Multiplatforming Public Service Broadcasting: The Specialist Factual Independent Production Ecology in the UK's Digital Television Landscape
Lead Research Organisation:
London Metropolitan University
Department Name: Applied Social Science
Abstract
This project investigates the changing production ecology of the UK's independent specialist factual production sector in relationship to the role and future of public service broadcasting (PSB) in the emerging digital television landscape.
The digitalization of television, a process of switchover to be completed by 2012, brings with it better sound and visual quality, a growth in the number of channels available and increasingly 'converges' television's production practices, programming forms and audiences with other forms of digital media. From the development of websites associated with particular programs, through to the advent of interactive, mobile and online TV, television might be thought of as a 'multiplatform' experience. Television is no longer simply the 'box in the corner', but experienced and produced across a range of screens, sites and technological platforms.
This expansion of channels and platforms brings about increased competition for audiences, who have seen their choices for how, when, where and what kind of television to watch expand dramatically. As a result, traditional broadcasters are experiencing a continuing decline in the number and amount of time audiences spend watching TV. This has called into question the role of PSB as a funding and regulatory model for UK television, with the media regulator, Ofcom, recently suggesting that the future of PSB is at a crossroads.
Public service broadcasters are responding to these challenges with new commissioning, technologies and production strategies. Our study focuses on the BBC's and Channel 4's adoption of multiplatform production and commissioning strategies, which seek to exploit content and engage viewers across a range of digital media platforms. Such strategies not only produce new TV forms, but require new production practices. However, these changes and pressures are not only experienced by the broadcasters, but also by the independent television production sector, which increasingly includes digital media companies, which supply programs and content to them.
This project seeks to understand the function both independent production companies and these multiplatform practices have in shaping the future of PSB in the digital age. We do this by firstly examining the role that specialist factual independent production companies play in contributing to the shifting characteristics of PSB in the UK. Secondly, we position this role in relation to the way in which the production cultures of this sector respond to and creatively negotiate the move to multiplatform television as part of the wider commercial, regulatory, technological and cultural challenges of the digital age.
We examine specialist factual programming as a genre both traditionally associated with notions of PSB, but also recently ranked as one of those most highly valued by participants in Ofcom's first phase of its current PSB review. To do this, rather than simply examine the amount of specialist programming produced or the audience's reaction to it, we seek to unpick the industry's own understanding of this genre's role in contributing to distinctive characteristics of the UK's PSB landscape. By drawing on interviews with, and participant observation of, workers in the independent specialist factual production sector, as well as with commissioners and key players in the broadcasting industries, our research will establish what challenges and opportunities digitalization brings PSB. We then test these 'self-theorizations' by examining the programming practices and content of the independent sector, regulatory documents and discourses circulated within and by the television industry through trade journals, press releases and other trade artifacts.
By disseminating this research to industry, regulators, audiences and higher education institutions, this project will therefore make an important contribution to understanding the future role and shape of PSB.
The digitalization of television, a process of switchover to be completed by 2012, brings with it better sound and visual quality, a growth in the number of channels available and increasingly 'converges' television's production practices, programming forms and audiences with other forms of digital media. From the development of websites associated with particular programs, through to the advent of interactive, mobile and online TV, television might be thought of as a 'multiplatform' experience. Television is no longer simply the 'box in the corner', but experienced and produced across a range of screens, sites and technological platforms.
This expansion of channels and platforms brings about increased competition for audiences, who have seen their choices for how, when, where and what kind of television to watch expand dramatically. As a result, traditional broadcasters are experiencing a continuing decline in the number and amount of time audiences spend watching TV. This has called into question the role of PSB as a funding and regulatory model for UK television, with the media regulator, Ofcom, recently suggesting that the future of PSB is at a crossroads.
