Government regulatory body, Ofcom, has announced that ITV will be allowed to reduce its non-news regional output, allowing the commercial broadcaster to concentrate on more revenue-generating commercial programming.
The long awaited review of the Public Broadcasting report, published by Ofcom today, has given ITV a new remit that, once the digital switchover begins, will require just half an hour of non-news regional programming in England per week.
Until the digital switchover, the proposals will see the commercial broadcaster supporting 1.5 hours per week, reducing broadcast time from the current three hours per week. Ofcom will introduce these changes to ITV’s non-news regional programming obligations immediately, enabling ITV to concentrate on high quality news and original production from around the UK.
The decision will prove controversial and was criticised at the end of December by MPs, television viewers and Unions. Over 100 MPs signed an early day motion protesting about the cuts and Peter Hain, leader of the Commons, branded the plan as “not acceptable”.
ITV has long been arguing that its current public service broadcast (PSB) commitments would become increasingly unreasonable in the face of growing competition from multi-channel broadcasters. The network, which is no longer the cash cow its once was, currently spends around £475 million on analogue licence fees and public service programming.
The Ofcom report also stated that Channel 4 should remain publicly owned and that the BBC should keep its position as “the cornerstone of public service broadcasting”. The media body states that the BBC is at the “heart of the UK public service broadcast system”, but argues that overall PSB is likely to be most successfully provided if there is a range of different suppliers, with access to different sources of funding, and with different institutional models.
Ofcom also suggest that a new Public Service Publisher should be launched using new media platforms such as broadband, mobile and digital broadcasting. Ofcom believes that during the transitional period, between now and the completion of the digital switchover “action needs to be taken to establish a clear and settled framework which the key PSB providers can be sure of their future roles.”
Terrestrial broadcaster, Five should continue to be “market-led”, according to the report, with a content focus on original UK production; leading the way for other commercial channels outside the terrestrial arena to be “encouraged” to develop UK produced content.
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