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BRIGHTON TV STEPS FORWARD
In 2014, from July 8th Brighton & Hove will, for the first time, have its own television channel. We’re not talking cable or internet. Anyone could own one of those and call themselves a television channel. We’re talking proper TV - the kind you get from an aerial on your roof. You’ll find this new channel (channel 8) tucked in between BBC Three and BBC Four on your TV guide. This channel will be called Latest TV but, for the purposes of this article, we’ll be calling it LTV.
Licensed under section 244 of the Communications Act, 2003, LTV has committed to broadcasting in its first year 500 hours of original user generated programming, “driven and produced locally by its viewers”. Much of this programming - according to LTV’s managing director, Bill Smith - will be “citizen journalist created content”.
In the month before LTV won its broadcasting licence, Channel 8 News spoke to Bill Smith about the prospects for local television.
Given that local cable television (licensed for Brighton & Hove in 1989) failed to deliver on its promises, what guarantees do we have that LTV will be any different? For instance, further on down the line, what’s going to stop this entire enterprise being taken over by a bunch of accountants from offices in New York?
Bill shares our concerns. He says LTV fully intends to produce all its content locally. He confirmed that many ‘outside interests’ [presumably major businesses with media ambitions] have wanted to get cosy with LTV, “but these have been resisted”.
Bill agreed that, with its wealth of local talent and resources, Brighton & Hove could soon be selling fresh and original productions to other, new, local license holders around the UK, and might sooner-or-later be offering content to the BBC.
It is Bill’s expressed belief that, “The broadcast world has, for so long, been London-centric. It has forced media professionals to commute because there’s been no work for them in the towns where they live. This is not true of other industries. Doctors and plumbers are not generally obliged to move to London to earn a living. We believe localism is the key. The future’s bright. There’s a wealth of local talent out there. For instance, kids from some of Brighton’s poorest estates are producing and uploading great stuff onto YouTube. We would want to encourage this talent, although it would be hard to fund.”
The theme to one of LTV’s already existing online productions, Brighton Lights declares that Brighton is undoubtedly Party Town! This kind of enthusiasm might confirm the worst prejudices of those who fear television for and about our city will consist almost exclusively of a drunk caught on CCTV serenading for some self indulgent night clubbing homage presented by another X Factor wannabe. Of course, this isn't going to be the case. Ofcom (the UK’s telecommunications regulator) has stated that “a wide spectrum of local news” should be local television’s most important consideration.
If one had to identify any such thing as Brighton & Hove’s truly indigenous population one could do far worse than point towards all the children in our local schools. Does LTV’s Managing Director think it could (and should) be possible for local school children to be involved in local television news gathering and delivery?
Bill said he totally agreed. He would like to see children involved in television production from a very young age. In his opinion, “Teaching about the media in schools focuses too much on the theoretical. Most young people are already far more familiar with producing media than most adults. Look at how they’re using the cameras on their smartphones. That’s just one reason why we’re already approaching local schools with a view to involving them.”
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EARLY MONDAY EVENING IN A BAR ON THE EDGE OF KEMP TOWN
In September 2012 LTV won its licence to broadcast television in the Brighton & Hove area. In the end there had been no other bidders for this licence. The same had been true for a number of other licence areas in the UK (such as Bristol and Grimsby) while for London and Manchester Ofcom had received five applications each.
LTV’s stable mate magazine, Latest7 announced:
IF YOU WANT TO BE PART OF BRIGHTON’S TV CHANNEL, COME TO OUR OPEN DEMOCRATIC MEETINGS AT LATEST MUSIC BAR, EVERY MONDAY AT 5.30 PM.
So, in October last year, Channel 8 News went along to one of these meetings to see if it did do what it said on its tin.
Twenty or more people were sitting around a loose circle of tables in this Manchester Street bar. The acoustics in here aren't ideal for a low key meeting. After all, this is a music bar not a conference centre. Beneath its lofty ceiling a jazz soloist might sound great, but some quiet pronunciations from a foreign student across this room are not so easy to hear. Then a thrash metal band arrives for an elongated sound check downstairs. LTV’s managing director, Bill Smith pops down to ask them politely to shut up, which they do.
Bill facilitates this open meeting. He asks each of us in turn to introduce ourselves, then to outline any ideas we might have or report back on any work in progress.
Most of us appear to be in our twenties or thirties; white; educated middleclass, and with a background in the arts or media. A third of us might be in our forties or fifties. Some of us are students; some of us are media professionals. Some of us have come here this evening for the very first time; but most of us have been here before.
Bill appears to have a colleague called Lisa who’s taking notes. Another colleague, David speaks knowledgeably about the technical requirements of television.
Bill says he’s looking for content. “You make it, we’ll show it,” he says, “We’ll show everything. There’ll be no executive producers. You can shoot it on an iPhone for all I care. It’s an open door.”
Bill is engagingly enthusiastic. With a can do attitude, he greets every idea with a positive response: although occasionally his colleagues feel moved to remind us all that, for technical and legal reasons, not absolutely everything will be considered suitable for broadcast.
Some of us have nothing more than a vague idea to offer. Others have projects in need of assistance. Bill often draws one person to the attention of another. Needs are matched: Creative types are introduced to others with technical skills; projects with equipment are introduced to projects with none.
Some of our ideas are not unexpected. Some are unusual. There’s at least one idea for a music video. Someone suggests a Blue Peter style programme for students:
“For example,” he says, “We could show new arrivals how to survive on £10 per week or how to open a tin of beans.”
Someone reports that he’s been trying to source a supply of continental films for broadcasting after midnight; everyone agrees that a show comprised of thirty second comedy sketches sounds like fun; there’s an offer of a daily weather forecast but we’re told this is something Press Association professionals have already offered at a price LTV can afford.
One couple are keen to offer their daily breakfast show. Whilst welcoming this suggestion, Bill wonders if just the two of them could sustain such a regular output.
Then there’s an idea for a series of Brighton crime drama/documentaries. A writer was considering turning his unfinished novel into a film. Brighton Youth Orchestra could be the subject of one documentary; Brazilian martial arts could be the subject of another. An item of household furniture converted into a sports car might kick start a series of programmes on all kinds of motor vehicles; and a programme of ‘motion graphics’ sounded interesting.
Brighton could have its own version of The Only Way is Essex. This sounded like a no-brainer. Then one chap stood to passionately declare there’s an unquestionable need for ‘simple but compelling storytelling told straight to the camera’.
Another chap (called Martin) wants to take a film crew and follow some Open House artists.
And, finally, there’s a murmur of approval when ‘live interaction with social media’ is suggested.
Some ideas are just plain silly. Some ideas have been excellent. We’ll say no more than that. It’s not unknown for a good idea to be stolen.
To the world weary, all our optimism and fresh enthusiasm for these ideas might seem naive. Actually, it’s all very reminiscent of them early Wild West days of Channel 4.
During the 1980s, after three decades of a UK television industry dominated by a relatively small number of established companies, Channel 4’s commissioning process opened its doors on a new frontier, offering small and independent production companies the opportunity to flourish in a free market. For a while, a really good idea was worth almost as much as being connected to the right people. Experimental strands such as Ghosts in the Machine were showcases for emerging talent and experimental artists. And, if not commissioned, wacky proposals [such as The 1988 Virgin Atlantic Cricket Club Tour of the USSR] were at least read before being rejected.
One could also hope these new beginnings might resemble that era of punk and the new wave when hitherto disenfranchised artists began applying the principles of DIY to bypass media empires. Many of these new entrepreneurs launched their own record labels, magazines and night clubs; reinvented the concept of style and inspired a generation.
One can still hear Patti Smith shout (presumably about rock n’ roll) after her live rendition of My Generation, “We created it. Let’s take it over.”
Of course, everything will eventually come down to money. Without public funding Channel 8 broadcasters will have to maintain their existence through advertising. But who in this city still watches television? Only time will tell. Many commentators out there (and possibly a majority of media professionals) see no viable future for truly local television in the UK. Brighton & Hove’s new can-do-television idealism might inevitably evolve into a hard-headed commercial realism. So those students (who probably grew up watching Blue Peter on BBC 1) might continue to have their fun cooking baked beans in front of a live audience, but only for as long as they can keep the brand names on their tins prominently positioned.