The Tyne Tees and
Borders television region has been selected for a pilot scheme to
develop new and innovative ways of providing local and regional
news, Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw announced today.
This pilot region, in addition to one in Scotland and one in
Wales, will trial Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNCs)
which are being created to support sustainable multi-platform
regional news. As well as broadcasting in the regional news slots
on channel 3 (ITV and STV), the consortia will be expected to
provide increased local news using multi-media technology. IFNCs
were a recommendation of the Digital Britain White Paper.
The tender process to run each of the three IFNC pilots was also
launched today with an independent panel expected to select the
successful consortia in each region by March 2010.
Ben Bradshaw said:
“It is clear that people want high quality local news from more
than one source. The huge increase in viewers and readers seeking
information about the terrible floods in Cumbria over the last
week is a clear demonstration of that. Its importance to local
democracy, coupled with the acute challenge being faced by
commercial news companies, means there is a need for Government
support. These three pilot programmes are a key step to preserving
the long term future of regional news.
“As well as providing a good mix of urban and rural areas,
holding a pilot that spans the Tyne Tees and Borders regions will
improve the current provision of regional news in the Scottish
Borders and English Borders by having a far more localised news
service, which the audience wants. The Scottish borders could get
a wholly Scottish regional news service and the English borders
area could see a more local and regional news service.
“In return for public investment, the successful bidders for each
of the three pilots must demonstrate innovation and commitment to
deliver trustworthy news on a variety of different platforms.”
The Digital Britain White Paper set out the Government’s
intention to run pilots in Scotland, Wales and one English region.
Tyne Tees and Borders has been selected as the English region
because plurality of local news sources there raises particularly
significant concerns: changes in the regional news scheduling
earlier this year have reduced the offer of broadcast local news
whilst the distribution of local newspapers is relatively low
compared to the rest of England. The broad geographical area will
benefit from a more localised news service. The area also provides
a good test case for an IFNC covering both urban and rural
neighbourhoods.
Currently, the Tyne Tees and Borders area incorporates two ITV
licence regions. They form a cross border region serving part of
the North West, south and south west Scotland as well as north
east England. Running a pilot in this region alongside a pilot in
Scotland could allow those in Scotland to receive Scottish news
instead of English news. Through the IFNC process, the Government
expects to create a news service provided by Scotland for
Scotland, addressing concerns of many viewers in the region. This
would require some technical engineering to existing transmitters
to make this happen.
Interested parties for the IFNC pilots have until 11 December to
levy expressions of interest and 30 December to submit the final
Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) which will be assessed by
published criteria early in the New Year.
All three pilots are expected to be up and running in 2010.
Notes to editors
More information about the tender process and how to apply can
be found at the DCMS website at:
http://www.dcms.gov.uk/what_we_do/broadcasting/5942.aspxThe
evaluation and selection panel will carry out the process of
selecting and evaluating the bids. The Chair of the panel will
work with the department to identify and select other members
based on expertise, skills and knowledge.Ministers have decided
that Scotland, Wales and the Tyne Tees and Borders area of England
will pilot IFNCs. Scotland and Wales were determined through the
Digital Britain process which also said that the Government was
minded to pilot an IFNC in one English region. The reasons why the
Tyne Tees and Borders has been selected are as follows: The North
East (Tyne Tees and Borders) forms an important cross-border
region serving part of the North West (Cumbria), south and south
west Scotland as well as north east England. The region contains
large urban centres and rural areas. There are strong regional
identities associated with the region and an IFNC would offer the
possibility for a significant improvement in the existing service
by offering a greater local focus, in particular, in the Scottish
border area and Cumbria.The region has long been considered as one
where the delivery of news could be improved significantly to meet
audience needs. In comparison to other regions, the North East has
a relatively low local newspaper distribution suggesting plurality
could be improved in this area. Broadband take up in this area is
also very low in comparison to other regions and there is scope
through the IFNC to enhance an online news offering and contribute
to take-up. For television news, ITV North East (Tyne Tees and
Borders) licence areas incorporate two ITV licence regions. There
was a considerable reduction in the local news service following
ITVs decision to run them as a single region for regional news
purposes and move production of the successful Borders regional
news programme Lookaround from Carlisle to Gateshead earlier this
year. Currently, the localised elements of the service are
limited. Most of the output is shared across the whole of Border
and Tyne Tees, with separate sequences in the main 6pm programme
for Tyne Tees and for Border as a whole (i.e. jointly covering the
areas both north and south of the border); and short separate
bulletins after News at Ten. More than 13,000 people objected to
Ofcom about the change when it was first proposed. Viewers on both
sides of the English/Scottish Border were involved in a
considerable lobby against the change. The changes as a result of
Ofcom’s PSB review also meant that Tyneside and Teesside, which
had previously been served by separate news programmes lost those
separate services. An IFNC here could offer an opportunity to
provide a more localised news service.Ofcom’s PSB review contained
research that showed that the proportion of people citing Channel
3 as their main source of regional news in England was highest in
the Borders (39% in England and 51% in the Scottish borders)
closely followed by Tyne Tees (37%) compared to any other English
region. Only the devolved nations were higher.In a scenario of
nations-based licences, Ofcom examined how this would be received
in Scotland. Responses from Scotland to the Ofcom consultation
indicated that a whole-Scottish licence would have popular
support. It could be potentially more cost-effective if production
facilities were concentrated in a single national hub with
news-gathering capability in the individual regions. The
Government envisages that the IFNC pilot in Scotland could
(subject to technical considerations in respect of transmitter
patterns) potentially provide the news for the whole of Scotland
(currently, Tyne Tees and Borders provides the news for the
Scottish borders area) which is something that many citizens,
commentators and politicians have called for. It is estimated that
around 250,000 people live in the Scottish part of the Border
television region and it has been argued they do not receive
adequate news about the devolved Scottish government. Finally,
this region provides an opportunity to test how two IFNCs could
work together providing a contiguous service.
Rationale and approach
It is important the English IFNC pilot can genuinely trial the
IFNC in a way that will test the issues that will inform the
planned rollout from 2012/2013. The Government looked at a range
of factors, data, public interest and areas to test during the
pilot phase.The priority in Digital Britain was to respond to the
threat to the plurality of nations, local and regional news
especially where it remains fundamental to democratic purposes and
informing and educating citizens about their areas and
communities. Scotland and Wales were selected as nations with
devolved government and where the threat to plurality was most
immediate. While Northern Ireland also has devolved government,
plurality (of broadcast news sources in particular) is not
currently at risk. We have also taken account of what lessons we
want to learn as part of the pilot process as well as any
commercial impact on the regulated incumbent Channel 3 licence
holder and have looked at the demographics of the areas. The
regions are those defined by the current Channel 3 regional
licence map and constraints of the configuration of existing
infrastructure. Finally, the Government has considered whether a
pilot area presents specific opportunities to address local and
regional news concerns and how easy local market and technology
considerations lend themselves to an IFNC pilot.
Contacts:
DCMS Press Enquiries and Out of hours telephone pager
Phone:
020 7211 6263
Mobile: 07699 751153
NDS.DCMS@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Emma Marsh.
Phone: 020 72116271
emma.marsh@culture.gsi.gov.uk