This is not a history issue but is something I thought some of you might
be interested in
***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 (preferably) before Friday
October 22nd, so they can be included in the report’s first drafting, and
be included within ongoing strategic discussions. 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])





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LINKS



Community Media Association - www.commedia.org.uk

CMA/AHRB Report - www.bftv.ac.uk/projects/thirdtier.htm

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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?