Public service broadcasters are responding to these challenges with new commissioning, technologies and production strategies. Our study focuses on the BBC's and Channel 4's adoption of multiplatform production and commissioning strategies, which seek to exploit content and engage viewers across a range of digital media platforms. Such strategies not only produce new TV forms, but require new production practices. However, these changes and pressures are not only experienced by the broadcasters, but also by the independent television production sector, which increasingly includes digital media companies, which supply programs and content to them.
This project seeks to understand the function both independent production companies and these multiplatform practices have in shaping the future of PSB in the digital age. We do this by firstly examining the role that specialist factual independent production companies play in contributing to the shifting characteristics of PSB in the UK. Secondly, we position this role in relation to the way in which the production cultures of this sector respond to and creatively negotiate the move to multiplatform television as part of the wider commercial, regulatory, technological and cultural challenges of the digital age.
We examine specialist factual programming as a genre both traditionally associated with notions of PSB, but also recently ranked as one of those most highly valued by participants in Ofcom's first phase of its current PSB review. To do this, rather than simply examine the amount of specialist programming produced or the audience's reaction to it, we seek to unpick the industry's own understanding of this genre's role in contributing to distinctive characteristics of the UK's PSB landscape. By drawing on interviews with, and participant observation of, workers in the independent specialist factual production sector, as well as with commissioners and key players in the broadcasting industries, our research will establish what challenges and opportunities digitalization brings PSB. We then test these 'self-theorizations' by examining the programming practices and content of the independent sector, regulatory documents and discourses circulated within and by the television industry through trade journals, press releases and other trade artifacts.
By disseminating this research to industry, regulators, audiences and higher education institutions, this project will therefore make an important contribution to understanding the future role and shape of PSB.
Planned Impact
Beneficiaries:
Independent television and digital media companies
The BBC, C4, ITV, other national and international broadcasters commissioning from the independent sector
Regulatory bodies, for example Ofcom
DCMS and national policy makers
Trade associations
Public sector, including museums and art galleries, which are increasingly commissioning digital PSB-style content from independent companies.
How will they benefit?
This research concerns both the nation's wealth and culture, with its investigation going to the heart of understanding changes in one of society's defining media forms: the role of the PSB ethos in the digital television era. PSB has played a fundamental role in shaping broadcast television, itself widely acknowledged as being a key definer of everyday public and private life. However, this role of PSB is often associated with a depiction of BBC as 'Auntie', a benevolent paternalistic institution funded by a licence-fee and sustained by the cultural practices of those in the 'White City'. By focusing on the emergence of multiplatform production and commissioning strategies, this research will investigate how PSB is a much wider cultural set of practices that informs both broadcast and digital media production, as well as examining how such practices have far reaching economic and cultural implications.
As the 'cornerstone' of PSB, understanding how the BBC internalises and practices the concept in their relations with independent producers will increase the effectiveness of commissioning and the deployment of those PSB aims in multiplatform programming. The research may foster consensual and dynamic understandings of PSB that will inform the commissioning and content creation imperatives of multiplatform production.
Beyond the BBC's relationship with independents, our research will help C4, independent TV and digital media companies to better understand each others' needs and challenges in the multiplatform era. As Ofcom recently recognised, one of the key arguments for continuing to support C4 was its role in 'helping to maintain a vibrant independent production sector.' Moreover, understanding the role of PSB in the cultural and creative worklife of independents and their broadcaster commissioners will help independent production companies pitch more effectively and efficiently for work, facilitate closer connections with multiplatform digital companies and thus help to sustain the economic viability and vitality of the sector. The impact of this research will be almost immediate, contributing towards understandings of PSB in the transformation from analog to digital and in the run-up to the BBC's next licence-fee renewal; both of which will largely determine the relationship between C4, the BBC and the independent sector. Given this will define the experience of TV in the UK, the project has high social value.
What will be done to ensure this benefit?
In addition to academic publication of key research findings and arguments, this project encompasses three key communication strategies to ensure the dissemination of findings well beyond the academic community:
1. Knowledge Transfer Conference: To take place in the final year of the project, this will be used to bring together industry, regulatory and academic bodies for dialogue and dissemination of preliminary findings.
