and how it is funded.
“The traditional model is broken. There has to be a way forward because there is consensus that public service broadcasting needs to be publicly funded going forward.
“There is an opportunity now to create a service that delivers viable, all-inclusive services that can encourage a partnership approach from a number of providers.
“One that, for example, could encourage newspapers to get into bed with broadcasters and share resources,” Birney added.
He said Ten Alps is committed to exploring the new opportunities which he says are now emerging when it comes to public service broadcasting and it is prepared to commit further investment in Northern Ireland.
In the meantime it is a case of watch this space when it comes to the future of the Channel 3 licensee in Northern Ireland.
