A Smarter BBC Charter for Wales?

We know where programmes for Wales will be made in the near future,
but will the BBC properly reflect Wales?
(Pic : BBC Wales)

Last Wednesday, the National Assembly's Communities, Equalities and Local Government Committee published their views ahead of the BBC's Charter renewal – which also affects Welsh language broadcaster S4C since its funding arrangements were tied to the BBC a few years ago (pdf).

Although BBC network productions in Wales have increased since investments like the Roath Lock drama studios, there are long-standing concerns that Wales, or Welsh interests, aren't being fully considered in the BBC's strategic decision-making or being properly portrayed across the BBC's services.

The Committee made 11 recommendations. In summary :

• The BBC's public purpose statement should reflect, and serves the needs of, the UK's nations and regions. The BBC should set specific targets to meet the needs of Welsh audiences - reporting annually on its progress to the National Assembly.
• The Welsh Government should establish an independent media forum to review, monitor and evaluate public service broadcasting in Wales.
• The BBC should decentralise commissioning and devolve a greater share of funding to nations and regions – with an extra £30million spent on Welsh services.
• The Fifth Assembly should establish a separate committee to deal with media organisations and media monitoring.
• S4C's funding, governance and remit should be considered separately from the BBC and on its own merits. S4C should also have a more formal agreement with the Assembly to report to them and appear before Assembly committees.

The BBC Charter & Renewal Proposals

The BBC's independence and operation arrangements are governed by Royal Charter, which is renewed once a decade. It sets out the key aims of the BBC – including its obligations to properly represent Wales – and the current Charter runs out on December 31^st 2016.

The BBC Trust – described as a "guardian for how the licence fee is spent" – has a Welsh member, in addition to the Audience Council for Wales. Ofcom acts as regulator for some aspects of the BBC's functions, particularly content and complaints.

The UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) outlined their proposals for the new Charter last July. These proposals include :

• a more precisely-targeted "mission"
• addressing the impact the BBC has on commercial broadcasters
• reform to the licence fee (including the possibility of a subscription)
• reform of the BBC Trust

....though an independent review recently recommended the BBC Trust be scrapped and its functions transferred to Ofcom.

Aberystwyth University's Prof. Tom O'Malley went a step further and said the Charter needs to be replaced with an Act of Parliament, as the Charter leaves too much power in the hands of the UK Government and an Act would enable more democratic accountability.

BBC : Public Purpose & Scope

There are estimates that the wider economic impact of the BBC in Wales is over £270million a year
- but are they doing enough to properly represent the UK's nations and regions?
(Pic : rockadove.co.uk)

As mentioned, the Charter places an explicit responsibility on the BBC to properly represent the nations and regions. The BBC Trust favour strengthening the wording so they can devise better ways of monitoring performance, which also has the support of the BBC Executive.

However, Teledu Annibynnol Cymru (TAC) - a group representing independent production companies – said that while BBC investment in network drama was welcome, it did little to satify the need to represent the UK's nations. Meanwhile, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg called for a new "multi-platform" Welsh language broadcaster as they believe the BBC have failed to live up to their Welsh language obligations.

Many witnesses emphasised the BBC's importance – culturally and in terms of economic impact - due to weaknesses in the Welsh media and a lack of media plurality. £154million is spent by the BBC in Wales, with BBC Wales spending £50million on independent production services. Deloitte estimates the total economic value of BBC activity in Wales was £276million.

The Welsh Government – via Deputy Culture Minister, Ken Skates (Lab, Clwyd South) - called for an independent review into Welsh public service broadcasting (see also : Senedd on the Box). However, witnesses disagreed and questioned whether the Welsh Government were in a position to discuss media policy.

The BBC's Welsh Output

There's been a 15% reduction in the number of hours produced by BBC Wales and a 32% fall in English language production over the current Charter period – a sharper fall than either Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The Audience Council for Wales were concerned that the portrayal of Wales on BBC network shows had steeply declined - concerns shared by many respondents – with particular worries over a lack of Welsh drama and comedy (whether for Wales alone or the network). Despite this, the BBC Executive said Wales has higher audience and appreciation levels for BBC shows than the UK average – though it was accepted that the BBC doesn't do enough to reflect Welsh life.

There was also criticism for the "highly-centralised" programme commissioning system. Most programmes are made in, or commissioned from, London and SE England where only 27% of the UK population lives; even regional programmes are sometimes produced by London-based production companies who make casting decisions there too.

Although the Deputy Minister welcomed the BBC's Welsh drama base, he called for a commissioning base too. The Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) added to that by suggesting the devolution of network funding so regional commissioners can properly portray their own areas.

The BBC are set to commercialise their in-house production arm (BBC Studios) to enable more of their content to be contracted out, which should boost the number of independently-commissioned programmes. However, the Welsh Government were concerned this would see a shift in production back to SE England from the nations and regions, as quotas to produce a certain percentage of programmes outside London for the BBC would be scrapped; without such quotas it's unlikely Roath Lock studios would've been built.

Funding

There's a chance the TV licence could be significantly reformed - but how?
And how would that affect Welsh broadcasters?
(Pic : The Telegraph)

The BBC is funded by the licence fee, which is currently free to over-75s. The fee is set by the UK Government and approved by the UK Parliament. From 2018-19 the BBC will gradually take on the cost of free licences themselves. It's inevitable that the BBC will have to make further budget cuts, and between 2010-2015, BBC Wales' funding was cut by 16% in real terms.