2. Report to Industry Stakeholders: This will be a key publication from the project, aimed solely at disseminating the findings to the BBC, C4, Ofcom, independents, PACT and other relevant bodies. It will set out current practice in multiplatform production, understandings of the concept and practice of PSB within this context, evaluate the economic impact of multiplatform commissioning and identify opportunities for increased collaboration and improved relations.
3. We will ensure through the CI's contacts that the r
Independent television and digital media companies
The BBC, C4, ITV, other national and international broadcasters commissioning from the independent sector
Regulatory bodies, for example Ofcom
DCMS and national policy makers
Trade associations
Public sector, including museums and art galleries, which are increasingly commissioning digital PSB-style content from independent companies.
How will they benefit?
This research concerns both the nation's wealth and culture, with its investigation going to the heart of understanding changes in one of society's defining media forms: the role of the PSB ethos in the digital television era. PSB has played a fundamental role in shaping broadcast television, itself widely acknowledged as being a key definer of everyday public and private life. However, this role of PSB is often associated with a depiction of BBC as 'Auntie', a benevolent paternalistic institution funded by a licence-fee and sustained by the cultural practices of those in the 'White City'. By focusing on the emergence of multiplatform production and commissioning strategies, this research will investigate how PSB is a much wider cultural set of practices that informs both broadcast and digital media production, as well as examining how such practices have far reaching economic and cultural implications.
As the 'cornerstone' of PSB, understanding how the BBC internalises and practices the concept in their relations with independent producers will increase the effectiveness of commissioning and the deployment of those PSB aims in multiplatform programming. The research may foster consensual and dynamic understandings of PSB that will inform the commissioning and content creation imperatives of multiplatform production.
Beyond the BBC's relationship with independents, our research will help C4, independent TV and digital media companies to better understand each others' needs and challenges in the multiplatform era. As Ofcom recently recognised, one of the key arguments for continuing to support C4 was its role in 'helping to maintain a vibrant independent production sector.' Moreover, understanding the role of PSB in the cultural and creative worklife of independents and their broadcaster commissioners will help independent production companies pitch more effectively and efficiently for work, facilitate closer connections with multiplatform digital companies and thus help to sustain the economic viability and vitality of the sector. The impact of this research will be almost immediate, contributing towards understandings of PSB in the transformation from analog to digital and in the run-up to the BBC's next licence-fee renewal; both of which will largely determine the relationship between C4, the BBC and the independent sector. Given this will define the experience of TV in the UK, the project has high social value.
What will be done to ensure this benefit?
In addition to academic publication of key research findings and arguments, this project encompasses three key communication strategies to ensure the dissemination of findings well beyond the academic community:
1. Knowledge Transfer Conference: To take place in the final year of the project, this will be used to bring together industry, regulatory and academic bodies for dialogue and dissemination of preliminary findings.
2. Report to Industry Stakeholders: This will be a key publication from the project, aimed solely at disseminating the findings to the BBC, C4, Ofcom, independents, PACT and other relevant bodies. It will set out current practice in multiplatform production, understandings of the concept and practice of PSB within this context, evaluate the economic impact of multiplatform commissioning and identify opportunities for increased collaboration and improved relations.
3. We will ensure through the CI's contacts that the r
People |
ORCID iD |
| James Bennett (Principal Investigator) | |
| Paul Kerr (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Bennett, J
(2011)
Regaining the initiative for public service media: RIPE@2011
Bennett, J
(2014)
Media Independence: Working with freedom or working for free?
Bennett, J
(2015)
Production Studies: The Sequel
Bennett, J
(2014)
Media Independence: Working with freedom or working for free?
Bennett, J
(2014)
Media Independence: Working with freedom or working for free.
