This week I wanted to do something slightly different for Radio Land. Your regular news summary will be back next week, but for now i wanted to take a deep dive into a topic creating a lot of talk in recent weeks.
Should local radio get state funding?
Ever since we heard that RTE would be receiving secure funding for the next three years, every other broadcaster has also wanted money. Who could blame them? All broadcasters definitely do provide a huge public service, so arguing they should get funding does make sense.
It’s not just limited to radio either. In the TV space, both Virgin Media and TG4 have also been looking for more cash, so basically everyone in media wants money right now.
While all of these broadcasters do provide a valuable public service, only RTÉ and TG4 are true public service broadcasters. Most of the others are commercially owned, often by billionaires.
With that in mind, how do we fund them? Handing money to a commercial entity like Virgin or Bauer with no strings attached clearly seems like a bad idea, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t put some money on the table to keep high quality public service content on these stations.
How much money do we offer to commercial broadcasters? And what are they willing to give us in return? Maybe we already have the answer…
The Sound and vision scheme is actually kinda cool.
Most readers here will be aware of the Sound and vision scheme from Coimisiún na Meán. Basically a production company or broadcaster pitches a public service show or format, and then Coimisiún na Meán partly funds it. This is actually a great system.
Fantastic high quality content ends up airing on independent broadcasters, and we’re not just handing over money with no strings attached.
The more I think about how to fund independent public service content, the more I think an expansion of sound and Vision is the answer. So, here’s my pitch for how we evolve local radio funding and how we ensure the listeners are the ones who benefit.
1. New obligations for broadcasters
If we’re going to be funding broadcasters with tax payer money then it’s fair to expect high standards.
This also gives us an opportunity to deal with some of the criticisms regularly levelled at the Radio industry.
- A minimum of 25% of music played must be from Irish artists
- Stations must have a minimum 4 minutes of news at the top of each hour. This news can not be networked between 7am and 8pm
- Irish language news bulletins must air for 4 minutes every 3 hours
- A transcript of all news bulletins must be made available online to ensure accessibility for those who are hard of hearing.
- A report dealing with revenue and prizes for text to win contests must be published monthly to ensure transparency.
- Networking can’t take place in prime time, between 7am and 8pm.
There are other requirements I think stations should need to follow, but let’s not be too greedy.
2. Reforms of Sound and Vision
The Sound and Vision Scheme really isn’t too bad as it is. It just needs more funding. However, there are some small changes that would be nice.
- Coimisiún na Meán should review funded content to ensure that it met its public service obligations.
- Content funded through the scheme must air in prime time.
- The scheme should expand to include digital media. (Full transparency, I work on public service digital content for my day job)
- Funded content should be shared online and there should be a central repository.
- A report each year should state how much funding was given for content on each broadcaster.
Other than that I don’t see a whole lot that needs changing. Sound and Vision is a really good scheme, and I think it’s the best way we can find high quality public service content without just handing money to broadcasters in a free for all.
Conclusion
Look, every broadcaster would love a free for all, and I know many will say an expanded Sound and Vision isn’t good enough.
In some ways they’re right. I’m honestly not too concerned about wireless group or Bauer, but I do wish there was a better way to support those smaller local broadcasters.
We’ve seen huge change in the media industry in recent years and I think now is the time to ensure that listeners get high quality content wherever they listen. Just handing over money isn’t the answer, but perhaps an expanded Sound and Vision scheme with stricter public service obligations for broadcasters might be the winning approach.
What do you think?
How should we fund public service content on commercial radio? Should it be funded at all? Share your thoughts now on our social media.