United Kingdom

[GB] Regulator Publishes Public Service Broadcasting Annual Report

IRIS 2007-5:1/17

Tony Prosser

University of Bristol Law School

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has published its first annual report on public service broadcasting. It is required under the Communications Act 2003 to publish reports at least every five years on the effectiveness of public service broadcasters in delivering the range of public service broadcasting, and this will contribute up until the next review. The annual report is purely factual and does not contain any editorial material; it examines output hours for public service programming, viewing figures and the views of regular viewers on the output.

The report found that public service broadcasting, as a whole, continues to be valued highly by viewers; the provision of programmes which help inform people’s understanding of the world (in particular, news and current affairs programmes) is the most important element of such broadcasting amongst viewers and is the area perceived to be best delivered. In peak hours, the provision of news has decreased slightly, but that of current affairs has increased. The provision of factual programmes across all public service channels has increased substantially since 2002. The BBC performs particularly strongly across many of the elements of PSB in delivering news and national events, and also in stimulating knowledge and learning. Of the other public service broadcasters, ITV is appreciated for quality drama and regional identity, and Channel 4 for engaging, high quality and challenging programmes, especially amongst 16 to 24-year-olds. Channel 5 is less strongly appreciated in general, although individual programmes get strong support. Children’s public service broadcasting is valued particularly highly by parents. Public service broadcasting is perceived to be delivering less well on innovation, reflecting the regions, and stimulating learning. Viewing of UK content has decreased in some areas, particularly comedy, and terrestrial viewing of music is down, although viewing of arts programmes has increased. The report also includes detailed figures on the amount of each type of public service output broadcast.