Radio Licensing Review
Department of Communications, Marine & Natural
Resources
30 September, 2003
Introduction
SIPTU is the largest trade union in Ireland and represents some 200,000 workers of all types across all sectors of the Irish economy. It has a particular presence in the Broadcasting sector where it retains approximately 1,200 members in public and private sector broadcasting in every county of the state.
The NUJ is the professional body and trade union which represents in excess of 4,000 journalists and editorial workers in Ireland and Britain. Approximately 800 journalists are directly employed in the broadcast sector on the island of Ireland.
Both unions work together at workplace and national level to represent the interests of their members to employers, government and society at large.
SIPTU and the NUJ wish to welcome the public consultation associated with the Radio Licensing Review and applaud the Department’s ongoing policy in this regard. It is a matter of regret however that neither union nor the ICTU were consulted during the compilation of the Ox Report itself.
The social partnership process is designed to facilitate the exchange of opinions and information between the major economic stakeholders in society and we believe that the failure to consult in this instance was short-sighted. The need for consultation was underlined by the loss of jobs in the sector as a result of licensing decisions taken by the BCI.
Our members have contributed to the ongoing success of independent radio in Ireland since the 1988 Radio & Television Act. They have been pioneers in a difficult and initially challenging environment. In many respects the policy development of the sector has been heavily influenced by a desire on the part of successive governments to provide an alternative to RTÉ services. While this may be construed as a legitimate ambition we believe that it has nevertheless led to a certain degree of ad hoc development especially in terms of regulation.
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has acted as a licensing agent and regulatory body and concern has been raised by our members regarding the methodology and transparency of their decision-making processes in both spheres.
The failure of the Radio Kilkenny licence re-application and consequent redundancies for our members highlighted a number of policy issues which must be addressed as part of this review. In any future licensing arrangements questions relating to the Transfer of Undertakings for broadcast professionals working in the independent sector must be set out clearly and unambiguously.
SIPTU and the NUJ argue that employees who generally will have worked for a considerable period with a licensed concern in a franchise area should be covered by TUPE in any relicensing process including situations where the BCI may decide to redraw particular franchise areas. It is not in our members’ interests that issues such as these be circumvented by default or design.
On the issue of content regulation the intervention of the BCI (at the behest of a political party) on the day prior to the local and European elections earlier this year was the subject of profound concern. Independent broadcasters were informed by the BCI that certain news stories could not be broadcast. The stories in question related to the interface between public policy and industrial relations in the transport sector and were regarded as potentially damaging to the government.
This type of regulatory intervention is controversial and does little to promote confidence in the content regulation of the independent sector. It is our view that the Independent Radio Landscape would be greatly strengthened by confident, mature and well-informed regulation. In this regard we await the establishment of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with interest.
The need to develop the radio industry on a national and regional basis should also be assessed against the Public Service Broadcasting Charter and RTÉ’s role in producing and transmitting programming from its national studio network. We believe that allowing RTÉ to re-develop dedicated regional (as opposed to local) services could allow the public service provider to act as a competitive driver within the industry in general. In this way the independent sector could achieve balanced development through an alternative path.
The primary weaknesses of the current franchising system include the issue of employment continuity through licensing rounds (as outlined above) and the question of union recognition in the independent sector. Independent radio stations as businesses have been loathe to recognise the right of our members to be represented on issues of collective concern.
Matters have improved somewhat in recent years through mechanisms provided for in national partnership agreements but it is the policy of both SIPTU and the NUJ that any decision to grant a licence to an independent radio station, either national or local, should be contingent on union recognition and rights to representation.
As the BCI is a statutory body and the license is effectively a grant of a public resource, our members believe that they should enjoy the rights to union recognition and representation associated with other public sector licensing arrangements. The introduction of ‘Living Wage Clauses’ in public service contracts administered by municipal authorities in the United States offers an example which statutory bodies could embrace.
We believe that robust regulation offers the most effective means possible of achieving government broadcasting policy objectives in the Independent sector. ‘Light-touch’ regulation brings with it the danger of regulatory ‘creep’ where legislative provisions may be more honoured in the breach than the observance. The case of home produced music and the Irish language are cases in point where quite defined guidelines for independent broadcasters exist. The experience since 1988 has demonstrated that principle and practice may not always co-exist.
The establishment of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland offers a timely opportunity to re-assess the shape of such authorities and draw on experience within and without the sector for the benefit of the industry in general. Adequate consultation should take place with the social partners to ensure that the new authority is representative of all stakeholders within the broadcasting industry. A representative body is more likely to command the respect of both public and commercial broadcasters.
Consultation with the Trade Union movement on matters relating to independent broadcasting has been less than adequate to date and we believe that a national Trade Union nominee and an industry worker would greatly assist the new authority in it’s deliberations. In addition, an argument could be advanced that the new Broadcasting Authority should develop two overlapping yet distinct regulatory panels to deal with public and private broadcasting respectively. Such a structure would allow for unitary regulation yet allay the fears of those working in both sectors regarding the editorial and economic conflicts of interest that could confront a single regulator.
Robust regulation is also the key to ensuring diversity of content and plurality of ownership. ‘Light-touch’ regulation by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States has led to a high level of national and regional homogeneity in radio output particularly when the market dominance of Clear Channel is assessed. Such a development would be highly undesirable in this country as essentially local or regional voices, content and concerns could be denied access to the air if consolidation occurs in the absence of clear policy objectives.
The view of Ox Consultants, expressed during the Public Seminar, that a population of some 250,000 people is required to ensure a viable franchise deserves further investigation. Currently only 9 out of 26 stations have commercial licences for franchise areas in excess of 200,000 people. Stations in areas of comparatively low population density have created employment and are sustainable enterprises in themselves. Market pressure to consolidate could jeopardise regional broadcasting diversity and have a negative impact on regional economies if consolidation is allowed to occur unchallenged and in a weak regulatory environment.
We agree that the audience is ultimately paramount in any debate concerning the industry and the consultation deficit is apparent in that realm as in others. The establishment of an Audience Council may be useful in this regard yet the concern that ‘smaller concentrated groups could dominate at the expense of more general public concerns’ may be harder to reconcile with such a structure.
The RTÉ Audience Council has sought to achieve a balance between representative groups and direct citizen access yet actually underpins the access that smaller groups and minority interests has to the public discourse. This serves to enrich the debate while ensuring the necessary balance of opinion.
Direct public consultation in the franchise areas may be a useful tool prior to licensing decisions and during the terms of local, regional or indeed national franchises. At the risk of labouring the point, considerable value can also be gained from the social partnership process as well.
All sections of society should be able to express their views on independent broadcasting in their areas and such interaction between audience, station, regulator and public policy agencies can only deepen the engagement between broadcaster and listener.
The NUJ and SIPTU have raised concerns regarding the licensing process in the recent past and would welcome processes that would place transparency and accountability at the centre of the assessment process. This policy has been vigorously pursued in the public sector and industry workers in the commercial sector would welcome the same rigour of analysis.
Specifically, we believe that all applicants for licences issued by the BCI should pre-indicate what arrangements will be put in place regarding workplace consultation and representation.
The forthcoming EU Information and Consultation Directive will provide a statutory framework for such arrangements in the near future. In the light of provisions in national social partnership agreements regarding the right of workers to bargain collectively an opportunity now exists to anticipate these frameworks in broadcasting legislation.
Attention should also be paid to monitoring licenses and enforcement of contractual provisions including transparency and ‘Living Wage’ provisions as suggested above. To ensure diversity of outlook and excellence of service in franchise areas commitments given in respect of locally produced news and current affairs should be regularly monitored and stringently enforced.
It is recognised that the current sanctions available to the BCI are inadequate and that a more sophisticated system should be devised to allow the regulatory authority have some teeth.
Digital Audio Broadcasting was hardly discussed during the Public Seminar and there appears to be a broad industry acceptance that providing the infrastructure for DAB will be costly. The scope for expansion of services and audience enjoyment however is large and although initial investment may appear daunting it is important that a sustainable level of development in initiated as soon as possible to ensure that Ireland is not left behind in this important technological development.
The investment by the BBC in digital radio in a highly competitive radio market demonstrates that market leadership can provide more choice and high quality services to the listener. It is significant that the BBC has been adequately funded to enable this leadership and is allowed to plan such capital and editorial projects on a multi-annual basis.