Bennett, J & N. Strange
(2015)
Making Media Work: Cultures of management in the entertainment industries
| Description | The research found that a 'fragile compact' existed between the independent sector and the PSBs, which had underpinned much of the commercial success of the independent sector as well as enhancing, extending and challenging the meanings of public service across multiple media platforms. It set out a radical notion for the future regulation of public service broadcasting in the UK: that PSB is a joint enterprise between commercially driven independents and the broadcasters. The compact between Indies and PSBs is what makes UK content unique, exportable and delivers cultural value to its viewers and users. But it also suggested that this relationship was 'fragile' • Increasing competition and diminishing security of PSB funding may reduce the commitment of independents to producing content with PSB characteristics; • Changes in the sector that have fostered competition have also brought about increased consolidation, an emphasis on formats and international sales that can heighten pressure on production budgets, reducing creative freedoms, working conditions and individual workers' belief in PSB The report made a series of recommendations to safeguard the compact, including addressing issues of rights negotiation; supplier lists for the broadcaster's relationship with the digital sector; regulation of the emerging connected TV market; an extended role for Ofcom training and accountability. |
| Exploitation Route | The research's impact is underpinned by the strategy of dissemination, dialogue and concern to address the needs and interests of industry user communities. The research team interviewed over 100 industry professionals over the course of the project, often returning to key interviewees to update them on findings and discuss ways forward. In particular, the research team engaged policy makers (Ofcom), trade bodies (PACT), individual companies (Maverick, Somethin' Else, Lambent, Illumina Digtial) and broadcasters throughout the duration of the project to share initial findings, hold feedback meetings, and agree shared research priorities. The 'Multiplatforming public service broadcasting' research project created benefit for a number of organisations and distinct, but inter-related, user communities, namely: 1. Regulatory and policy organisations: Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and Ofcom The research team interviewed key Ofcom personnel at the outset of the project, including Chief Executive Ed Richards. These interviews provided a network of research contacts at Ofcom, including David Mahoney (Director of Policy, Content & Standards), who met with the team on a number of occasions to share insights, help shape research questions and take on board feedback throughout the duration of the research (2011-12). This research informs Ofcom's ongoing policy role (see letter of support: Oct 2012). Attendance at various industry events, including invite-only seminars for the Communications Act Review (May - Sept 2012), enabled the research team to feed into policy debates led by the DCMS. This led to an invitation to present the findings directly to the DCMS, which acknowledged the importance of the work in its current review of the Act - something that will shape the television and digital media industries and role of public service broadcasting over the next decade. 2. Public service broadcasters: the BBC and Channel 4 Both Channel 4 and the BBC have acknowledged the importance of the findings for shaping their current and ongoing strategies and priorities. The research team interviewed a range of senior executives at each organisation who expressed keen interest in the research and its findings. A preliminary draft of the report was shared with Channel 4's Head of Online, Richard Davidson-Houston, who agreed to keynote our final conference - speaking to a delegate list of over 100 industry and academic figures, where he praised the research and its value to the industry (20/12/2012). The importance of the questions asked and solutions offered to issues faced by Channel 4 is detailed in the letter of support attached. Whilst it was difficult to establish as much continuity in sharing the research with the BBC, due to significant changes in strategy during the course of the research project and the appointment of a new Director General, our research was nevertheless welcomed by the Chair of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten. 3. The community of Independent television and digital media companies, including relevant trade bodies. The value of the research is attested to by the presence of their Chief Executive and Senior Digital Strategist at our final conference (20/09/2012). 4. Individual television and digital media companies involved in ethnographic research Our research included extensive ethnographic work in a range of television and digital media companies. The project's research assistant, Dr Andrea Medrado, spent 10-12 weeks in companies to examine the working practices of multiplatform production and the way public service, as a culture and work mode, affected production practices within companies. At the end of these periods of ethnographic work, feedback meetings were convened with the companies to share observations and . These were often described as 'being like therapy' for the managing director's involved. The meetings affected the production practices of their companies, including the way how they valued expetise and the way in which public service could inform production modes to enhance economic returns. These meetings took place throughout 2011 and 2012, with each company playing an active part in our final conference (20/09/2012) and happy to be contacted to provide further details as to the value this research brought to their company. Letters commending the excellence, quality and impact of the research are available on request from the following organisations: • Channel 4 • BBC Trust • Ofcom • Department of Culture, Media & Sport • Creative England • Commonwealth Broadcasting Association • Skillset (email) |
