Northcliffe Media Criticises BBC Local Plans

Background information

BBC Management has published plans to spend up to £23m annually on video-based local news across 60 areas. The proposals are subject to a Public Value Test (PVT) by the BBC Trust.

Under the PVT arrangements, communications watchdog Ofcom is carrying out a Market Impact Assessment while the BBC Trust will conduct a Public Value Assessment of the proposals, which are branded Local Video. Commercial media operators and other interested parties have until Monday (August 4th) to make formal submissions as part of the consultation process.

The BBC Trust is expected to publish interim recommendations in November, with the final conclusions of the Public Value Test due next February, following a second stage of consultation.

Northcliffe Managing Director Michael Pelosi has submitted a 79-page document to Ofcom and a similar formal submission to the BBC Trust.

Northcliffe Media Criticises BBC Local Plans

• Northcliffe Media submissions question BBC’s plans to spend millions of pounds of public money replicating services that already exist
• BBC’s claims around ‘new level of local video newsgathering’ and ‘in-depth journalism’ under scrutiny

London: 4 August, 2008

Northcliffe Media, one of the UK’s biggest regional media companies, and part of DMGT (Daily Mail and General Trust) today responded to a consultation into the BBC’s plans to roll out local video-based news services.

Northcliffe’s submissions to the BBC Trust and Ofcom criticise the BBC’s plans to spend millions of pounds extending its local website content and questions why public funds are being used to make further aggressive inroads into the provision of local content at the expense of commercial operators.

Northcliffe Media’s responses, submitted by Managing Director, Michael Pelosi, urge rejection of the BBC’s plans. They point out the proposed new service would build upon and be supported by the BBC’s current regional news provision, which costs £100m a year, and by bbc.co.uk, the annual budget for which is expected to almost double to £150m within two years.

The Northcliffe submission says there is no justification or public value case for the BBC plans. The key points from its submissions include:

• The BBC’s proposals would not be distinctive. In fact, they would duplicate services being provided by regional media publishers and other commercial operators across the UK.
• Regional publishers are already providing local news in video format and are launching new digital services all the time.
• There is no unfulfilled demand for local news provision. Local and regional newspapers and their websites are widely used across all ages and demographics, reflect their local communities, and are the most trusted form of media.
• Local Video will not produce greater plurality or diversity in local news and other content. In fact, the BBC would stifle the development of new content and platforms from commercial and community providers.
• There is no support from commercial media groups for the BBC’s proposals and no evidence of genuine partnership with other providers.
• The BBC plans would be a direct threat to emerging new revenue streams for regional newspaper groups, which are directly linked to the local digital audiences that they have been building successfully for many years in order to generate revenue from display and classified advertising.

Northcliffe argues that the BBC’s service would benefit massively from cross-promotion from the BBC’s multiple audience touchpoints. The new service would also be in direct competition with the core content of regional publishers such as Northcliffe Media, which are already providing news, sport and community content through newspapers, websites and other rapidly-developing digital services.

Mr Pelosi, who is also President of the Newspaper Society which represents local and regional publishers, commented: “The BBC has huge advantages over commercial operators. It has used its massive public funding and resources, brand potency, unrivalled distribution network and cross-promotional opportunities to become the most powerful media brand in the world and the leading UK player in television, radio and on the Internet. Now it is seeking to extend that market leadership into the provision of local news and information.”

Mr Pelosi said the BBC’s plans for local video news were certainly not distinctive as video reporting was now commonplace across the regional publishing sector.

“Northcliffe’s journalists have been providing video news for up to two and a half years. At least 50 of Northcliffe’s websites will carry truly local video content by September 2008 when a rollout of the company’s next generation Internet publishing platform is complete. In June (as this will be published in August) 62,000 video views were recorded across Northcliffe’s thisis network of websites,” added Pelosi.

“The BBC’s claims that it will introduce a new level of local video news-gathering do not stand up to scrutiny, as many of the Local Video sites mirror areas covered by regional newspapers and their websites.”

Mr Pelosi also rejected the BBC’s claims that its video reporting would exhibit in-depth journalism. “The combination of coverage Northcliffe and the other regional publishers can provide on a given subject or issue – news reporting, in-depth features, comment and opinion, still pictures, video, and interaction with local people and communities – across a range of printed and digital platforms is unrivalled and certainly distinctive in the field of local and regional media.”

Mr Pelosi said the BBC plans showed insensitivity to – or even disregard for – the challenges faced by commercial media in the regions. “The proposed massive additional publicly-funded intervention into local media markets would exaggerate further the iniquitous disparity between a commercial sector facing perhaps the most challenging conditions it has ever encountered and the BBC which would be able to extend its reach and impact locally, free from any commercial constraints.”

Mr Pelosi said the BBC’s further encroachment into local news would impinge on the role of local publishers as the champion of their communities. He pointed to how, during last summer’s floods, Northcliffe newspapers and websites in Hull and Gloucestershire had played a key role.

“We brought the community together and used our considerable influence to represent local people at a time when they needed support desperately,” said Mr Pelosi. “The BBC’s coverage lacked the passion, the community connection and the perseverance which characterised our role at the heart of the communities we serve.”

The Northcliffe submissions urge rejection of proposals to extend Local Video content to other distribution channels, including mobile. Northcliffe says this would enable the BBC to close off the potential for commercial media operators to develop new commercially viable local news and information services delivered to mobile phones and other devices.

-ENDS-

Press contacts for Northcliffe Media:
Nelson Bostock Communications
Nick Clark - nick.clark@nelsonbostock.com / 020 7792 7464
Bethan Thomas – bethan.thomas@nelsonbostock.com / 020 7792 7425

Northcliffe Media
Director of Marketing, Northcliffe Media – Sean Mahon, sean.mahon@northcliffemedia.co.uk

Notes to editors

Northcliffe Media is one of Britain’s largest regional publishing groups with a weekly combined newspaper circulation of 8 million copies a week. Northcliffe’s local businesses are transforming rapidly from newspaper publishers to dynamic, multi-media businesses with a vast range of digital platforms in addition to market-leading printed publications.

Northcliffe publishes a total of 113 titles, including 17 paid-for dailies in locations such as Bristol, Hull, Leicester, Nottingham, Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent and Swansea. By September 2008, Northcliffe plans to have 128 websites - 27 “Major Urban” and “Regional Aggregator” sites and 101 hyper-local or niche platforms. In June 2008 Northcliffe’s thisis network of websites attracted 3 million unique visitors, viewing 45 million pages.