Broadcasting Committee

Inquiry into Public Service Broadcasting

Paper to Broadcasting Committee from BOOMERANG, RONDO & Cube Interactive

BOOMERANG, RONDO and Cube Interactive, producers of content in traditional and new media, would like the Committee to consider the views expressed in the inclosed brief paper in its current review of Public Service Broadcasting in Wales. We would be delighted to discuss these with the Committee if that is its wish.

Boomerang+ creates entertainment, factual, sport, music, drama and children's programmes for television, radio and the web. The combination of our in-house talent and resources enables us to operate across the whole spectrum of creative industry activities. Details of the companies within the group and the programmes that we produce can be found on our website, www.boomerang.co.uk

Rondo Media is made up of two of Wales’s foremost independent television companies, both established in the 1980s, who established a new joint venture earlier this year with the creation of Rondo Media. Nant, with offices in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, and Menai Bridge, Anglesey, and Opus TF, based in Cardiff will join forces to create a company of over 120 employees. Details on our website www.rondomedia.co.uk

Cube is an interactive media company working with partners and clients from the traditional television sector who wish to use digital media in an innovative and effective way to reach and engage their audiences. The company consults, designs and develops productions for broadband websites, mobile handsets, live video, interactive digital television and other multi-dimensional channels. Details on our website www.cubeinteractive.co.uk

The Submission

1. As companies that produce content for Welsh and UK broadcasters, the future of PSB in Wales is of great importance to our strategic development. Investment in PSB in Wales is the foundation of our creative energy and makes it possible for us to contribute to the Welsh economy.

2. The committee is aware, from evidence already presented, of the issues that face public service broadcasting over the next few years and the four options outlined by Ofcom in its Consultation document, Digital Opportunity. We believe that Digital Switchover is a real opportunity for Wales and failure to grasp that opportunity could become a threat to our cultural identity and the wellbeing of citizens and consumers in the future.

3. Wales will be the first digital nation in the UK. For a period of two years, its position is unique. There may be technical issues of delivery on the terrestrial system in the early days and there are still issues of broadband delivery where there are areas that are not connected. But both of these problems should be temporary and by the time the whole of the UK has switched over to digital, Wales could have taken its digital opportunity.

4. However, during the two years from 2010 to 2012, there will be a noticeable decline in Welsh public service content on the various digital platforms. The likely scenario has been demonstrated already in evidence previously submitted to the committee particularly in the areas of news and current affairs. The lack of plurality in these areas will be serious and at a time of enormous political, economic and social change, its effect could permanently damage citizenship and lead to lack of engagement with anything Welsh.

5. Public Service Broadcasting is much more than news and current affairs; it is not only journalists who define and refine our identity as we go on. PSB in Wales over the past fifty years has provided the space for different voices to participate in the process. A pure market approach would not achieve this.

6. It has become clear during the past few years that the commercial imperatives of ITV cannot provide the space for the kind of cultural pluralism that citizens expect from its media. There will be a further explosion of content on all delivery platforms and there is a great danger that, in the period between 2010 and 2012, the voices that make us what we are will be not be seen or heard.

7. The people will still be there. As will be the production entities that create content to a high level of professionalism, particularly the burgeoning sector of web and new media production. This sector will have a critical role in Wales’ future communication strategies. The BBC will have a continuing responsibility for funding and distributing PSB content in the English language in Wales but it will always be as part of its UK strategy. The challenge is to ensure pluralism across the arc of PSB, however that is defined.

8. In addition to content commissioned by the broadcasters, a substantial amount of content is produced in Wales already in the corporate sector. Much of this appears on corporate and institutional websites and is funded from public resources. One issue in the digital future will be to identify this creativity and ensure that there is a system in place that will make it easy for citizens and consumers to access Welsh content as effectively as they were able to access public service content on mainstream television. But even that will not fill the gap that will become evident after DSO.

9. We, as companies, compete in the wider markets with content that is made and owned in Wales. This has always been difficult from a Welsh base, but we have found that S4C’s demands for excellence, in its current programme strategy, gives us and other producers the base from which we can compete in these markets. This commitment to providing high quality content and continuity of supply in the Welsh language to S4C means that we have the management, infrastructure and training in place with the capacity to provide content in the English language for distribution on all platforms in the digital future to meet the expectations and aspirations of the people of Wales.

10. We have studied and considered carefully the four options outlined by Ofcom in its consultation document and have come to the conclusion that none of the four options will provide the citizens and consumers of Wales with the level of public service content and distribution that will allow the nation to exist in the digital world. We do not believe that subsidising the current ITV Wales position, despite its universality and popularity, is sensible as it will inevitably be a short term measure. ITV Wales’ provision is part of the solution, but not the strategic option. We also believe that Option 4 will make the provision even more unstable in the short term with no guarantee of longer term benefit. Somewhere between Options 3 and 4, there is an answer.

11. We believe that Wales’ unique situation leads naturally to a customised solution. There is no need to create a new institution in Wales to be the funding agency for new public service content. S4C demonstrates all the requirements of a new institution; it is a statutory funding body, it has an arms length relationship with government, it has a commissioning function, it exercises a compliance function. It has a contractual relationship with the BBC for Welsh language programmes and operates commercially. It has published and operated a clear strategy for the digital future and had an independent review of its supply chain and has developed a robust working relationship with the independent production sector in Wales. It has a well defined relationship with Ofcom and the DCMS in the UK government. Its statutory remit protects the funding of Welsh language programmes and their distribution on all platforms, and it could increase its capacity to provide short term and long term institutional support for public service broadcasting in the English language working with Wales’ strong independent sector to provide content on all platforms

12. In this scenario, Ofcom could create a separate licence for Channel 3 in Wales with obligations to broadcast the funded content in peak hours. In return it would have access to spectrum and retain its prominent position on the EPGs. ITV plc could bid for it as could other operators. The licensee would retain advertising revenue and arrange the appropriate sustaining service.

13. We believe that Ofcom should begin early discussions with S4C to explore the possibilities of this option with a view to putting a structure and some funding in place by the end of digital switchover in Wales. We also believe that the National Assembly for Wales should be fully engaged in the process and begin building up its own expertise, particularly in the difficult area of the relationship between government, politicians and public service broadcasters, which is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy.