Screen Producers Ireland’s Post

It’s fantastic to see that the Green Party of Ireland / Comhaontas Glas’s General Election manifesto includes strong measures to support Ireland’s independent production sector. The Green Party has committed to ensuring that tax incentives, like Section 481 are supported to provide adequate funding for our independent production sector. It is also highly encouraging to see a call for the implementation of the AVSMD content levy in the manifesto, this will ensure fair contributions from streaming services and broadcasters and will support Irish cultural content and Irish stories. The proposal to prioritize a review of Irish media services and Irish content in the media will be vital for the sustainability and development of the availability of Irish language programming for Irish audiences. Also encouraging, is their focus on the ongoing success of programmes like Safe to Create, which are important for the well-being of workers in the sector. The Green Party’s manifesto signals strong backing for Ireland’s creative industries. #CreativeEconomy #IrishFilm #IndependentProduction

2024 - the year of elections everywhere…with impacts on broadcasting. The British Labour Party if it wins next week, plans to “work constructively with the BBC and our other public service broadcasters so they continue to inform, educate and entertain people, and support the creative economy by commissioning distinctively BRITISH content.” Sounds like a sensible policy for the UK. In ireland, political parties must ensure RTE also commissions distictively IRISH Content, especially in its entertainment and popular factual genres, not just news and current affairs. Ents. and popular factual/formats are the most exportable and valuable genres to build capacity for the indie sector. One way to ensure precious Irish tax payers monies are not needlessly exported and opportunities to leverage capacity & sustainability are missed; is to have a public register of shows/formats that are bought in/reversioned (irishified) with the cost of the foreign owned format Licence, its minimum Licence term (1,2,3 season orders) & commercial Holdbacks specified. RTE, in its new iteration, needs to stop short term shoring up of ratings at the expense of coming up with its own original shows in the relevant genre. Reporting this would be revealing as to where spend lies. It shouldn’t have to be, but incentives to innovate original winning IP need to be put in place. It should be core and part of RTE’s DNA and mandate. Otherwise what’s the point and long term future?

📺 Today marks a milestone for media policy in the European Union as the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) enters into force. Excited to share the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe - ACT practitioner's guide put together by my fantastic colleagues Erard Gilles and Sebastiano Bertagni. It offers an overview of key provisions and practical compliance measures to help media companies and stakeholders navigate this important Regulation effectively. 📝✅ #EMFA #EURegulation #Television #Newsroom #Journalism #Sustainability #Pluralism Go get your copy at the following link: https://lnkd.in/eja-CtrK

🇪🇸The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) expresses concern over Spain’s new decree law lowering the majority required to appoint Radiotelevisión Española board members, risking increased political control over the public service broadcasters. We urge Spain’s Parliament to reject this change and protect RTVE’s independence. Read our statement👉https://buff.ly/3AvwbTo #MediaFreedom #RTVE #Decretazo European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) ARTICLE 19 Free Press Unlimited European Federation of Journalists Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa

Licence fee - time to update for the 21st Century "The Sunday Times reported Lisa Nandy wants to turn the BBC into a mutual organisation to give direct control and ownership to the public. She believes such a pathway would “future-proof” the BBC and protect it from the possibility of a future government reducing its budget." Intention is everything. A government minister attacking the BBC for being bias and calling into question the future of the licence fee should ring alarm bells, as it has when previous culture secretaries have done. However, what Department for Culture, Media and Sport secretary Lisa Nandy sets out is that she has the BBC's best interests at heart and wants to protect it from government interference. I've been in favour of abolishing the licence fee, as it doesn't represent the best value to fund the BBC, it only takes into account #television and not internet usage, and doesn't support the UK's current usage of TV, which is moving towards #streaming The idea of adding the payment to the BBC onto internet bills seem like the best way to fund the BBC, it's a stable financial income and doesn't come from direct taxation. Nandy's idea of funding it through direct taxation doesn't seem like a good idea, both for the notions laid out in the article of having to raise taxes or find revenue from existing streams to fund the BBC, but also, it makes the BBC more dependent on government. It's what happened in France, Macron scrapped the French licence fee, just as he reduced tax and then had to find the funds for French public television. It's vital that #publicservicemedia is maintained at arms length from the government. The licence fee does that to a significant extent, it can only be reviewed every 10 years. It's the cordon sanitaire that keeps public media public. "Currently 80% of households pay the fee – 3.5% receive a free licence, but evasion now stands at more than 10%." - I actually assumed the licence fee was paid by less people, so this seems that the licence fee is in a healthier state than I assumed, and that can give the government some time to come up with the best way of funding the BBC. All conversations on the licence fee, whether keeping or replacing it, should be encouraged as long as its done in good faith. #newsmedia #psm #mediaindustry #tvindustry #streamingmedia #lineartv #tv https://lnkd.in/ex6RFJQ9

