Fifth Report - Public broadcasting in Scotland

While we acknowledge the UK Government has made a commitment to maintain Freeview for a significant number of years yet, we see no reason why the forthcoming Ofcom review should prevent the UK Government from giving certainty of continued coverage … Read more While we acknowledge the UK Government has made a commitment to maintain Freeview for a significant number of years yet, we see no reason why the forthcoming Ofcom review should prevent the UK Government from giving certainty of continued coverage beyond 2034 to households in Scotland reliant on Freeview at the earliest opportunity. We recommend that the UK Government signal that it will maintain Freeview beyond 2034. To support this, the UK Government should fully capitalise on the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference in November and place Freeview high up the agenda to help address this uncertainty as soon as possible. (Paragraph 35) Broadcast of sporting events Show less

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We agree that reforms to the existing legislative framework are necessary to help to secure the future sustainability and quality of public service broadcasting in the UK. However, we are concerned at the lack of a clear timetable to debate … Read more We agree that reforms to the existing legislative framework are necessary to help to secure the future sustainability and quality of public service broadcasting in the UK. However, we are concerned at the lack of a clear timetable to debate the UK Government’s planned reforms in Parliament. The UK Government should remain committed to legislating for these reforms before the end of this parliamentary session. We recommend that the UK Government schedule parliamentary time to begin considering the Media Bill within the next two months. Show less

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Setting up an inter-ministerial group on media and culture would be a welcome and sensible step to help formalise conversations between the UK and devolved Governments on broadcasting-related issues, not least facilitating a joined- up approach to ensuring the continued … Read more Setting up an inter-ministerial group on media and culture would be a welcome and sensible step to help formalise conversations between the UK and devolved Governments on broadcasting-related issues, not least facilitating a joined- up approach to ensuring the continued growth of Scotland’s screen sector. We recommend that such a group should be established this year, and that its terms of reference should include skills in the UK screen industry. We also call on the Scottish Government to further prioritise its work on screen industry skills in Scotland, to work in tandem with the inter-ministerial group. (Paragraph 59) Public broadcasting in Scotland 25 Show less

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The broadcasting landscape in Scotland is diverse and vibrant, with viewers able to choose from an increasingly wide range of content, much of which is made specifically for viewers in Scotland. Many domestically successful and internationally renowned TV shows continue to be filmed in Scotland and some are produced there …

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The favourable reception of the BBC Scotland channel shows that, despite longstanding concerns about how Scotland is represented and portrayed on BBC services, Scottish audiences respond positively to BBC content that reflects them and their lives. In a world of continuing budget constraints as well as increasing co-commissions with global …

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We welcome the decision to keep Channel 4 in public ownership, and the commitments it has agreed with the UK Government on investment in skills and jobs outside of London as part of that decision. The evidence we took suggests this decision will help to support the continued growth of …

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We are firmly of the view that the current lack of opportunities to watch Scottish international football on free-to-air broadcast is letting down fans in Scotland, who are at a disadvantage compared to fans in England and (for now) Wales. The UK Government must be more proactive in acknowledging and …

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The UK Government should communicate a clear expectation to public service broadcasters in Scotland that they should be regularly and proactively approaching subscription services which have purchased the rights to broadcast major Scottish sporting events, to explore options for sharing those rights. It should also clearly communicate to subscription services …

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The UK Government should also establish a review to consider options to improve free-to-air access to Scottish international football. This should involve representatives from Viaplay and Sky as the current and former purchasers of the rights to broadcast Scottish international football, the Scottish Football Association as the rights holder, and …

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We support the UK Government’s proposal to extend the prominence regime for public service broadcasters to cover on-demand PSB content hosted on designated internet-enabled TV platforms. The technological developments driving the need for this change make this a time-sensitive reform, and representatives of public service broadcasters we heard from were …

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While content from BBC Scotland and BBC ALBA is available on BBC iPlayer, the high-profile status of which makes this content more easily discoverable, content from STV will be harder for Scottish viewers to find if STV Player is seen by new global TV platforms as a less important ‘regional’ …

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