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A Public Service Christmas?: Provision of Public Service Programming on BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 & Five from 1992 to 2002

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A Public Service Christmas?: Provision of Public Service Programming on BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 & Five from 1992 to 2002 November 2003 A Public Service Christmas?: Provision of public service programming on BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 & Five from 1992 to 2002 Marina Amoroso and Jamie Cowling Introduction and Summary According to the BBC, ‘vegetating on the sofa in front of the box after a huge Christmas dinner is as much a festive tradition as carols and mistletoe.’1 According to regulators the public service broadcasters’ mission “to educate, inform and entertain” applies as much at Christmas as any other time. But do schedulers and ultimately viewers agree? The UK is experiencing a step change in the British television environment. Increasing competition from new channels on multichannel television has led to accusations that the public service broadcasters are “dumbing down” the schedules and are increasingly reliant on a diet of US imports and entertainment programming, thereby pushing current affairs, the arts and religious broadcasting out of the schedules. In 1992, only 11 per cent of UK households had multichannel television, but that number has been steadily increasing. This years’ Christmas will mark the first time that a majority of UK households (over 50 per cent) have multichannel television. (see figure 1 for 1992 – 2002 data).2 Figure 1 Percentage of UK Homes with Multichannel Access 1992 - 2002 50% 46% 45% 40% 40% 35% 30% 26% 25% 23% 20% 17% 15% 10% 11% 5% 0% 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 Source: ITC Multichannel Quarterly; 13 Dec 2002. 1 The rules and bodies that govern British broadcasting have been radically shaken by the new Communications Act (2003). This is the last Christmas for the anciene regulatory regime operated by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) before the new Communications Regulator Ofcom assumes its powers on 29 December 2003. Our research examines the provision of different genres by the public service broadcasting channels, BBC1, BBC2, ITV, C4 and Five, from 1992 to 2002.3 Our analysis enables us to examine the choice of programmes available to viewers across channels and the diversity of genres provided. The research takes a snapshot of television schedules from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day from 1992 to 2002. The snapshot enables us to establish general trends in the provision of different genres over time and the impact of increasing competition on the television market. The Communications Act (2003) requires Ofcom to conduct a Public Service Television Broadcasting Review (PSTBR), the first of which will be concluded by the end of 2004, to assess the performance of the public service broadcasters in meeting the public service television remit set out in the Act (see Appendix 1). Our analysis reveals a few surprising findings. The public service broadcasters have been accused of dumbing down and chasing ratings. We have found, that at least over the Christmas period, this is not true. Whilst imported content and films make up a large percentage of the Christmas schedules for all of the public service broadcasters, and a surprisingly large percentage for BBC1, taken together imported content and films (which are often one and the same thanks to Hollywood) are falling as a proportion of the total schedule. Our analysis also goes some way to revealing the implicit strategy behind the channel controllers. BBC1, ITV and Five, are mainstream general entertainment channels. They do find some room for other genres, such as religion, but concentrate on more popular fare. Channel 4 and BBC2 broadcast the lion’s share of the factual content available to viewers over Christmas. Our analysis also partially reveals the limitations of this form of research, namely content analysis,which is similar (but not identical) to that employed by the old regulators. Our analysis does show when certain genres are broadcast (see below but not shown) but it fails to include viewing data. Whilst we would like to have included viewing data, the UK viewing dat (unlike most countries) is unavailable to the general public even if it is 10 years old. Perhaps crucially, our genre-based approach is unable to establish programmes that are of a high quality and appreciated by viewers. Under our approach a programme on performing dogs, for example, which is listed in Radio Times as a documentary is counted as such despite its (potentially) low educational value.4 Secondly, our approach also fails to identify what viewers really value in public service content. Viewers may not value a great deal of arts programming at Christmas time, but they may highly value a high quality drama series made in the UK with domestic talent. In our forthcoming publication, Public Service Communications (13 January 2004), we present a framework that addresses these issues. 