If the ITC is to put viewers’ interests at the
heart of its operations, it must first find out what they think. Accountability,
through an informed understanding of the views and concerns of consumers, is
therefore our priority.The ITC operates in the interest of viewers, researching and consulting extensively, responding to complaints and enquiries and developing new televisual technology.
If the ITC is to put viewers’ interests at the
heart of its operations, it must first find out what they think. Accountability,
through an informed understanding of the views and concerns of consumers, is
therefore our priority.
Consulting the Public
In May 2000, the ITC embarked on what was probably the most exhaustive programme of research into what viewers want and need from Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) ever under-taken. This consultation exercise continued throughout the year, encompassing citizens’ juries, children’s workshops, a survey of 6,000 people on the Broadcasters Audience Research Board panel, interviews with MPs, journalists and academics, an Oxford Union debate, plus a series of public meetings in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – each attended by an average of 100 people – including a seminar with the National Consumer Council.
By the end of this process the ITC had collected an invaluable body of information that will help to reassess the concept and value of PSB in the digital age, including the role of regional programming. Key findings to emerge are that viewers believe that regional programming is essential – along with a flourishing regional production base – and that competition between the BBC and ITV maintains high quality, range and diversity, or as one member of a citizens’ jury put it: ‘The competition with the BBC forces the BBC to put on good programmes; the one pushes the other and it’s good for the viewer’. Good quality news, drama and children’s programmes were seen as vital on free-to-air services. Findings such as these will help the ITC to set objective remits for its licensees and increase the positive pressure on them to deliver. (See Figures 24, 25 and 26 at the end of the chapter).
During the year, the ITC also tested public and stakeholder opinion on a range of other issues including the proposed merger between Carlton and United News & Media, the regulation of interactive services, and proposed revisions to the ITC’s Programme, Sponsorship and Technical Performance Codes. Responses were analysed and helped to shape ITC policy on these issues. A joint consultation with OFTEL and the OFT resulted in a report to Government in November on the availability, affordability and accessibility of digital television.
In addition to the PSB surveys, an extensive programme of audience research included the ITC’s long-running annual survey of viewers’ attitudes: Television: The Public’s View, and two pieces of joint research with the BBC and Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC), one on bad language and one on how families use the watershed. In 2001, the ITC will develop its collaborative research activities as part of its work on integration with other regulatory bodies in anticipation of the ITC’s merger into a proposed OFCOM.
The work of the ITC’s Viewer Consultative Councils is being reviewed in the light of the White Paper and the establishment of a National Viewers Council is currently being investigated. This would inform the ITC’s regulatory policy and practice, and improve the accountability of both regulation and the sector in general. The ITC continues to listen to independent, expert advice from its advisory committees on advertising, religious, schools and medical matters.
Widening the debate
Building on its canvassing of viewers’ opinions, the ITC has encouraged special interest groups to voice the concerns of those people they represent. Following publication of the Communications White Paper, a joint seminar was organised with Public Voice, a new public sector campaign established to secure regulation in the public interest. The findings of the ITC’s PSB research provided a key topic for discussion at this event.
In November, a similar joint venture with Age Concern provided a platform from which to present research highlighting the views of older people. The event drew to the attention of programme makers and advertisers the fact that that many over-50s felt that they were not always represented in a positive light on television.
Further investment in citizen’s juries across the UK, community initiatives in partnership with other organisations and greater contact with special interest groups is in prospect.
Dealing with complaints and enquiries
An analysis of viewers’ complaints and comments informs the ITC’s licensing and regulatory decisions and the constructions of its Codes. To provide a better focal point for this process, a Viewer Relations Unit (VRU) is to be established. It will pull together the ITC’s complaints handling and information provision operations to provide an effective and speedy first port of call for all external enquiries. Using call centre technology, and soon to be supplemented by an improved public interface via the ITC’s web site, the VRU will aspire to best practice in customer service.
Openness and transparency
The ITC undertakes a number of measures to promote a wider public understanding of its role and objectives and the regulatory framework.
News releases, supplemented by targeted briefings for journalists on major issues, ensure that the ITC’s work and policies are reported extensively in the press.
The ITC web site is a popular resource, attracting an average of over 1,000 external hits per day. It was enhanced during the year to enable users to view responses to the joint consultation on digital television online, and to allow contributions to the ITC’s PSB consultation to be submitted direct. A subscription service was launched giving users the option of email notification each time a news release is published on the site. A series of television promotions inform viewers of the ITC’s key responsibilities. A BMRB tracking study conducted during an ITC television campaign in April 2000 revealed that 71 per cent of those asked had heard of the ITC and the main words they used to describe the ITC were ‘fair’ and ‘sensible’.