| Sectors | Creative Economy |
| Description | Funded by the AHRC, and in collaboration with University of Sussex and London Metropolitan University, this two-year research project explored the cultural and economic value of the independent TV and digital production sectors in relation to public service broadcasting (PSB) in a digital age. Impact was delivered via: 1. An industry report: downloaded over 700 times from the project website www.cowboysrorindies.co.uk. It featured as the leading story on Media Guardian on the day of release (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/sep/20/tv-indies-risky-shows-factual-entertainment). A further 100 hardcopies were distributed to industry, including a request for 25 reports from Channel 4. ? The impact of the report was attested to in letters of support and acknowledgement from: ? Head of Online, Channel 4, Richard Davidson-Houston ? Chair of BBC Trust, Lord Patten ? Ofcom ? Department of Culture, Media & Sport ? Creative England ? Commonwealth Broadcasting Association ? Skillset (email) 2. An industry-academic knowledge exchange conference marking 30 years of the independent sector attended by over 100 delegates, half of whom were current industry professionals. The list of speakers included the Chief Executive of PACT (Producers' Alliance of Cinema & Television); Head of Channel 4 Online, and Chair of the National Skills Council for Digital Media The research's impact is underpinned by the strategy of dissemination, dialogue and concern to address the needs and interests of industry user communities. The research team interviewed over 100 industry professionals over the course of the project, often returning to key interviewees to update them on findings and discuss ways forward. In particular, the research team engaged policy makers (Ofcom), trade bodies (PACT), individual companies (Maverick, Somethin' Else, Lambent, Illumina Digtial) and broadcasters throughout the duration of the project to share initial findings, hold feedback meetings, and agree shared research priorities. This included a detailed survey of PACT's membership regarding multiplatform economic and production practices. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2009 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Royal Holloway - Pact partnership |
| Organisation | Pact |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We partnered with Pact (Producers' alliance of cinema and television), the UK's leading TV trade body to access their membership for survey and field work, focus groups and industry engagement. The result was much higher reach and impact of the work, including Pact officially supporting the final industry report and events - and ensuring members both contributed to and benefited from the ersearch. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Helping survey design for Pact members, dissemination and promotion of survey and focus group, dissemination and promotion of findings and helping run workshops on successful exploitation of social for TV. |
| Impact | Adapting to social media report. |
| Start Year | 2009 |
| Description | Report calls for a digital WoCC and rights return |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Coverage of the industry report and conference in leading trade journal for the sector: Broadcast magazine. Sparked debate about the window on creative competition that remains on-going. After the article there was increased interest in the final report of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Submission to House of Lords Select Committee on convergence and public service broadcasting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Summary report of AHRC findings to align with Select Committee's remit, specifically: • The role of public service broadcasting in a converged, multiplatform, world; • The role that public service broadcasting plays in the independent sector, making its television and digital media content unique, exportable and valued in the world market • The key changes that have occurred in the convergence of television and digital media over the past decade and its implications for the future - including the UK's world-leading position in interactive, multiplatform content and the possible threats to this status • The role of regulation - Communications Act and Ofcom in a converged world • The extent that different media industries do continue to exist, and their difficulties in working together, in a converged world; • The relationship between plurality and economics in fostering a digital public service sector; • The skill sets that can be pivotal to the continued creation of world-leading multiplatform and televisual content in a converged world Not known |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | TV indies 'shunning risky shows in favour of factual entertainment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Guardian coverage of launch of industry report and industry-academic conference. The article produced a follow up piece for a smaller trade publication. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |