Written evidence submitted by Together TV The Future of Public Service Broadcasting The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee 1. Executive Summary 1.1 As Public Service Broadcasting reaches its centenary we should recognize, value and invest in its contribution to the UK’s societal, cultural and economic life, being an exemplar in news, creativity, culture, community impact, learning, innovation and informing the public – in the UK and globally. 1.2 The concept of public service broadcasting is still highly valuable and valued by the 95%+ of the UK population who engage with PSB content weekly, and the function of public service broadcasting remains a vital public good that we should treasure and invest in growing. 1.3 The regulatory framework is a compact that provides guaranteed prominence and distribution for the PSBs in return for obligations regarding public purposes – needs to be strengthened and redrawn for the new decade to put more emphasis on digital content and prominence, local to global impact, and to enable the PSBs to innovate and compete with agility. Commercial SVOD should be included in the regulatory framework. Free to air TV and PSB prominence on TV and SVOD should be ensured in return for content obligations. 1.4 Representation: A new PSB settlement should ensure that representation across content, staff, suppliers and audiences should be objective for the PSBs. The PSBs should have a clear remit to widen their reach to younger audiences, to be an inclusive resource to all UK citizens, across, and representing our nations, regions and localities. 1.5 Accessibility: It is essential that everyone in the UK – regardless of income, geography or age – has access to universal and free news and public service content. Until there is free universal broadband to every home the current TV distribution platforms should remain in place. Ability to pay should not disenfranchise viewers from accessing PSB content on any platform. 1.6 Impact: Public service content, delivered via broadcast and digital, inspires societal, cultural, economic and behavioural positive impact, at a time when other public services are under enormous strain. We should do more not less of this do drive social impact through our public service channels, supporting them with prominence on TV and on SVOD. 1.7 Looking ahead: Each PSB faces constraints strategically (obligations, market impact, ownership, scale), and we need them to have the scale and resources to survive the massive structural shifts and changes to the competitive landscape over the coming decade. They should play an ongoing vital role in our societal, cultural and economic structures. We need to reframe how the PSBs deliver their purposes, how this can be done effectively, and expand the definitions of PSB content and services to new platforms, technologies and consumption patterns. The PSBs need a regulatory framework that can enable them to swiftly compete. Supporting this delivery we must consider overhauling organizational structures to remain competitive and viable. Bold thinking is required for the PSBs to remain champions of UK news, arts, lives and culture and communities into the 2030s. 2. About Together TV 2.1 Together TV is the UK’s leading broadcaster for social change, inspiring people to make positive change in their lives and communities. Launched in 2000 as the Community Channel, Together TV is watched by 4 million unique viewers a month; our Facebook page reaches 2 million a month. We show entertaining content that focusses on wellbeing and creativity. We champion diverse voices, and communities. We open our audience’s eyes to opportunities around them and motivate them to take part. 2.2 As a result of watching, our viewers change attitudes, gain confidence and do more for themselves and their community, from volunteering for a charity to getting involved in a creative project, from fundraising for a cause close to their heart, to getting help and support. 2.3 During lockdown, as with the PSBs, our audiences increased significantly, and we were able to help isolated and vulnerable people across the UK, connecting people with local community support via our broadcast, telephone, text and online channels. 2.4 We are the world’s only national channel run as a charitable organization and owned by its supporters. We have worked in partnership with the PSBs, platform operators, commercial channel groups and news publishers throughout our history. We partner with broadcasters and charities to add reach and impact to their social action campaigns. The PSBs and platform operators are on our board of trustees. 2.5 The wider media and digital industry provide donated bandwidth and carriage, namely Sky, Arqiva for Freeview, Virgin Media and Freesat, along with content, marketing and expertise from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Discovery, Sky, Viacom, Facebook, and print newspaper groups. 2.6 We recognise the value that universal and free public service media delivers to the national fabric of UK life - culturally, economically and democratically, and argue that the UK should treasure and invest in public service broadcasting to grow both its impact and sustainability at a local, regional, national and global level. 3. Regulation 3.1 The concept of public service broadcasting is still highly valuable and valued by the 95%+ of the population who engage with PSB content weekly, and the function of public service broadcasting remains a vital public good even as the mechanisms for distributing and accessing it changes. Regulation, statutory and regulatory obligations have been and remain key to delivering impact and reach for PSB. 3.2 The regulatory framework for the PSBs has remained stable and subject to incremental changes since the last Communications Act, with the major change being the BBC being brought under Ofcom regulation. The interests of citizens have been largely balanced with those of the consumer, though there has been a disappointing weakening of obligations on local TV broadcasting. 3.3 This framework – the compact that provides guaranteed prominence and distribution for the PSBs in return for obligations regarding public purposes – needs to be strengthened and redrawn for the new decade to put more emphasis on digital content and prominence, without losing the balance and ecology between citizen and consumer, and to ensure the commercial non-PSB media and SVOD platforms do not unfairly disadvantage our valued PSBs. 3.4 New commercial entrants have benefitted the public as media consumption has increased and new entrants have created and addressed new audience habits. However new platforms have also brought misinformation, fake news and declining trust. In times of crisis people go back to trusted news sources, and in this recent time of crisis viewers, including 16-34s, have (temporarily) gone back to the PSBs who have been reporting on and reflecting the UK back to viewers. 3.5 The value of prominence cannot be underestimated. Prominence and distribution are huge drivers of linear audiences, and top-page EPG prominence helps deliver substantial in-built audiences. The EPG has been the ‘shop window’ for TV channels for the last twenty years. This must continue for at least another decade until all UK citizens have access to adequate and affordable broadband. 3.6 The new shop windows are the home pages of BBC iPlayer, the other catch-up services, SVOD platforms and new devices (e.g. Amazon Fire, Chromecast, AppleTV, smart TV app stores). Discoverability within these services determines how well content performs and strengthening PSB prominence across on-demand apps should be supported and enabled. 3.7 A priority for PBSs is for the public to recognize that they create unique, distinctive programming, take creative risks and support British talent and wider social wellbeing. If this investment, both financially and creatively, loses all brand attribution for the broadcaster then it becomes harder to justify the BBC licence fee and wider PSB. 3.8 SVOD services should be brought under the Ofcom Code to ensure requirements around fairness, impartiality and due accuracy for current affairs, investigative or news content. This would require a UK licencing regime as some may fall outside of jurisdiction. Beyond this there are areas of divergence that need to be addressed, largely around content labelling and discovery, and potentially commercial references (e.g. product placement). 4. Representation 4.1 There have been some clear steps to address the London-centric nature of the PSBs over the last 15 years, with major production centres moving to other UK cities, increasing wider representation of UK citizens, which we welcome. We would like to see further investment in local content creation, production and reporting. 4.2 We would not want any changes in the PSB model to reduce commitments to regional bases, regional content, local radio and local news, including digital and social media content. An increased emphasis on partnership between PSBs and content creators could increase representation of the UK’s diverse communities across all ages. 4.3 Many commercial new entrants in online news publishing have struggled to find workable business models and are being sold off cheaply, having their valuations written down massively, retrenching or folding – and the legacy news players seem to have found a path through this. 4.4 There is an opportunity to reimagine local news provision in the coming decade, with opportunities in radio, smart speakers, podcasts, streaming services and addressable TV. 4.5 The broadcasters, PSB and commercial, acknowledge they have a long way to go to truly represent the UK’s diverse communities both on-screen/air and in the workforce. Digital I’s Mind the Viewing Gap report from 2017 shows how BAME viewers are underserved by the PSBs and are not watching as much as white viewers. Likewise representation of people with disabilities should be stronger.