City Council leaders meet Ofcom

(Date of issue: Friday, 14 November 2008)

The issues around preserving a dedicated news programme for the Border TV area were taken straight to Ofcom yesterday (Thursday, 13 November 2008).

Councillors Mike Mitchelson, Leader of Carlisle City Council, Michael Boaden, Labour Group Leader and Trevor Allison, Liberal Democrat Group Leader, met Steve Perkins, Ofcom’s Head of Content Policy and Adam Higgitt, Public and Political Relations Manager.

The discussions centred around the case for a 30 minute dedicated Border TV News programme rather than ITV’s current proposal to merge Border and Tyne Tees news with a separate 15 minute sequences in the main weekday programme for viewers on the Border TV and Tyne Tees areas and separate late-evening bulletins.

Leader of Carlisle City Council, Cllr Mike Mitchelson, said:

"Local public opinion is opposed to the proposals and our delegation took these views direct to Ofcom. We took the opportunity to highlight the reasons why our area needs dedicated news programming, if not, we stressed that our local economy and local news would both suffer significantly. We also sought assurances that any consultation would be meaningful, as ITV appears to have already taken steps to make redundancies and advertise jobs under their new proposed structure before the end of Ofcom’s consultation period. Lastly, the need for our area to have a dedicated daytime news bulletin was also put forward, as the current proposals do not accommodate this."

Labour Group Leader, Cllr Michael Boaden, commented:

'We left Ofcom in no doubt about the continuing strength of feeling in this area in favour of retaining Lookaround in its current form. We also expressed dismay at how ITV had moved so quickly to axe jobs and shut down their Carlisle operation, whilst Ofcom were still consulting upon the plans for change. Finally we registered concern that even under the latest plans there is no guarantee of any coverage of issues from this area after 10.30pm at night until 6pm the following day. This is a gap in provision, which needs to be closed in OFCOM's final proposals.'

Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Cllr Trevor Allison, added:

"I was pleased to have the opportunity, along with my colleagues, to meet two officers of Ofcom at their London office. The meeting lasted well over an hour and was a cordial and frank discussion. Although we appreciate the difficulties faced by ITV with declining revenues, we had the opportunity to press the case for a dedicated local news programme. As we feel that this is in the best interests of our community."

Carlisle City Council believes that a 30 minute dedicated news programme is still the best option for the following reasons:

• It provides a major source of up to date and relevant information about issues affecting residents, 39%, in Ofcom’s research choose Border for national and regional stories.
• It gives Carlisle’s communities a voice especially in the rural areas.
• A reduced time slot could mean that coverage could marginalise the more vulnerable members of the community.
• Carlisle is attracting significant investment, £200 million is being spent on Carlisle’s flood defences, sewage system and transport infrastructure, which is strengthening Carlisle as a regional centre for businesses and investors. Losing Border TV as a regional media centre is a significant step back at this time.
• Even within a dedicated news slot, there is less capacity to feature local stories so will lose specialist coverage of community events.

The City Council, organisations and residents have until Thursday, 4 December 2008 to pass on their comments to Ofcom.