It is written into UK legislation that the UK’s public service broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) must be ”free at the point of access”.
Currently broadcasters are paying to distribute their content both online and via traditional methods. But with costs rising and fewer people using the Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) service, or at least spending less time using it, the less cost-effective it becomes.
Earlier this year, the UK media and telecoms regulator, Ofcom, published a report examining the future of TV distribution in an internet connected world, and how the inevitable future where DTT becomes too expensive to support can be navigated.
The report predicts that, based on current trends around 95% of households will have the ability to watch internet delivered TV by 2040. However, without action or intervention at least 5% of households (around 1.5 million people) will still be reliant on traditional broadcasting at that time.
This ‘unconnected’ group tends to be older, of lower socio-economic status and/or living in rural communities. With the cost and availability of broadband along with a lack of digital literacy cited as the main factors in preventing households from adopting internet delivered TV.
The UK Government are committed to Digital Terrestrial TV until 2034, but with key licences for public service broadcasters due to end by the same year, Ofcom is urging the Government to provide certainty in a plan for the future of TV distribution.
In response, and following Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sports research showing “some viewers could be excluded from the general shift towards online viewership”, the UK government is set to form an industry group to scrutinise the future of linear TV broadcasting,
The core aims of the group will be to “ensure that no one is left behind amid a shift towards online viewing”, and to establish a “sustainable television ecosystem that works for both audiences and the industry.” It will consider how all viewers, including older people and those without internet connectivity, can continue to access British content amid changing consumer habits.
There are competing ideas on how TV distribution should look in the future but maintaining universality is essential – any transition must be inclusive and leave nobody behind.
However, all of this begs the question; what will “free at the point of access” mean in the internet age, where all TV is delivered via a broadband connection? Since the launch of BBC TV in 1936 all that has been needed is the relevant receiving equipment – traditionally just an ariel and a TV set, or in more recent times a Freeview or Freesat box – there was no requirement for any other on-going costs or subscriptions (electricity excepted). But if traditional broadcast transmissions are terminated, then access to Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) content could be contingent on having a suitable broadband connection – is this “free at the point of access” and accessible to all?
And that’s without considering the potential vulnerability of being solely reliant on an internet service provider for your connection to the outside world, with no other channels to turn to (pun intended!).
There’s a lot to consider on the road to internet only TV delivery, and by the time we get there some of the potential and perceived obstacles may no longer be as great as they appear to be on first consideration. There will be questions, there will be answers, there will be frustrations and ultimately there will be change – let’s just hope that the Western European concept of “free to air” Public Service Broadcasting isn’t compromised along the way.
