The October BHC Bulletin
Welcome to the BHC Bulletin for October – where we cover media, comms and leadership stories that you may have missed or the team here think is interesting or important.
This month we discuss the future of TV as UK broadcasters’ team up for a new internet only service, how politicians are worried about AI and kids screen time plus how long do we spend deciding what to watch on TV – new research has a scary result.
So first this month, Britain’s major public-service broadcasters (PSBs) will launch a free, Internet-only TV service next year for broadband-only homes.
It’s going to be called Freely – which I like – and will be built into built-in to the next generation of smart TVs in the UK upon launch in 2024 and feature a line-up of PSB content and other free-to-air channels.
Freely is being developed by Everyone TV, the organisation which runs free TV services Freeview and Freesat in the UK and is jointly owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
It’s the first time that British viewers will be able to browse and watch live TV channels together with on-demand content streamed to their smart TV via the Internet for free. This breaks down many of the access barriers and having to jump around on apps – which can be really annoying and take time. Breaking down these barriers is key to making sure viewers stay with high quality UK originated content.
One thing that’s important is the role of the regional and nations content – the BBC and ITV which are the UK’s suppliers of regional news and programming – do make it hard to find some local content online. So, it’s important that with increased tech – regional content doesn’t get left behind. There is a huge value to this programming and relevant news.
Freely has pledged that viewers will be able to “seamlessly” browse channels through a “modern and intuitive” programme guide and use functions that are designed to make it easier to find and explore new shows directly from live TV.
The Media Leader has much more here:
This appears important to the UK Culture Secretary who has said that viewers of free-to-air terrestrial TV should not be “left behind” amid shifting viewing habits towards streaming services,
Lucy Frazer was speaking in a keynote speech at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Conference where she outlined her plan to maximise the potential of the TV industry to capitalise on the endless choice new technology now offers to audiences.
In her speech, Frazer said: “As we focus on the future, our attention must also be on making sure people are not left behind. Because new ways of consuming TV should not come at the expense of those who still enjoy terrestrial television.
“This government wants to encourage the sector to keep embracing innovation and technological development. But we’re not going to pull the rug from under the devoted audiences of Freeview channels. We want terrestrial television to remain accessible for the foreseeable future.”
Advanced Television has the full story:
Since the speech the UK Communications Regulator. Ofcom, (Declaration: The Founder of BHC is an Advisor to Ofcom) has launched a Call for Evidence into the Future of TV Distribution
Ofcom states:
Large numbers of people still rely on traditional, scheduled broadcast TV – known as ‘linear’ TV – particularly for its ability to inform us about what is happening in the world and its power to bring the nation together in moments of national importance or celebration. And it is there for all of us, with free-to-view TV services available universally.
However, the way in which TV audiences watch content has changed radically. Vast libraries of video content are widely available from online streaming services, offering viewers greater choice while creating a much more fragmented viewing experience.
In support of its own research study, the Government asked Ofcom to undertake an early review of market changes that may affect the future of content distribution on Digital Terrestrial TV and other distribution platforms.
The full consultation paper is here:
At BHC we talk a lot about screen time and its effects on children (and adults!)
The Education Committee of the UK House of Commons is launching a new inquiry into the effects of screen time on education and wellbeing.
MPs will look into how apps, the Internet and access to smart phones and tablets can impact children’s education and wellbeing, from the early years to the start of adulthood.
“Over the last decade, teenagers’ access to the Internet has become almost ubiquitous, and it is becoming ever more prevalent among young children,” commented Education Committee Chair Robin Walker MP. “Whilst learning how to safely navigate the online world is an important skill, the Committee has already heard some deeply concerning evidence about the risks to children of too much screen time or of unsupervised access to online platforms.”
Advanced Television has the story and terms of reference here:
At the same time their colleagues on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee have set out the twelve essential challenges that AI governance must meet if public safety and confidence in AI are to be secured. These are:
- The Bias challenge: AI can introduce or perpetuate biases that society finds unacceptable.
- The Privacy challenge: AI can allow individuals to be identified and personal information about them to be used in ways beyond what the public wants.
- The Misrepresentation challenge: AI can allow the generation of material that deliberately misrepresents someone’s behaviour, opinions or character.
- The Access to Data challenge: The most powerful AI needs very large datasets, which are held by few organisations.
- The Access to Compute challenge: The development of powerful AI requires significant compute power, access to which is limited to a few organisations.
- The Black Box challenge: Some AI models and tools cannot explain why they produce a particular result, which is a challenge to transparency requirements.
- The Open-Source challenge: Requiring code to be openly available may promote transparency and innovation; allowing it to be proprietary may concentrate market power but allow more dependable regulation of harms.
- The Intellectual Property and Copyright Challenge: Some AI models and tools make use of other people’s content: policy must establish the rights of the originators of this content, and these rights must be enforced.
- The Liability challenge: If AI models and tools are used by third parties to do harm, policy must establish whether developers or providers of the technology bear any liability for harms done.
- The Employment challenge: AI will disrupt the jobs that people do and that are available to be done. Policy makers must anticipate and manage the disruption.
- The International Coordination challenge: AI is a global technology, and the development of governance frameworks to regulate its uses must be an international undertaking.
- The Existential challenge: Some people think that AI is a major threat to human life. If that is a possibility, governance needs to provide protections for national security.
Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee commented:
“Artificial Intelligence is already transforming the way we live our lives and seems certain to undergo explosive growth in its impact on our society and economy. AI is full of opportunities, but also contains many important risks to long-established and cherished rights – ranging from personal privacy to national security – that people will expect policymakers to guard against.”
More from the select committee here:
And finally…how long does it take your household to decide what to watch on tv?
Well in the Nielsen / Gracenote‘s, 2023 State of Play report it claims viewers now spend 10.5 minutes per session deciding what to watch.
10 and a half minutes just to decide what to watch!!!!!!
According to Gracenote data analysis, there were 1.9 million video titles available to viewers in the US, UK, Canada, Mexico and Germany in July 2021.
This number had ballooned to 2.7 million titles by June 2023.
That’s a lot of content to wade through and decide what to view….
More details here:
That’s it from the very long BHC Bulletin for now – have a great Autumn, and for all your comms, leadership, media and news issues why not get in touch. www.beechhillconsultancy.com