Last year, the UK watched its final analogue TV broadcast with remarkable little fanfare or publicity. Who even noticed when, last October, Digital Switchover was completed successfully? The largest engineering project in UK broadcasting history – seven years of careful planning since Tessa Jowell first announced the government’s decision to switch – was pretty seamless. Crucially, without disruption to the nation’s favourite television programmes.
Unfortunately, broadband rollout has not been so smooth. The coalition promised to deliver ‘superfast’ broadband to 90 per cent of premises by the end of 2015, but now looks set to miss this.
The overriding public policy objective – the real gain for UK plc – is to achieve universal access. Whilst some are already reaping the benefits of good connectivity and good wi-fi, there’s an ever-greater social and economic cost to each person who is left behind on the wrong side of the ‘digital divide’ – often those in rural communities. Online access is vita: to deliver better public services for lower cost; to create a new dialogue between citizens and public service providers; to improve the life chances for the unemployed; to widen access to online educational materials and resources and ultimately raising children’s grades and life chances. Yet, according to the Office for National Statistics, a staggering 7.8 million adults in the UK have never even accessed the internet!
When it comes to the creative industries – one sector where the UK is actually rather good – unrealistic expectations about broadband usage risks undermining that success. It’s worrying that some have concluded that linear television cannot compete with TV delivered via the internet and have prophesised its imminent demise. Nothing could be further from the truth. Viewing of linear television is actually increasing. Consumers are using new technologies to ensure that they don’t miss the programmes that matter to them. And those programmes – from Doctor Who to Downton Abbey – continue to be overwhelmingly free-to-air, UK-produced and commissioned by the public service broadcasters, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five.
Why does this matter? It matters because if policymakers are too fixated on a medium-term future they think is arriving tomorrow, then they risk undermining the highly successful creative industries sector in which the UK excels.
UK television content exports are currently worth more than £1.3bn per year. If we want the UK to continue to be Europe’s leader in audiovisual production and also in content and format sales, then we need to ensure that the public service broadcasters, which underpin UK production, can continue to thrive. There’s a virtuous circle here. Over half of all public service broadcasting viewing is on Freeview; with the ongoing success of the PSBs driven by that sheer scale of viewing; which allows the PSBs to invest in great creative content; which in turn drives up audiences further, and so on. Remember: no other platform in the foreseeable future has 98.5 per cent reach and is free at the point of consumption. Freeview is the digital goose that lays the golden egg. The universal distribution platform that underpins the whole sector must be given the conditions to flourish.
Yet, following the recent 4G spectrum auction – up to 2.3 million Freeview homes may need filters to protect TV services against the impact of 4G interference. Meanwhile, broadcasters are already facing uncertainty as to when, how, and at what cost, Freeview will have to surrender even more of its spectrum in which potential so-called 5G services may launch. If we want to prevent 5G being delayed, we need to start planning for the re-engineering of Freeview soon. That requires industry, regulators and policymakers to work together to develop a strategy – just like we did for digital switchover.
When it comes to serious discussion about media policy, the key role of ‘infrastructure’ is routinely overlooked. Britain doesn’t just benefit from a free, independent and plural media. We need a communications infrastructure fit for the 21st century. Citizens, consumers, audiences – and UK plc – deserve nothing less.
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This article is part of a series we are running on Labour’s relationship with business and how we create growth, to coincide with our event on Tuesday: ‘Going for growth: How can Britain pay its way in the coming decade?’ with Chuka Umunna MP, Paul Drayson and Joe Greenwell. Follow the series here.
If you would like to attend the event, please email [email protected]
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Neil Moss is head of public affairs at Arqiva. He has worked in the broadcasting sector for 14 years
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This article is part of a series we are running on Labour’s relationship with business and how we create growth, to coincide with our event on Tuesday: ‘Going for growth: How can Britain pay its way in the coming decade?’ with Chuka Umunna MP, Paul Drayson and Joe Greenwell. Follow the series here.
If you would like to attend the event, please email [email protected]
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