Contact details for all ITC offices are published in all regional editions of the TV Times. A bimonthly ITC Bulletin is circulated widely to the media and special interest groups.
On the political front, the ITC maintains close liaison with Westminster and Whitehall and with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, (DCMS), its sponsoring Department, in particular. Peter Rogers, the ITC’s outgoing Chief Executive, spoke to the All Parliamentary Media Group about the need to simplify regulation whilst retaining public service and regional content and the Chairman addressed the All Parliamentary Cable and Satellite Group about regulatory change. The Heads of ITC in Wales and Scotland were respectively invited to brief members of the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament on the ITC’s work.
ITC staff in the Nations and Regions maintain regular contact with their constituency MPs to keep the concerns of viewers on the political agenda. Staff also met with MPs at the House of Commons. Evidence was given on two occasions to the National Assembly for Wales. A breakfast meeting, reception and a joint seminar (with the National Consumer Council) at the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party conferences, respectively, provided platforms for the ITC to discuss with MPs the Communications White Paper.
Information and education
In 2000, the ITC Library dealt with 2,102 enquiries and visits from broadcasters, programme makers, the press, consultants, media students and researchers. A review of the Library operation is now underway which will focus on the provision of briefing and research services for ITC staff, while ensuring that its valuable archives remain accessible by the public as the ITC becomes part of a new intergrated regulator for the communications sector.
The ITC was chosen by the Institution of Electrical Engineers to present the prestigious national Faraday Lecture tour in the early part of 2001 on the subject of digital television. Six young presenters were identified from Granada and Yorkshire Television, S4C, London News Network, Goldsmiths College and from ITC staff.
Technology for the benefit of viewers
The ITC continues to carry out technological research in support of its functions and for the benefit of viewers. For example, the ITC leads the European project ViSiCAST (Virtual human Signing: Capture, Animation, Storage & Transmission) which is developing 3D virtual human technology to provide British Sign Language translation for profoundly deaf viewers. The system has already received much interest from UK broadcasters. Early opposition to the system from the deaf community is now waning as its ability to provide sign language access to substantially more material than conventional human signing is understood. The ViSiCAST project is also applying these techniques to sign language provision on the web and in face-to-face service environments such as the Post Office.
The ITC also currently leads the Department of Trade and Industry funded project DICTION that is developing a receiver system capable of reducing background noise in television programmes. The system processes standard stereo programme audio so that foreground speech is made clearer and more intelligible to people who suffer from presbycusis (a physical and cognitive problem in which sufferers have a reduced ability to distinguish speech from background noises). A prototype system has been developed and the ITC’s research fellow at the University of Manchester’s Age and Cognitive Performance Research centre will evaluate its performance in 2001.
In a further major project in 2000, an ‘intelligent viewer advisor’ software system capable of interpreting programme guide information to pre-select and record programmes based on viewer preferences was successfully developed under contract to the ITC by Applied Psychology Research.
Corporate accountability and internal effectiveness
Across all its activities the ITC intends to improve its internal efficiency so as to achieve greater corporate accountability. In making these improvements, the ITC will hold fees to licensees constant during 2001.
Initiatives currently taking place include the completion of the ‘Breakthrough’ review, which will result in the formation of a new Policy Group, a strengthened Strategy and Economics team, more cost-effective and collaborative working arrangements and the adoption of a strategic approach to financial planning.
The ITC will seek to improve management skills, implement a flexible system of appraisal and training, and improve diversity in recruitment and promotion through fair selection training and effective monitoring. The aim is a smaller but more highly skilled workforce.
The refocusing of the ITC’s presence in the Nations and Regions is underway. Centres of excellence in Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham and Winchester, and home-based posts in other key programme production locations, will concentrate resources and provide improved interactivity with the public at national, regional and community level. Plans for the introduction of new technology and new posts to improve contact with viewers, licensees and the media are being put in place.
fig 24
"How important is it that ITV continues to show the following
types of programmes?"
fig 25
"There are free general entertainment channels that show a wide
variety of different programmes and cater for all tastes".
There was
virtually unanimous agreement in support of this statement.
No difference
between terrestrial-only and multichannel viewers.
fig 26
"Because of the range of different kinds of programmes shown by
the BBC, ITV, C4/S4C and C5, I get to see good programmes that I would not have
thought to watch".
This was particularly the case for the over 45's,
ABC1's and those in terrestrial homes.
 
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