📢🇭🇺 Right now at the Court of Justice of the European Union A hearing is underway in Case C-92/23 European Commission v Hungary, addressing questions about the right to provide media services on a radio frequency. 📜 The case in brief: This case concerns the decisions of the Hungarian Media Council that led Klubrádió, a commercial radio station, to lose its FM broadcasting rights. The station's frequency use was not renewed in 2020, and a subsequent tender excluded Klubrádió. Hungarian legislation has since restricted Klubrádió from broadcasting on FM frequencies. Key events: - In 2020, the Media Council refused to renew Klubrádió's frequency rights. - A 2021 tender process deemed Klubrádió's application invalid. - Klubrádió has been unable to broadcast on FM frequencies, even temporarily. ⚖️ The legal dispute: The European Commission argues that Hungary has breached EU law, including principles of proportionality and non-discrimination, as well as directives on electronic communications and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. 🎥 Missed it? Video recordings of the hearing will be available tomorrow and remain online for one month after the close of the hearing. Watch here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e-t3UQSP 📖 Check out more here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ewUE9VQu

Take a closer look at the MFRR Mission Report on Poland, revealing key insights into the progress and challenges of media reform in 2024. ✅ What’s improved: Greater independence in public service media A decline in SLAPP lawsuits targeting journalists Strengthened media pluralism ❌ What remains: Depoliticisation of public broadcasting is incomplete Local media and regulators face financial and political pressures The report highlights urgent reforms needed to secure press freedom and align with the European Media Freedom Act. https://lnkd.in/evjCCzfU

Our response to Channel 4's statement ruling out nations quotas: We are disappointed that Channel 4’s recent statement on its commitment to programme-making in the nations rules out the introduction of any individual nations quotas. We refute Channel 4’s analysis regarding the sustainability of individual nations quotas. The BBC’s nations quotas were designed to reflect Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’s share of the UK population. These have been instrumental in increasing spend in the nations and improving representation. While Channel 4 is smaller in scale than the BBC, the quotas - as they currently stand - are proportionate to hours and budget. Evidence submitted by Pact to Ofcom indicates the financial burden of increased nations quotas is less than Ofcom estimate. Channel 4 plays an important role for indies based in the nations and regions. As part of Ofcom’s consultation on Channel 4’s licence renewal, Pact proposed that Channel 4’s voluntary commitment to spend 50% of its production budget outside of London should be written into its licence. We also proposed that nations quotas - in line with the BBC’s - should be introduced over the next licence period. This would help to grow the sector in the nations and regions and would also help to mitigate the impact of any Channel 4 in-house production arm. The licence renewal process represents a once in a decade opportunity to help shape Channel 4’s commitments to the production sector in the nations and regions. With the Media Bill changing the way the Public Service Broadcasters deliver on their commitments, and Channel 4 potentially moving into production, it’s now more important than ever that Channel 4’s commitments to the nations and regions are enshrined in its licence. We look forward to Ofcom’s decision on this matter and urge them to take this opportunity to make changes to the quotas based on the evidence Pact and others across the sector have published. #UKIndies

Our summary of last week's regulatory activity of importance to broadcasters including the resolution of the radio regulatory fee filing issues (leaving those fees due on September 26), the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s passage of the AM for Every Vehicle Act (making the Bill now ripe for action by the full House and Senate), FEC and FCC activity on the regulation of Artificial Intelligence in political advertising, and a debate over the use of the FCC for political purposes: https://lnkd.in/eeJC4UNT

Prominent coverage in the Irish Times today of our Pre-Budget Submission which has been sent to the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Media. The submission contains comprehensive, reasonable and proportionate proposals which are costed and have been developed during the Spring/Summer. In comparison with the massive funding proposed for RTE, the submission seeks support which is a small fraction of total broadcast funding, dedicated to the continuation of core News and Current Affairs in the independent radio sector. This is separate to the proposed local democracy/courts schemes which we have commented on in detail over the last few months. Those schemes would not be substitutes for the core News and Current Affairs funding detailed in our Pre-Budget Submission. https://lnkd.in/eUNkFTXG