Download McAlpine, Joan MSP - Department for Culture Media and Sport

Local TV Licenses – Consultation Response from Joan McAlpine MSP
I welcome the proposals from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
regarding the implementation of local TV services in the UK. Local TV would serve
an important purpose in informing communities of local news and current affairs. Not
only does this enhance democracy within and community in the local area; it will also
stimulate economic growth by providing jobs and platforms for local advertising.
The South of Scotland
My constituents have concerns about existing provision of TV relevant to their
locality within the South of Scotland region that I represent. Local TV is ideal to
address this concern, therefore the South of Scotland is particularly deserving. The
area stretching from Scottish Borders to Dumfries and Galloway does not currently
receive acceptable regional or local television and radio services. They receive
nothing at all from STV and BBC Scotland FM reception is poor. In particular they
receive less Scottish, news and current affairs than elsewhere in the country.
Most services used by my constituents ie health, education, justice, planning, local
taxation and funding are devolved to Edinburgh. So are areas of key relevance to the
South of Scotland economy such as agriculture, rural development and transport. It
is democratically essential that households should receive a variety of news and
current affairs that explain and scrutinise these matters.
Borders TV serves the South of Scotland but no longer provides Scottish news. The
news for Scotland comes from Tyneside in the north of England. My colleague
Christine Grahame MSP conducted a survey during the life of the last Parliament in
2008. This was one year before ITV Border left its base in 2009 at Carlisle to move
to Gateshead and merge with ITV Tyne Tees. The survey found that 70% felt the
Borders were not well served by TV broadcasting and this was before the merger of
ITV Borders and ITV Tyne Tees.
This is especially pertinent when, as the consultation paper shows, news is
consistently ranked as the most important content genre for audiences and three
quarters of people rate local news and weather as important. 250,000 viewers in the
South of Scotland fail to receive adequate news and other programming from
Scotland.
Given this unique need in South of Scotland it is both disappointing and surprising to
learn that the proposed locations of local licenses are areas of the UK already
adequately served by news and current affairs programming. Based on the list of
primary location produced by Ofcom, huge areas of the South of Scotland, including
Dumfries and Galloway and much of the South East coast, are not even being
considered for reception of local TV.
The Parameters of the Decision Making Process
The parameters set by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in selecting 65
primary locations for local TV are open to challenge on public interest grounds. The
document says these areas were obtained "By considering around 70 terrestrial
television transmitters that serve the largest number of people in the UK.”
This method immediately excludes rural populations such as the South of Scotland,
who are poorly served by local and regional television. Identifying locations for local
TV based purely on the objective of serving the largest number of people is weighted
to favour urban conurbation that are already well served by media.
Two-stage approach
The consultation paper states that not all viewers, particularly those in rural areas
and areas hindered by geographical and topographical factors, will be able to receive
local TV in the first phase.
This is of concern to me as MSP for the South of Scotland especially given the
peculiarities of current provision of TV and radio in my region. If provision was based
on need our area would surely first in the queue.
Furthermore, priority should be given to the rolling out of Government’s super-fast
broadband ambition given the South of Scotland is also particularly affected by poor
provision of this service. This would mean Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish
Borders could get access to more content now.
IPTV Proposals
The suggestion is that deserving areas which are overlooked in the first instance
intention will eventually receive local TV services via internet protocol television
(IPTV). However the South of Scotland has poor broadband provision as it is. It is
unfair on my constituents to again be looked over in favour of other areas which
already receive adequate broadband, TV and radio coverage. Furthermore, Dumfries
and Galloway has the highest percentage of elderly (65+) within its population at
22%. 20% of the Scottish Borders population is elderly. It is this age group which
particularly struggles with basic computer skills, including the use of the internet
which IPTV would require. What provisions will then be made for their reception of
local TV?
Summary
I thank the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt, for the opportunity to respond to this
consultation. I would urge him to consider the South of Scotland as a location for the
reception of local TV given it is an area which already receives poor local and
regional news and current affairs provision. I would also urge him to prioritise the
rolling out of fast broadband to Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders
rather than leaving it to a future stage.
Yours
Joan McAlpine
MSP for the South of Scotland