Regional News Output Will Be Slashed, Says Ofcom

As anticipated, a huge drop in the required level of regional news broadcasting is being proposed by the final Public Service Broadcasting review document, just produced by the regulator.

Ofcom gave the green light for the ITV to dramatically scale back its PSB licence obligations, with cutting back regional news from five hours 20 minutes a week to just three hours 45 minutes as one of the main findings.

This is likely to mean dropping weekday mid-morning ITV regional bulletins and weekend lunchtime bulletins.

The media regulator outlined its vision of ITV in late January and proposed it as having only limited public service commitments.

In a nod towards resolving ongoing 'credit-crunch' revenue problems it said the broadcaster's "modest licence benefits" should be "balanced by appropriate obligations on a sustainable basis.

The regulator therefore confirmed earlier plans to support ITV's demands over a financial strategy, including lessening its out-of-London commissioning quota and condensing its regional news bureaus from 17 to nine, shedding 429 jobs and cutting the number of regional non-news shows.

ITV's out of London commissioning quota has also been cut from 50% in volume and value to 35%.

In addition, the regulator recommended that the GMTV morning licence, which runs from 6am to 9.30am, should be merged into the regular 24-hour regional structure to "enhance the overall economics of the Channel 3 service", from 2014.

Other proposals put forward by Ofcom for ITV's future PSB requirements include halving the minimum volume of non-news non-network programmes in Wales and Scotland from 2009 from three hours to 1.5 hours per week.

Northern Ireland's volume will be reduced to two hours a week, but peaktime is to be protected at 45 minutes, while a further 30 minutes must be near peak.

Ofcom also wants ITV to halve non-news local output in English regions from a minimum of 30 minutes to 15 minutes per week.

It also seeks a merger of news operations at Border and Tyne Tees; ITV West and West Country; and Thames Valley and the wider Meridian News.

They said that each region will produce separate 15-minute sub-regional sequences and each sub-region will have separate bulletins after News at 10.

The would also be reductions in sub-regional output within single licence areas - Central east and west, Yorkshire north and south, Anglia west and east - but short sequences to be retained in peaktime news programmes and after News at 10.

Off-peak network current affairs are to be cut from 90 minutes per week to 50 minutes – 40 mins of which must be delivered in peak time.

(BMcC/JM)