Ofcom Report Shows Drop in PSB Programming Spend

LONDON: The U.K.’s five main public-service broadcasters spent £2.6 billion on original British programs in 2008, according to media regulator Ofcom, down by 15 percent on the amount spent in 2004.

Overall network programming spending for BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five also fell, by 10 percent, to £2.8 billion in 2008. Within this figure, while budgets for U.K. originations were down, spending on repeats and acquired shows increased. The volume of first-run originated shows last year was 33,177 hours, a 3-percent reduction since 2008. 

Meanwhile, average hours of viewing on the main PSBs fell by 15 percent to 2.3 hours a day per person in 2008, and the combined viewing share of the five main PSB channels declined from 75 percent in 2004 to 61 percent in 2008. In peak time, viewing share fell from 80 percent to 68 percent. The biggest drop in prime-time share happened at ITV1, from 29 percent to 23 percent.

Ofcom also revealed that investment in news and current-affairs programs on the five PSBs fell by 14 percent to £250 million. Spending on factual programming, meanwhile, was down just 4 percent. The kids’ sector has been hardest hit; first-run British-originated children’s shows aired on the five main PSBs and on CBeebies/CBBC fell to 919 hours from 1,887 hours in 2004. Investment in first-run originated children’s programming by these channels fell by just over a third between 2004 and 2008, with spend by the commercial PSBs down 70 percent from £42 million to £11 million.

In surveying viewers, Ofcom found that some 63 percent of audiences believe that the PSB channels offer well-made, high-quality programs; 67 percent thought that news programs are trustworthy and 67 percent of viewers thought that the PSBs covered big national events well.