PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE BACK ITV'S REGIONAL ROLE

PARLIAMENT'S Culture Committee have announced that they have supported safeguards on ITV programming.
In their response to the Government's White Paper on Communications, the Select Committee on Culture, Media, and Sport, recommended that separate licences should be retained for ITV regional companies, regardless of any changes that may occur in ownership of the network.
The committee also advised that the proposed single regulator for telecoms and broadcasting, OFCOM, should set up regional offices which would measure whether or not broadcasters generally fulfilled their obligations to provide local programming.
In their evidence to the Committee, BECTU argued that the wave of takeovers in ITV had led to cutbacks in local programmes, particularly news, and in the number of regionally-produced shows that were aired nationally.
Prior to the White Paper's publication, the union pursued a successful complaint against Grampian TV, which was accused of delivering fewer local programmes that the company's licence required.
The Culture Committee, chaired by Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, also took account of the union's concerns about training in the broadcasting industry. With freelancers increasingly staffing the industry the report noted that it was becoming "less possible to rely on in-house training." The report was in favour of OFCOM promoting training activities that were proportionate to the service obligations and privileges of particular licensed broadcasters.
However, the Committee stopped short of full support for training plans to be a condition of broadcasters' licences, a measure suggested by the White Paper that would be welcomed by BECTU and industry training organization Skillset. (CD)