Select Committee on Communications
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SELECT COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS REPORT: A PRIVATISED FUTURE FOR CHANNEL 4? Evidence Volume Contents Arts Council England – written evidence (SCF0016) ......................................................................... 1 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) – written evidence (SCF0029) ...................................... 8 British Film Institute (BFI) – written evidence (SCF0017) ................................................................. 9 Campaign for Broadcasting Equality CIO - written evidence (SCF0027) .................................... 15 Channel 4 – written evidence (SCF0019) ........................................................................................... 21 Channel 4 – oral evidence (QQ 41-49) ............................................................................................... 39 The Children’s Media Foundation – written evidence (SCF0005) ................................................ 52 Commercial Broadcasters Association – written evidence (SCF0026) ....................................... 55 Compact Media Group – written evidence (SCF0024) ................................................................... 60 Creative England – written evidence (SFC0014) ............................................................................... 62 Creative Industries Federation – written evidence (SCF0013) ...................................................... 69 Creative Skillset – written evidence (SCF0025) ................................................................................ 75 Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) – written evidence (SCF0021) ................ 81 DCMS – oral evidence (QQ 50-63) ..................................................................................................... 86 David Elstein – oral evidence (QQ 22-31) ......................................................................................... 99 Enders Analysis – oral evidence (QQ 1-10) ..................................................................................... 111 Equity – written evidence (SCF0008) ................................................................................................ 123 Professor Sylvia Harvey – written evidence (SFC0028) ................................................................ 126 Lord Hollick – written evidence (SCF0030) ..................................................................................... 133 Paul Horgan – written evidence (SCF0002) ..................................................................................... 135 Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) – written evidence (SCF0004) ............... 140 International Broadcasting Trust (IBT) – written evidence (SCF0009) ...................................... 145 ITN – written evidence (SCF0015) .................................................................................................... 164 Carolyn Jackson-Brown – written evidence (SCF0006) ................................................................ 174 John Newbigin – written evidence (SCF0007) ................................................................................. 176 Ofcom – oral evidence (QQ 11-21) .................................................................................................. 179 Ofcom - supplementary written evidence (SCF0031).................................................................... 191 Michael Pritchard - written evidence (SCF0001) ............................................................................. 194 Producers Allliance for Cinema and Television (Pact) – written evidence (SCF0022) ........... 195 Pact and Voice of the Listener and Viewer (VLV) – oral evidence (QQ 32-40) ...................... 213 Sandford St Martin Trust – written evidence (SCF0003) .............................................................. 228 Sky – written evidence (SCF0018) ...................................................................................................... 233 Stonewall – written evidence (SCF0012) .......................................................................................... 238 Teledwyr Annibynnol Cymru (TAC) – written evidence (SCF0011) ......................................... 240 Viacom International Media Networks – written evidence (SCF0023) ..................................... 246 Voice of the Listener and Viewer (VLV) – written evidence (SCF0010) ................................... 248 VLV and Pact – oral evidence (QQ 32-40) ....................................................................................... 261 2 Arts Council England – written evidence (SCF0016) Arts Council England – written evidence (SCF0016) Introduction 1. Arts Council England’s mission is 'great art and culture for everyone'. We work to achieve this by championing, developing and investing in arts and cultural experiences that enrich people's lives. 2. As the national development agency for the arts, museums and libraries, we support a range of activities from theatre to music, reading to dance, photography to digital art, carnival to crafts. We support and invest in high quality arts practice and the best emerging practitioners that represent the backbone of our cultural infrastructure and contribute to the future of the UK’s dynamic creative economy. 3. The Arts Council directly invests between £4- 5m each year in public service content initiatives, distributed both online and on television. We work closely with Channel 4, BBC, Sky, Google and others to support innovation in the accessibility and the growth of great arts and culture digitally.1 In addition Arts Council funded organisations are increasingly producing work of this nature as part of their creative mission. This includes companies across England like the National Theatre, Miracle Theatre in Cornwall, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle Gateshead, Royal Opera House, and Norfolk Museums. 4. Our response to the Select Committee focusses on Channel 4 Corporation’s (C4C) engagement with arts and culture. This includes its investment in arts, music and specialist factual programming as well as its important role within the wider cultural ecology and creative industries. 5. The Arts Council believes that: A strong Channel 4 with a continued Public Sector Broadcasting (PSB) remit is critical to the UK’s art, culture and creativity. Channel 4’s innovative arts, music and specialist factual programming makes an essential contribution to current and future PSB plurality. As the main creative competitor to the BBC, it delivers public benefit through increasing audience choice, driving up quality and achieving mass impact and reach. This also impacts on wider public engagement in arts and culture As well as extending broadcast and online output for the arts, Channel 4 is also plays an important role nurturing new voices, talent and diversity within the wider cultural and creative industries. Any consideration of the future sustainability of C4C should consider how it will maintain and strengthen both its current investment in arts and cultural 1 The Arts Council’s Creative Media policy http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/document/creative-media-policy 1 Arts Council England – written evidence (SCF0016) programming and its successful collaborations with arts and cultural organisations Channel 4 could expand delivery of its arts and cultural remit by sharing its expertise, data and platforms with cultural organisations for public benefit. They could do this is by developing and commissioning a new wave of regional independent producers from the arts and culture sector. Any changes to C4C’s business model must ensure its existing public benefit is protected and fulfilled at a minimum. Changes which might lead to reduced PSB remit and reduced original content investment across key genres such as the arts should be avoided. Funding Is C4C financially sustainable? Is the revenue provided by advertising sufficient to make Channel 4 Corporation (C4C) sustainable? 6. Recent independent economic analyses by Ofcom2, Ernst and Young 3 and Enders Analysis4 suggest C4C is financially sustainable. These three reports consider C4C’s place within the wider current and future market, and its resilience to address the impact of digital disruption. Ofcom states that it re-licenced C4C until 2024 on the basis of its current model. 7. Any consideration of the future sustainability of C4C must demonstrate that it is able to continue to balance its commercial sustainability with successful delivery of its public service obligations. Since 2008 there has been a steep 25% reduction in arts and music original content across the PSB compact.5 It would be concerning if the current investments in C4C arts and music genre programming were to further decline. At present C4C has a broad cultural offer reaching a diverse audience, and the potential to reach niche markets not served by other broadcasters. This offer would likely be reduced and narrowed. Are there any other commercial/non-commercial revenue streams which could/should be explored? 8. Channel 4 is an important source of public investment in the arts and through its specialist factual output, in history, science and ideas that support our knowledge economy. 2 “In relicensing the core C4 service for ten years in 2014, we made it clear that we believed that the current funding model for that channel was sustainable.” From Public Service Content in a Connected Society, Ofcom’s third review of public service broadcasting (Dec 2014) http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/reviews-