The First Minister called for the BBC's spending in Wales to be increased by £30million a year to meet its obligations, and that view was endorsed by the IWA; however, witnesses questioned what political pressure could realistically be brought to bear if the funding wasn't made available as broadcasting is a non-devolved matter.

Although the UK Government are critical of the licence fee and consider it a "regressive tax", many witnesses – but the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in particular – said that compared to commercial subscriptions to Sky and Virgin Media, the licence fee is "of incredible value". Despite this, witnesses called for research on alternative funding models, like a tax on electrical equipment.

Governance & Accountability

As mentioned earlier, the BBC is governed by the BBC Trust while the Audience Council for Wales monitors the BBC's performance on behalf of Welsh viewers and listeners. Many agreed this model "wasn't fit for purpose".

The BBC Executive acknowledge the need for change, while the BBC Trust believe there needs to be greater clarification of its own role and responsibilities. The Welsh Government supports creating a stand-alone regulator (it's worth repeating that a recent review recommended Ofcom take over from the BBC Trust).

The IWA argued that a National Broadcasting Trust be established in each of the Home Nations, while Prof. O'Malley proposed a democratically-elected Welsh Broadcasting Council and federalisation of the BBC's finances and commissioning powers – he was also critical of the Ofcom proposal. The NUJ wanted any new governance structure to be independent of government.

There was broad agreement that the BBC need to be more accountable to Welsh audiences. Prof. O'Malley said it "wasn't good enough" that changes were driven from Westminster, while the IWA wanted responsibilities over broadcasting shared between UK and Welsh governments.

A Memorandum of Understanding is being drafted between the BBC and Welsh Government which will commit the former to appearing before Assembly committees on the same basis that they do at Westminster. The report goes further in recommending a new Assembly committee be established with its sole focus being media and broadcasting.

The Position of S4C

S4C has had more than its proportional share of cuts over the last few years,
but there were calls for the broadcaster to be allowed to take more radical decisions.
(Pic : BBC Wales)

• See also : Strapped 4 Cash

Due to the new funding settlement, S4C has seen a real terms 36% budget cut – which the Committee describe as "severe and disproportionate". S4C have managed to maintain current services, though they've had to abandon a HD service and cut back on original dramas and childrens' programmes.

DCMS believe it's reasonable that S4C make the same cutbacks as the BBC, but S4C believe the scale of cuts so far should be taken into account for future decisions. There were major concerns from many witnesses that the very future of S4C could be at stake if it's asked to make further significant cuts. Despite this, its budget is expected to be £74.5million in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Some respondents called for S4C's funding to be protected, and there were worries that the BBC Trust would increasingly see S4C as direct competition to BBC services out of the same share of the licence fee. Cymdeithas yr Iaith subsequently called for S4C's share of the licence fee to go directly to them, not via the BBC.

Some witnesses believed S4C's remit needed updating, as the current remit prevents them being more radical and innovative – particularly when it comes to working with other broadcasters. Some even suggest S4C be redefined as a content-provider instead of a television channel - something S4C agreed with.

The UK Government are concerned about declining audience figures for indigenous language programming and this will form part of the Charter review, but S4C argue their economic and cultural impact deserves to be factored in, not just viewing figures.

Conclusions

Will the BBC - and the UK Government - listen?
Based on what's happened down the years, don't count on it.
(Pic : BBC)

These recommendations largely reflect what's already been said by others down the years. However, it remains to be seen whether it carries any weight at Broadcasting House.

The Committee also took note of the findings from the IWA's extensive Media Audit from last November, which I'll flag up if you're interested (Groundhog Day : Auditing the Welsh Media).

Concerns over accountability are misplaced as broadcasting's non-devolved. Money/financial responsibility for commissioning is clearly the main issue here; extra funding would make a far bigger difference than BBC executives trapsing down to Cardiff once or twice a year to exchange pleasantries with AMs and make promises they either can't, or don't intend to, keep.

I don't want to repeat myself, but although it's clear BBC Wales, and S4C in particular, has been pummelled by budget cuts, you've got to ask whether we're getting the same value for money from public service broadcasters as the Republic of Ireland, who manage multiple services (including Irish language programming) with, broadly-speaking, a similar level of resources we have in Wales, perhaps less in TG4's case.

When it comes to that extra money, Welsh civil society will have to justify being a "special case" after taking into account the not inconsiderable resources BBC have pumped into Wales to produce network dramas. It can be justified because of the lack of media plurality, meaning BBC services - particularly current affairs - are more important than they otherwise would be.

I don't see the point of establishing a broadcasting committee while those powers remain non-devolved - even the Scottish Parliament doesn't have a broadcasting/media committee. Though I can understand why it was proposed as the current CELG committee has a very broad remit ranging from local government and housing through to culture and heritage. Also, due to plurality issues, broadcasters and other media organisations need to be kept under closer scrutiny.

I doubt there are enough AMs to make up the numbers unless it's established as sub-committee which meets sporadically – like the one that met earlier this term to hold a media inquiry (Future of the Welsh Media report). There are hints, however, from the Business Committee's recent legacy report that committees in the Fifth Assembly might be smaller than current ones.