| PS3B1 | X | m | (No name, age unknown, tv presenter) unspecified |
| PS3B2 | X | m | (No name, age unknown) unspecified |
| PS3B3 | X | m | (No name, age unknown, bell atlantic representative) unspecified |
| HMKPSUNK (respondent W0000) | X | u | (Unknown speaker, age unknown) other |
| HMKPSUGP (respondent W000M) | X | u | (Group of unknown speakers, age unknown) other |
| Unknown speaker (HMKPSUNK) |
[1] [music] Michael Heseltine, the president of the board of trade, has found another industry in which to intervene. [2] Next Wednesday, a score of television bigwigs will meet him at a special seminar at the Department of Trade and Industry, part of the D T I's efforts to boost British exports. [3] British television is almost as widely admired abroad as it is at home. [4] Its reputation rests on classy programmes often made as international co-productions like David Attenborough's blockbuster natural history series. [5] [music] Britain used to have a comfortable trade surplus in television programmes. [6] Twenty four million pounds in nineteen eighty five. [7] But by nineteen ninety one, that had turned in to a deficit of a hundred million and one prediction suggests the deficit would have widened dramatically to six hundred and forty million pounds by the end of the decade. [8] Largely because of satellite television with its high number of feature films and U S and Australian programmes. [9] But many British programmes, especially dramas, don't travel well in the opposite direction. [10] British broadcasters fighting a ratings battle at home want shows guaranteed to appeal to British audiences. [11] British producers have little choice but to go for the home market, because the lion share of their budgets comes from the B B C, I T V or Channel Four who commission the programmes in the first place. |
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[12] The bias erm of British producers towards producing for a British market is likely to persist erm historically it's been very difficult for all but er select minority to achieve significant sells sales overseas. [13] Erm and again I I doubt doubt whether that will disappear over night. |
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[14] It's a cultural as much as a commercial problem. [15] No amount of government intervention will change it. [16] But Wednesday's meeting could suggest ways to stop things getting worse. [17] The government might offer tax breaks to Britain's beleaguered film industry. [18] Feature films do have export potential even if television programmes don't. [19] And the I T V companies won't miss an opportunity to push for a relaxation of the rules which prevent one large I T V company merging with another. [20] As it is, they say, British broadcasters are far too small to compete effectively in export markets or to resist overseas predators. [21] And the takeover threat doesn't just come from foreign television companies, but from cable companies and even phone companies as well. [22] Thanks to the much talked about convergence of broadcasting telecommunications and computing. [23] American telecom's giants like Bell Atlantic are quite open about their global ambitions. |
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[24] We absolutely have plans. [25] And we are absolutely having conversations with carriers throughout the world. [26] Not just in England but throughout the world about taking the technology we're developing and the branded services and deploying them on their systems. |
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[27] And the whole business of convergence raises the intriguing question of who ought to regulate this burgeoning new industry. [28] In Britain neither the independent television commission nor the telephone watchdog, OFTEL, seems entirely appropriate. [29] A single body modelled on the U S federal communications commission would make more sense. [30] And a British F C C would fit much more naturally into the Department of Trade's portfolio, than into that of the department of national heritage, which currently looks after broadcasting. [31] Perhaps Mr Heseltine's sudden interest in television is motivated by more than a simple desire to boost British exports. [theme music] |