[eccr] CMA Local and Community Television Research Project

>***WANTED: VIEWS ON THE FUTURE OF LOCAL TELEVISION***
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>The Community Media Association, in association with the University of 
>Lincoln, has commissioned an update of Simon Blanchards CMA/AHRB report: 
>A Third Tier of Television: The Growth of Restricted Service Licence TV 
>in the UK  Trends and Prospects (2001). The remit is to expand upon, as 
>well as update, Blanchards original findings.
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>The report, provisionally entitled Local and Community Television in a 
>Digital World, will be geared towards a fortification of the CMAs policy 
>base, as they seek to develop a coherent sector-wide approach to 
>underpin forthcoming contributions to DCMS and OfCom initiated 
>consultation processes  particularly around the development of a Local 
>Digital Television Order, the securing of digital spectrum for local 
>television services, and the continued development of media-centred 
>community regeneration programmes.
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>ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE WELCOME  to be received (preferably) before Friday 
>October 22nd, so they can be included in the reports first drafting, and 
>be included within ongoing strategic discussions. Contributions will be 
>treated (on request) with the degree of confidentially stipulated.
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>A summary of the research is included below. Feel free to contact me.
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>
>Chris Hewson ((c.hewson /at/ lancaster.ac.uk))
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>LINKS
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>Community Media Association - www.commedia.org.uk
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>CMA/AHRB Report - www.bftv.ac.uk/projects/thirdtier.htm
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>LOCAL AND COMMUNITY TELEVISION IN A DIGITAL WORLD
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>RESEARCH BRIEF
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>This report foregrounds the vital role which LCTV stakeholders must play 
>in ongoing debates around media reform and regulation  arguments centred 
>around competing visions, and definitions, of converged media. It will 
>argue that a clear understanding, and vision, of social and technological 
>change, within an increasingly networked media ecology, is imperative, in 
>order that the LCTV sector might develop robust policy positions, and 
>appropriate business strategies, going forward. Through a brief 
>examination of a number of LCTV cases, and building upon previous research 
>the report will provide a concise synopsis of an increasingly diversified 
>sector  in terms of both organisational form, and content created  as 
>well contributing a number of significant recommendations which could 
>inform forthcoming LCTV discussions.
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>The report will embrace three key policy clusters. Firstly, new provisions 
>within the Communications Act , in particular the burgeoning relationship 
>between OfCom and the community media sector as a whole. Secondly, the 
>work of the DTi/DCMS Digital Television Project, in particular the 
>opportunities and dangers which digital switch-over presents for the LCTV 
>sector, as well as the manner by which digitisation expands the range of 
>prospective distribution mechanisms at the disposal of community media 
>organisations. Thirdly, the OfCom Review of Public Service Broadcasting, 
>in particular its relationship to the DCMS review of the BBC Charter, and 
>how the LCTV sector should both seek to understand, as well as influence, 
>these entwined processes.
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>THE REPORT WILL PERFORM A NUMBER OF FUNCTIONS
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>* It will form an initial basis for future consultations with the DCMS and 
>OfCom, towards both the refinement of the current LCTV licensing regime, 
>initiated by the iTC, as well as the development of a Community Television 
>Order and parallel LCTV working group.
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>* It will consider the issue, and likelihood, of LCTV being recognised as 
>public service broadcasting, and the implications for future spectrum 
>management.
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>* It will assess the concomitant issue of partnership working, with 
>specific reference to the BBCs forays into local and community media 
>schemes, as well as the disparate arguments advanced for the public 
>funding of LCTV.
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>* It will outline a number of LCTV models, principally the proposed 
>delineation of the sector into profit-making and non-profit 
>distributing components.
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>* It will consider lessons drawn, thus far, from the Community Radio 
>licensing process, particularly regarding the definitional construction of 
>local and community.
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>IN SUMMARY THE REPORT WILL PROVIDE INITIAL ANSWERS TO THREE PERTINENT 
>QUESTIONS
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>* How can the LCTV sector maintain an adequate stake in both the new 
>communications settlement, and other New Labour policy schemes?
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>* How can the CMA best advance specific policy proposals, as well as its 
>wider outlook, to Government, OfCom, and the wider media industry?
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>* Which distinctive models, and paradigms, might the LCTV sector seek to 
>invest in, both financially and socially, in order to enshrine itself 
>within the new communications ecology?

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Carpentier Nico (Phd)
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Katholieke Universiteit Brussel - Catholic University of Brussels
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Office: 4/0/18
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Media Sociology (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
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F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.28.61
Office: 5B.454
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European Consortium for Communication Research
Web: http://www.eccr.info
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ kubrussel.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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