VLV's Scottish - 28th October 2004 VLV's 10th annual conference in Scotland was held in Edinburgh in association with Napier University and the University of Edinburgh.
BBC Charter renewal and the future of Scottish and Gaelic broadcasting were hotly discussed but most concern was directed at the findings of Phase 2 of Ofcom's Review of Public Service Broadcasting.
Ofcom believes that none of the ITV companies will be able to maintain their present regional programming remits after digital switch-over. Even regional news may not be viable. Bobby Hain, MD of Scottish Television provoked dismay when he agreed, saying that Scottish and Grampian would have to drop their Gaelic programmes and reduce their non-news regional output.
VLV's Welsh Conference - 20th October 2004 Some fifty broadcasters, academics and members of the public attended this conference to discuss the future of broadcasting in Wales.
Robin Foster, Senior Partner at Ofcom's London HQ provoked anger and dismay when he explained that Ofcom believed it would not be able to insist on ITV continuing to fulfill its regional programming commitments after digital switch-over.
Gareth Price, a former Controller of BBC Wales was particularly critical of Ofcom's stance. Despite Ofcom's recommendation that the BBC should pick up the tab for broadcasting in the nations and regions, delegates were incredulous that the regulator, Ofcom, felt it cold do so little to maintain the excellent service HTV had previously provided in Wales or to ensure that the needs of Welsh viewers would be met in future.
Jon Zeff, from the Department of Sport, media and Culture in London, referred to the review of S4C undertaken for his Department in the summer of 2004. This review also presented a gloomy picture of falling audiences and less funding for S4C, although the Government is committed to extending the provision of minority languages including Welsh.
Leighton Andrews, Welsh Assembly member, was slightly more optimistic, saying that Ofcom's proposed new Public Service Publisher, might be able to fund more programme production in Wales than ITV currently does. Nevertheless, the practicality of the PSP and the future of Welsh independent production was in question because of the long transition petrod before it could be established.
VLV Summer Conference With the BBC's Royal Charter under the spotlight, VLV's 2004 Summer Conference considered the BBC's relationship with the arts. Speakers included Jan Younghusband, Channel 4's Commissioning Editor for the Arts and Kim Peat, Controller of Daytime, Arts and Religion, together with Alan Yentob and Roger Wright from the BBC.
A review of the 2004 VLV Conference on Arts and Broadcasting
International Conference Digital technologies and their impact on broadcasting and civil society was the theme of VLV's 9th International Conference. Lord McIntosh, the UK Minister for Broadcasting and Heritage opened the two day conference on April 26th at London's Royal Society.
The key-note speech was given by Mark Thompson, Chief Executive of Channel 4 and looked ahead to to the challenges which public service broadcasters would face in the digital future. He noted that broadcasters has a responsibility to re-energise public service genres so that audiences would continue to be enthusiastic about them. Mark Thompson speech (filesize is 46k).
The Conference agreed a resolution which affirmed the important role that public service broadcasting makes to the cultural, social and economic development of society. It also called on international organisations, governments and regulatory authorities to ensure that public service broadcasting is provided with the financial resources, freedom of initiative and appropriate legal framework to enable it to lay a major role in new media services as well as in mainstream broadcasting. International Conference Resolution (filesize is 22k).
A summary of the main issues discussed at the Conference, written by Jeremy Mitchell, gives further details of the wide range of papers presented by speakers. International Conference Conclusion (filesize is 26k).
Spring Conference At VLV's Spring Conference, held in London on April 29th, 2004, Mark Byford, the BBC's Acting Director-General, made a robust defence of the BBC's commitment to public service broadcasting. He outlined a range of new programmes and services the BBC would be producing in 2004. In reply to a number of questions about the BBC's accountability to licence payers, Mark Byford made clear his view that the BBC took complaints about editorial bias very seriously and had proper procedures for dealing with them. Mark Byford Speech
Stephen Carter, the Chief Executive of Ofcom, was the other speaker at VLV's Spring Conference. Speaking shortly after the publication of Phase 1 of Ofcom's review of public service broadcasting, he stressed that Ofcom had to be thinking about what how public service broadcasting would best serve audiences in the media environment of 2009 and beyond, and not just as it was now.Stephen Carter Speech
Further information about the VLV International Conference 26-27th April 2004
Further information about conferences earlier than March 2004
|
Voice Of The Listener & Viewer 101 King's Drive, Gravesend Kent. DA12 5BQ |
Telephone: 01474 352835 Fax: 01474 351112 E-mail: info@vlv.org.uk |