2 Figure 2 – Programming content for all channels by genre in 2002 Percent of Programming Content for all Channels by Genre 2002 (Total 255 hrs) Regional 1% News/Current Affairs 3% Children’s TV Sport Films 16% 3% 34% Religion 2% Music/Art 6% Factual/Documentary/ Drama Educational Entertainment/Comedy 8% 15% 12% Conclusion Taken in the round this is a good news story for those who value the traditional public service genres – more factual content, more (domestic) children’s television, less imported programmes. On the other hand, a more detailed analysis shows that the different public service broadcasters are taking a different approach to their remit – factual content on BBC2 and Channel 4, and entertainment and drama on ITV and BBC1. Our main findings are set out below. Key Findings: • As a percentage of the total hours broadcast each year, the public service broadcasters are showing more drama, children’s television and factual programmes over the Christmas period. • The public service broadcasters are showing less films and music/arts programmes than they were in 1992. • All of the public service broadcasters combined, from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day in 2002, only broadcasted 5 hours of religious programming. • BBC1 broadcasted the largest amount of foreign content of any of the public service broadcasters from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day in 2002. • Whilst in 1992 foreign content made up just under 60 per cent of ITV’s schedules, by last year under 30 per cent of ITV’s schedule was filled with foreign content. 3 • ITV and BBC1 consistently devote the least time to music/arts programming during the period examined. • Our study gives some support to the notion that music/arts and factual/documentary programming is being pushed from BBC1 and ITV onto Channel 4 and BBC2. 4 Analysis by Genre Imported Content Figure 3 – Total percentage of foreign content broadcast by all channels per year Total Percentage of all Channels' Foreign Content per Year 1992 - 2002 60% 52.5% 50% 48.3% 44.4% 40.1% 40.0% 40% t n e 32.2% c r 30% e P 20% 10% 0% 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 Year Total Foreign Content for All Channels Imported content is a significant part of the Christmas television schedules for all broadcasters. Figure 4 below shows each channel’s foreign content as a percentage of the total hours broadcast in each year examined. In 2002, around a quarter of Channel 4 (24.8 per cent) and ITV’s (26.6 per cent) schedules were imported content, and approximately a third of BBC2 (36.5 per cent) and Five’s (30.1 per cent) schedules were imported content. In 2002 BBC1 broadcast the most imported content, over 40 per cent of the total hours examined in this study. However, ITV, BBC2, Channel 4 and Five have all cut the amount of imported content broadcast during the Christmas period. The only channel to have slightly increased the total amount of imported content during the period of the study is BBC1 from 40 per cent of the schedule in 1992 to 42.9 per cent in 2002. Most imported content for all broadcasters is primarily US films and children’s programming. 5 Figure 4 – Each channel’s percentage of total hours broadcast of foreign content by year Each Channel's Percent of Foreign Content per Year 1992 - 2002 70% 60% 50% t BBC 1 n 40% e BBC 2 c r ITV e P Four 30% Five 20% 10% 0% 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 Year Figure 5 – Programming content trends for all channels Programming Content Trends for all Channels 1992 - 2002 45% 40% 35% 30% t 25% n e c r e P 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 1992 (Total 220 hrs) 1994 (Total 207 hrs) 1996 (Total 209 hrs) 1998 (Total 258 hrs) 2000 (Total 253 hrs) 2002 (Total 255 hrs) Year Films Drama Series Entertainment/Comedy Factual/Documentary/Educational Music/Arts Religion Sport Childrens TV News/Current Affairs Regional 6 Films Films are the mainstay of the Christmas television schedules. However, the amount of hours devoted to films, as a proportion of the total hours broadcast by all channels, declined from 39.4 per cent in 1992 to 33.2 per cent in 2002. Figure 6 below shows the total hours devoted to film broadcast by each channel during the period of our analysis. Figure 6 – Hours of film programmes broadcast by channel per year Hours of Film Programmes by Channel per Year 1992 - 2002 40 35 g 30 n i m m a 25 r g BBC1 o r BBC2 P f 20 ITV o Four s r Five u o 15 H 10 5 0 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 Year There has been a steep decline in the total hours of film content that ITV broadcasts over the Christmas period. In 1992 ITV broadcast 34 hours of films, but by 2002 this had declined to only 13 hours, the lowest of any public service broadcaster.
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