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Ofcom’s Second Public Service Broadcasting Review - Phase One: The Digital Opportunity: FAQs

What is Public Service Broadcasting (PSB)?

Ofcom believes that PSB programmes should reflect life in the UK and our cultural identity. They increase our understanding of the world, stimulate our knowledge and interests and make us aware of different cultures and viewpoints.

Who are the public service broadcasters?

Publicly-owned: BBC, Channel 4 and S4C
Commercial: ITV1, five and Teletext

What does Ofcom want to achieve from Phase One of the PSB review?

Our consultation starts the debate about four different long-term funding models for PSB, some of which will involve new forms of public support for commercially-funded channels. We want the debate to be wide-ranging and we want to encourage many different people to contribute.

How is PSB currently funded?

In a variety of ways, including the licence fee, direct public funding at UK, national or local levels, implicit subsidies and competitive contracts.

What are the four funding models you are suggesting?

1. Evolution: the BBC, ITV1, Channel 4 and five continue to provide public service programming as they do now, though with either extra public funding or fewer obligations for the commercial channels.

2. BBC only: ITV1, Channel 4 and five become purely commercial and the market provides competition to the BBC.

3. BBC/Channel 4 plus limited competitive funding: the BBC and Channel 4 are the main UK-wide public service broadcasters with other providers bidding for limited long-term funding to provide additional competition to the BBC.

4. Broad competitive funding: A wide range of providers – not just ITV1, Channel 4 and five – bid for long-term funding to provide public service competition to the BBC.

You are obliged under the Communications Act to conduct a review at least once every five years; why have you begun this review early?

Audiences value PSB content and they value the competition that the commercial public service broadcasters provide to the BBC. But the review also highlights that the current way that PSB is provided is not sustainable.

The cost to commercially-funded public service broadcasters of making programmes is going up while the financial benefit of being a PSB – the privileged access to terrestrial broadcasting spectrum – is going down.

In addition, viewers are accessing PSB programmes in many different ways. Digital television and broadband, for example, simply weren’t in many people’s homes when Ofcom was created in 2003. Today, they are wide-spread.

How much PSB is currently delivered by the PSBs?

In 2007 the five main channels (BBC1, BBC2, ITV 1, Channel 4 and five) broadcast 5,543 hours of PSB programmes in peak-time (6pm-10.30pm), and 9,952 hours in daytime, of first-run originated output

Ofcom has no remit in regard to the internet. Why has Ofcom included online content in this review?

The review needs to take into account the wider context within which the public service channels currently operate and the different ways in which content is distributed and consumed now and in the future. In doing this it is important to look beyond the PSB channels. PSB-type content is increasingly being delivered by non-PSB providers – both on television and on the Internet.

What do you mean by ‘plurality’?

Plurality is the delivery of PSB by more than one provider. The BBC is the biggest provider of PSB. Our audience research has shown that people believe that public service content should also be provided by others – particularly for news and current affairs.

PSB is a statutory obligation so surely the PSBs have to deliver it?

Commercial public service broadcasters are required to deliver PSB because it is part of their licence requirements. If they wanted to stop providing PSB, they could hand their licences back to Ofcom and broadcast on digital platforms only. They would risk losing their entitlement to gifted capacity on Freeview.

What is the timetable for the review?

Phase One of the Review was published on 10 April 2008, and will be open for public consultation until 19 June 2008. We hope to publish the second phase in autumn 2008 with a consultation period probably until the end of 2008. A final statement can be expected early in 2009.

How can I get involved in the debate?

You can submit a formal response to the consultation. Details of how to do this are contained in the PSB consultation document which can be found at:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/psb2_1/

In addition to the formal consultation, Ofcom has also launched an online blog for people to debate the issues in the review. The blog site can be found at:
http://ofcompsbreview.typepad.com