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Select Committee · Culture, Media and Sport Committee

The future of public service broadcasting

Status: Closed Opened: 27 Mar 2020 Closed: 18 Jun 2021 22 recommendations 8 conclusions 2 reports

The inquiry will look at the future of public service broadcasting (PSB) within the wider media and digital ecology, including funding, content and regulation of PSBs and how this compares with alternative subscription, streaming services and Freeview services. In addition to the BBC, there are a number of other broadcasters across the UK with PSB … Show more

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Reports

2 reports
Title HC No. Published Items Response
The future of public service broadcasting: Ofcom Response t… — 3 Nov 2021 0 —
Sixth Report - The future of public service broadcasting HC 156 25 Mar 2021 30 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items
3 Recommendation Sixth Report - The future of public ser… Accepted

Universality is at the heart of public service broadcasting and should remain so.

Universality is at the heart of public service broadcasting and should remain so. Linear broadcast television by PSBs remains important and with delays to full fibre broadband rollout, a wholly online public service broadcasting system allowing for universal access is not yet viable. During the current period of transition, whilst … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government agrees on the importance of universality and states its strategic review of public service broadcasting is examining PSB remits and will consider necessary changes to expectations in light of industry trends and funding.
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Department for Culture, Media and Sport
8 Recommendation Sixth Report - The future of public ser… Accepted

We are pleased that Ofcom highlighted the deficits in children’s programming across the PSB portfolios...

We are pleased that Ofcom highlighted the deficits in children’s programming across the PSB portfolios in 2018 and consider it vitally important that it continues to keep PSB performance in this area under regular review. We recommend that the Government evaluate the success of the Young Audiences Content Fund against … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government confirms that evaluation of the Young Audiences Content Fund is ongoing, and a full evaluation will be conducted to determine its impact, after which a decision will be made on whether to close, maintain, or expand the scheme.
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Department for Culture, Media and Sport
20 Recommendation Sixth Report - The future of public ser… Accepted

Where an established media brand is providing programming, it is not right to make the...

Where an established media brand is providing programming, it is not right to make the default assumption that YouTube’s contribution to the viewer deciding to watch that programme, and therefore its share of the value chain, is the same as where content is user-generated. For news, this approach would, if … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government has launched the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) and tasked it with developing a mandatory code of conduct to address harms from market dominance, including governing relationships between platforms and content producers like news publishers.
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Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Oral evidence sessions

6 sessions
Date Witnesses
15 Dec 2020 Dame Melanie Dawes · Ofcom, Kevin Bakhurst · Ofcom, Rt Hon John Whittingdale OBE MP · Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport View ↗
17 Nov 2020 Dr Caitriona Noonan · Cardiff University, Jacqueline Baker · B Inclusive Task Force, John McVay OBE · Pact, Professor Jeanette Steemers · King’s College London, Professor Philip Schlesinger · Glasgow University View ↗
3 Nov 2020 Chris Bird · Amazon, Georgia Brown · Screen Sectors Skills Task Force, Iain Bundred · BBC, Richard Lewis · YouTube View ↗
15 Sep 2020 Ali Law · Sky, Anne Mensah · Netflix, Benjamin King · Netflix, Maria Kyriacou · ViacomCBS, Mitchell Simmons · ViacomCBS, Zai Bennett · Sky View ↗
14 Jul 2020 Dame Carolyn McCall · ITV, Magnus Brooke · ITV View ↗
16 Jun 2020 Alex Mahon · Channel 4, Clare Sumner CBE · BBC, James Purnell · BBC View ↗

Who gave evidence

23 witnesses
WitnessOrganisationSessions
Alex Mahon · Chief Executive Channel 4 1
Ali Law · Director of Policy, UK and Ireland Sky 1
Anne Mensah · Vice President of Original Series Netflix 1
Benjamin King · Senior Director of Public Policy, UK and Ireland Netflix 1
Chris Bird · Director, Prime Video UK Amazon 1
Clare Sumner CBE · Director, Policy BBC 1
Dame Carolyn McCall · Chief Executive ITV 1
Dame Melanie Dawes · Chief Executive Ofcom 1
Dr Caitriona Noonan · Senior Lecturer, Media and Communication in the S… Cardiff University 1
Georgia Brown · Chair Screen Sectors Skills Task Force 1
Iain Bundred · Director of Policy and Public Affairs BBC 1
Jacqueline Baker · Co-founder B Inclusive Task Force 1
James Purnell · Director of Radio and Education BBC 1
John McVay OBE · Chief Executive Pact 1
Kevin Bakhurst · Executive Director of Broadcasting and Online Con… Ofcom 1
Magnus Brooke · Group Director of Strategy, Policy and Regulation ITV 1
Maria Kyriacou · President, Networks UK and Australia ViacomCBS 1
Mitchell Simmons · Vice President, Government Relations EMEA ViacomCBS 1
Professor Jeanette Steemers · Professor of Culture, Media & Creative Industries King’s College London 1
Professor Philip Schlesinger · Professor in Cultural Theory Glasgow University 1
Richard Lewis · Head of UK & Ireland Content Partnerships YouTube 1
Rt Hon John Whittingdale OBE MP · Minister for Media and Data Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport 1
Zai Bennett · Managing Director, Content Sky 1

Correspondence

3 letters
DateDirectionTitle
25 Mar 2021 To cttee Letter from the Chair to Tim Davie, Director-General, BBC, re licence fee evasi…
17 Nov 2020 To cttee Letter from Rt Hon Oliver Dowden CBE MP, Secretary of State for DCMS, re BBC Li…
3 Sep 2020 To cttee Letter from Dame Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive, ITV, re oral evidence follow …