Channels not buying enough Scottish programmes TELEVISION:

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, May 25, 2008 | by Peter John Meiklem Media Correspondent

DIRECTOR of Ofcom Scotland Vicki Nash calls herself the "midwife" of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission (SBC). And after releasing new figures last week - which reveal that the "outrageously" small amount of money the UK's main broadcasters are spending on network programmes in Scotland had shrunk further - she was reminded how far that child still has to go.

Despite unprecedented scrutiny of Scottish broadcasting since Nash highlighted network production figures last year, the latest numbers show that all the mainstream channels failed to pay heed to the baby's wails.

First Minister Alex Salmond established the SBC last summer with a remit to conduct an independent investigation into the current state of television production and broadcasting in Scotland and define a strategic way forward for the industry At the time of the SBC launch, Salmond branded the low level of investment in Scottish broadcasting "outrageous".

He would surely have blown his top at Ofcom Scotland's briefings on the latest set of figures held last week.

For rather than show the beginnings of an improvement - as BBC Scotland was promising last August - the new figures show that things have got worse.The amount of cash the BBC has spent producing programmes has slipped from 3.5per cent to 3.3per cent; Channel 4's has dropped 2.6per cent to 1.7per cent. Although ITV and Five have both posted marginal increases, from 1.7per cent to 2.0per cent and 0.5per cent to 2.3per cent respectively, the increases are still very small. Considering Scotland is home to 10per cent of the UK's population, Salmond's ire becomes understandable.

And the bad news for the broadcasters doesn't end there. ITV, already reeling from the GBP5.6 million Ofcom fine for lying to viewers over premium phone lines, faces the prospect of another financial penalty after the regulator revealed that the broadcaster had failed to meet its licence requirement to make 50per cent of its programmes outside London.

Says Nash: "We are in discussion with them about that figure. Do they accept that it is a breach? It looks like a breach of the licence agreement to us."

Reflecting on the fact the broadcaster had only made 44per cent of its programmes outside London, Nash raised the prospect of imposing Scotland-only quotas on the broadcaster too. Although having issued a similar warning while publicising last year's set of figures, ITV chairman Michael Grade may not be choking on his infamously large cigars just yet.

ITV was also singled out for criticism by the regulator for trying to circumvent licence regulations by falsely claiming programmes were made in Scotland.

Earlier this year, the BBC was accused of the same crime in the press, but in fact ITV was exposed as the main offender, with the BBC being exonerated. Of 18 mislabelled programmes identifi ed by the regulator in 2007 ITV was responsible for 13 of them.

In what has been a bad week for broadcasters in Scotland, STV our largest commercial broadcaster; did not escape unscathed. In a year when SBC head Blair Jenkins talked optimistically about broadcasters reaching "critical mass" - meaning the point at which Scotland's broadcasting infrastructure is ready to support an industry revival - it was revealed the amount of money STV spent on drama and other nonnews content had plummeted 30per cent between 2006 and 2007.

Bobby Hain, STV's managing director, says the station still spends the same amount on Scottish programming as it did last year. He says the relative decline is a result of extra cash in news output.

Says Hain: "We have made a considerable investment in our two national optouts and our four regional opt-outs."

Hain says STV has a problem with how Ofcom collates its figures. STV makes programmes that are entirely funded by a sponsor. For instance the quiz show Postcode Challenge is entirely funded by the postcode lottery.

Hain says Ofcom should take account of such output.

"Ofcom tends to underestimate the overall value of what we do. Some of our programmes are invisible in terms of their findings. This is increasingly what will happen in the future."

Jenkins, formerly the BBC's head of news and current affairs, said the fi gures contained in Ofcom's report were of "serious concern", adding STV's drop in spend was a "worry" for the future.

Says Jenkins: "It is disappointing that the network figures are still so low. We will be looking for improvements in 2008 in the wake of the commission's recommendations."

However, there are indications that things are set to get better. BBC Scotland's head of public policy and corporate affairs Ian Small said if Ofcom's calculations were based on the tax year rather than calender year then they would have seen a "return to form".

Opening the BBC's new Pacific Quay headquarters in September last year, director-general Mark Thompson promised that the BBC would boost its spend in Scotland to 9per cent by 2012. It was, he said, a "floor not a ceiling".

Although he declines to reveal details Small says: "we are beginning to see the trend start to reverse. We probably hit a low and now things are starting to change. A lot of the stuff we have started to commission, such as drama, has a long gestation time.