Ofcom publishes 'hypothetical'
tender document for the potential PSP
Ofcom's ongoing Review of Public Service Broadcasting has identified
an emerging deficit in the provision of public service broadcasting as
television moves to digital, audiences for terrestrial analogue commercial
television continue to decline and the value of analogue licences - which
include substantial public service broadcasting
obligations - therefore continues to diminish.
Ofcom's conclusion in its Phase 2 report - that the current model for
public service broadcasting would not survive the transition to a fully
digital future - found broad agreement across the sector.
In response to those findings, Ofcom has proposed the combination of
a public service broadcasting-focused BBC, appropriately governed and
regulated; a free-to-air ITV with core public service broadcasting obligations;
Five to invest more in original programming with more flexible public
service broadcasting obligations; and Channel Four to
remain not-for-profit, with sharper focus on its public service
broadcasting obligations and greater scale through alliances, joint ventures
and partnerships.
However, Ofcom has also concluded that this combination alone would not
be sufficient to achieve the task asked of it by Parliament in Section
264 of the Communications Act; namely to maintain and strengthen the quality
of public service broadcasting in the UK.
Ofcom has therefore also proposed the establishment of a new entity,
provisionally called a Public Service Publisher, to ensure that the necessary
level of competition for quality in public service broadcasting continues
through the transition to digital.
PUBLIC SERVICE PUBLISHER
Since the proposals were published on 30 September, a number of organisations
and individuals have expressed interest in the idea of a Public Service
Publisher and have sought further clarity over what form this would take,
when it would begin operating and how it would function.
In response to those requests, Ofcom is today issuing a hypothetical
tender document for the potential PSP.
This is deliberately exploratory in nature; its intention is to ascertain,
through wide debate, the potential merits of - and possible opportunities
presented by - the suggested new entity.
Ofcom invites all parties who have expressed an interest in the PSP,
as well as others, to contribute their views; there will be further discussion
of the potential options identified through the hypothetical tender exercise
at an industry seminar on 2 December.
Those contributions, together with the input of other ongoing consultation
activity and research, will inform Ofcom's firm recommendations on public
service broadcasting in general - and the PSP specifically - in early
2005, ahead of the Government's Green Paper on the BBC Charter Review.
Ofcom Chief Executive Stephen Carter said: "Many have agreed with
our diagnosis of the problem - that the status quo will not survive the
move to digital."
He added: "There appears to be significant interest in the idea
of a Public Service Publisher. This hypothetical tender will hopefully
help us and others ascertain whether the idea has real practical and operational
merit."
The hypothetical tender document for the Public Service Publisher is
available at: www.ofcom.org.uk
|
