Apologies for cross posting.
Please respond to the originator of the message and not to ADM Subject
Centre, Thank you.





> ----------
> From:         Aspects of academic research & teaching within Media on
> behalf of Chris Hewson
> Reply To:     Chris Hewson
> Sent:         Tuesday, November 16, 2004 12:03 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      FINAL Call for Responses: "Local and Community Television in
> the UK: Problems and Opportunities"
>
> LOCAL AND COMMUNITY TELEVISION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: PROBLEMS AND
> OPPORTUNITIES
>
> (UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN / COMMUNITY MEDIA ASSOCIATION)
>
> *All responses received by MONDAY 29th NOVEMBER will be considered... all
> contributions welcome.
>
> * A list of more detailed topics - around the allocation of digital
> spectrum, the development of 'Restricted Service Licence' television, and
> Community Media funding (amongst other topics) - is available on request.
>
>
> Chris Hewson ([log in to unmask])
>
> ==========================================================================
> ======
>
> --- PLEASE FORWARD ---   (Apologies for Cross-Posting)
>
> ***WANTED: VIEWS ON THE FUTURE OF LOCAL TELEVISION***
>
> The Community Media Association, in association with the University of
> Lincoln, has commissioned an update of Simon Blanchard's CMA/AHRB report:
> "A
> Third Tier of Television: The Growth of 'Restricted Service Licence' TV in
> the UK - Trends and Prospects" (2001). The remit is to expand upon, as
> well
> as update, Blanchard's original findings.
>
> The report, provisionally entitled "Local and Community Television in a
> Digital World", will be geared towards a fortification of the CMA's policy
> base, as they seek to develop a coherent 'sector-wide' approach to
> underpin
> forthcoming contributions to DCMS and OfCom initiated consultation
> processes - particularly around the development of a 'Local Digital
> Television Order', the securing of digital spectrum for local television
> services, and the continued development of media-centred community
> regeneration programmes.
>
> ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE WELCOME - to be received by Monday 29th November.
> Contributions will be treated (on request) with the degree of
> confidentially
> stipulated.
>
> A summary of the research is included below. Feel free to contact me.
>
> Chris Hewson ([log in to unmask])
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> LINKS
>
> Community Media Association - www.commedia.org.uk
> CMA/AHRB Report - www.bftv.ac.uk/projects/thirdtier.htm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
>
> LOCAL AND COMMUNITY TELEVISION IN A DIGITAL WORLD
>
> RESEARCH BRIEF
>
> This report foregrounds the vital role which LCTV stakeholders must play
> in
> ongoing debates around media reform and regulation - arguments centred
> around competing visions, and definitions, of 'converged media'. It will
> argue that a clear understanding, and vision, of social and technological
> change, within an increasingly networked media ecology, is imperative, in
> order that the LCTV sector might develop robust policy positions, and
> appropriate business strategies, going forward. Through a brief
> examination
> of a number of LCTV cases, and building upon previous research the report
> will provide a concise synopsis of an increasingly diversified sector - in
> terms of both organisational form, and content created - as well
> contributing a number of significant recommendations which could inform
> forthcoming LCTV discussions.
>
> The report will embrace three key policy clusters. Firstly, new provisions
> within the Communications Act , in particular the burgeoning relationship
> between OfCom and the community media sector as a whole. Secondly, the
> work
> of the DTi/DCMS Digital Television Project, in particular the
> opportunities
> and dangers which digital switch-over presents for the LCTV sector, as
> well
> as the manner by which digitisation expands the range of prospective
> distribution mechanisms at the disposal of community media organisations.
> Thirdly, the OfCom Review of Public Service Broadcasting, in particular
> it's
> relationship to the DCMS review of the BBC Charter, and how the LCTV
> sector
> should both seek to understand, as well as influence, these entwined
> processes.
>
>
> THE REPORT WILL PERFORM A NUMBER OF FUNCTIONS
>
> * It will form an initial basis for future consultations with the DCMS and
> OfCom, towards both the refinement of the current LCTV licensing regime,
> initiated by the iTC, as well as the development of a Community Television
> Order and parallel LCTV working group.
>
> * It will consider the issue, and likelihood, of LCTV being recognised as
> public service broadcasting, and the implications for future spectrum
> management.
>
> * It will assess the concomitant issue of partnership working, with
> specific
> reference to the BBC's forays into local and community media schemes, as
> well as the disparate arguments advanced for the public funding of LCTV.
>
> * It will outline a number of LCTV models, principally the proposed
> delineation of the sector into 'profit-making' and 'non-profit
> distributing'
> components.
>
> * It will consider lessons drawn, thus far, from the Community Radio
> licensing process, particularly regarding the definitional construction of
> 'local' and 'community'.
>
>
> IN SUMMARY THE REPORT WILL PROVIDE INITIAL ANSWERS TO THREE PERTINENT
> QUESTIONS
>
> * How can the LCTV sector maintain an adequate stake in both the new
> 'communications settlement', and other New Labour policy schemes?
>
> * How can the CMA best advance specific policy proposals, as well as its
> wider outlook, to Government, OfCom, and the wider media industry?
>
> * Which distinctive models, and paradigms, might the LCTV sector seek to
> invest in, both financially and socially, in order to enshrine itself
> within
> the new communications ecology?
>
>