Response to BBC Trust Consultation on the Asian Network
Posted by admin on December 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment
The Asian Network should be replaced with an inclusive radio network to serve and support young children and their families in all our communities.
What they say:
“…one of the difficulties of the Asian service is its concept. It broadcasts in a number of different languages to an audience that varies from younger to older [listeners].”
“It is trying to cater for many disparate groups simultaneously. We are wrestling with how to best serve this audience and whether one whole network is the right way to do it.”
Caroline Thomson, BBC Chief Operating Officer – House of Lords, 2010
“You could argue that we should have launched a children’s channel as part of our DAB [offering]… I think that would be a legitimate thing to argue. As it is, we did a partial service and that has not quite worked”
Caroline Thomson, Westminster e-Forum, 2009
“Providing outstanding children’s content is one of the BBC’s five editorial priorities as set out in the ‘Putting Quality First’ strategy. We believe it is very important that the BBC serves children across all its platforms as part of its public service mission” BBC Trust Decision on BBC’s Strategy for Children’s Audio, 2011
“The BBC has one mission: to inform, educate and entertain audiences with programmes and services of high quality, originality and value …” Mark Thompson, BBC Director General, 2010
“Radio is at the heart of the BBC’s public service mission and millions of listeners rely on its quality, range and integrity every day…” Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, 2008
“The BBC should be encouraged to increase the amount of original children’s programming on BBC7, and, as the audience appetite for its children’s radio services becomes clearer, consider increasing investment and hours broadcast”. Tim Gardam’s recommendations for BBC Digital Radio, 2004
“The number of children with language delay is worryingly high. Radio is an ideal medium to help them learn to concentrate and to listen without visual distraction. Parents often tell us they don’t know enough stories or nursery rhymes, and shared radio listening would support them and give them confidence”. Speech and Language Therapist, Gila Falkus.
The Asian Network should be replaced with an inclusive radio network
to serve and support young children and their families across all our communities
History:
The Asian Network has enjoyed a test run of nine years at a cost to the licence payer of £60m. It is by far the most expensive of all BBC radio formats.
- Asian Network Remit: to provide speech and music output appealing to British Asians aged up to 35years, with a strong focus on news and current affairs
In February 2010 the network was singled out as being badly managed and returning low value for public investment. BBC chief operating officer, Caroline Thomson. told the House of Lords Communications Committee, “It is trying to cater for many disparate groups simultaneously. We are wrestling with how to best serve this audience and whether one whole network is the right way to do it. “ Thomson said the corporation remained committed to serving an Asian radio audience, but said the idea of a single station aimed at all Asian people in the UK reflected a “rather British” view that if you come from the sub-continent … you must somehow be the same”
Ed Vaizey, the Shadow Culture Minister welcomed BBC proposals to close digital stations 6 Music and the Asian Network website as “intelligent and sensible“.
With an annual spend of £9m to £13m and a target audience of British Asians under the age of 35, this is by far the most expensive radio format per listener. Having struggled for nine years, with a redrafted remit in 2004, the network has cost the public over £60m. It stands charged with lax management and poor listening figures and was announced for closure in the ‘Putting Quality First’ report in March 2010
During a prolonged consultation stage, the BBC Trust received 1,572 online responses, 1,437 email responses and 42 letters related to the BBC Asian Network but upheld the plans for closure. However, high profile protests gained a u-turn from the executive and plans for part time local medium-wave services as one possible replacement were shelved. A BBC Trust Review of the Service Licence was announced on October 6th, including a second public consultation period on the future of the service.
Executive proposals to extend the target audience to 45 years, reduce the budget and make cuts to drama and foreign language output will still make it a costly exercise, based on no credible research and with no guarantee of success. In year 2007/8 the network spent £13m. Trust approval is required for any planned or actual change in annual expenditure on the service of more than 10% in real value and the public needs to know when this was sought and granted.
BBC Trust Guidelines to this consultation give the impression that the future of this digital network is under review but the executive has already committed it to selected British Asians in a given age range. The focus on six distinctive content areas: BBC news, music and entertainment, Asian culture, discussion, languages and specialist music appears to be set in stone with only some internal tweaks open to public and industry consultation.
This is misleading and time-wasting for members of the public and organisations who are keen on making more practical use of public money and broadcasting space.
Reforms BBC Management have proposed in Delivering Quality First are:
- Maintain Asian Network as a national service
- Broaden the existing audience to encompass British Asian listeners between 25 and 45
- Focus on six distinctive content areas: BBC news, music and entertainment, Asian culture, discussion, languages and specialist music
- Remove drama and documentary programmes from the station
- Reduce the amount of weekday language programmes
- Close the station between midnight and 6am
- Cut 34% from the annual budget of £12.1million
The BBC Trust will base its judgement of the Asian Network as follows:
The framework is based around the four drivers of public value: Reach, Quality, Impact and Value for money and it includes measurement of the five content characteristics, as described in the BBC Agreement: high quality, challenging, original, innovative and engaging.
MORI and Capibus Ipsos Mori surveys in 2001 and 2010 placed a network for young children and their families at the top of public preference for a licence-funded network for the public to listen to and each placed the Asian Network at the bottom. Further research in October 2011, to inform this response, placed a network for young children and their families equal to Radio 4Extra with the Asian Network again polling lowest at 7%. [It is likely that media coverage of the threatened closures, protests and reprieves to 6 Music and the Asian Network, together with the high-profile launch of R4Extra have weighted results in favour of these three networks].
The Sound Start Group has proposed an in-depth evaluation of radio’s role in children’s lives, with published outcomes, to inform government, regulators and the radio industry. This would be undertaken in partnership with the BBC and other non profit organisations. The pilot study could operate across a local, regional or national framework deploying capacity and budget savings from the Asian Network , which, we recommend, should be replaced with a more inclusive network aimed at families with young children,
Research also confirms that families with children listen to radio most in cars, making Children’s Radio an intelligent choice in the government’s Digital Radio Action Plan, and a logical ‘6th C’ in Ed Vaisey’s five objectives: Content, Consumers, Coverage, Certainty and Cars. It is time to give the public what they want.
S.S. 20/12/2011
Supporting documentation:
2001 Research Data: http://www.sound-start.co.uk/?p=71
2010 Research Data: http://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/Polls/poll-public-demand-for-a-childrens-radio-network-ipsos-mori-tables.pdf
2011 Research Data: http://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/Polls/Sound_start.pdf
Appendix 1: Summary of BBC’s Strategy for Children’s Audio – Sound Start Group
