Grampian slammed by regulator
A union complaint about cuts in Grampian TV's local programming has been backed by the ITC industry watchdog.
Recent cuts at Grampian TV were challenged by BECTU and the NUJ for their damaging effect on local programming in the North of Scotland. Members at Grampian, and associate company Scottish Television, took industrial action to force their point home.
Redundancies among producer/directors at the company were eventually agreed by BECTU, however a formal complaint about Grampian's failure to honour its licence commitments went forward to the Independent Television Commission (ITC).
This week, in a formal response to the complaint, the ITC echoed the concerns of unions that Grampian was sailing close to the wind with programme schedules that contained too little local content at peak times.
The Commission, responsible for issuing and policing licences for ITV companies, concluded that there had been a "substantial reduction in and around peak of Grampian produced programmes of interest to North of Scotland viewers".
Grampian is now under instructions from the ITC to observe a scheduling regime which includes two half-hour slots a week aimed specifically at the local audience, and a further half-hour of Gaelic programming on Sundays.
To ensure that Grampian lives up to its obligations, the ITC plans to commission independent audience research into viewers' attitudes to the company's output, with a report due in June or July this year.
On the same day that the Grampian report was published, the ITC also announced that ITV regionalism would be a main plank of the public consultation it plans to run on the question of public service broadcasting.
From May 31 the Commission will be holding seminars, accepting public comment, and sounding out the views of pressure groups and broadcasters. The consultation exercise is part of the ITC's preparations for the public debate which will be kicked off early after the next General Election by a new Communications Bill planned by Labour.
Text of the ITC's response to Granada complaint
Announcement of ITC consultation on public broadcasting