Local television and public service broadcasting
09.15-10.45
Local and community television as a service: What is the mandate of local television? Who is its public? What are the needs of the community? What is the niche of local television vis-ŕ-vis national public service broadcasters and commercial television? What kind of programming will better fulfill the mandate of local television? What are the genres affordable for small stations? What is the place of culture and education in local television? What is the right policy for in-house production and external acquisitions? This session will approach local broadcasting as a community service aiming at increasing and improving the participation of citizens in the public life of the community and hence strengthening the democratic functioning of society at the grass-root level. Practical examples will be given and discussed concerning programming choices and finding a balance between community service and financial survival.
Vanessa D'ALESSANDRO (IT) -- Telenorba
Alain MODOUX (CH)
Programming for local audiences: the place of culture and education in the local programme schedule
14.30-16.30
The programming schedule is the result of a clear mandate and a station philosophy. It is the final step of a decision-making process that will create the identity and personality of a broadcaster. This session will cover the various phases of the making of a programme schedule, the processes of decision-making of programme directors, the legal and financial constraints of local channels, the mechanisms for community participation, etc.
Iso CAMARTIN (CH) -- SF DRS
Vanessa D'ALESSANDRO (IT) -- Telenorba
Rastislav DURMAN (YU) -- Media Art Service International
Programme distribution and exchange
16.30 -18-30
Programme distribution: Overview of world trends, current mechanisms and exchange networks. Prices of programmes according to genre and producer and policies of acquisitions of programmes according to their line leading. This session will analyse what distribution channels are really working, and which are not, and which are accessible to local broadcasters. The session will also seek to gather concrete ideas for future joint ventures and to stimulate participants’ exchange of knowledge and expertise.
Carlos BLANCH (ES) -- TVC-Televisio de Catalunya
Filippo LOMBARDI (CH) -- TeleTicino (Melide)
Programme distribution and exchange
16.30 -18-30
With the advent of digital technologies new market opportunities have arisen for broadcasters. In particular, Internet-based Video-on-Demand platforms that provide easy and inexpensive public access to a vast array of audiovisual content that otherwise would not enter the usual distribution channels (cinema theatres, home video and TV).
Paramount to making use of these business opportunities is the clearing of rights for online exhibition. Unlike the US situation, in Europe broadcasters do not directly acquire the exploitation rights for online distribution of their self-produced programmes. Instead, these rights lie with the persons involved in the making of the work. It is only with the permission of these people that such works can be offered online.
The allocation of rights does not present any problem for newly produced works, since online rights are normally included in contractual arrangements between the producer and all rightholders involved.
The problem arises however, when it comes to clearing online rights for older works where often rightholders, or their heirs, are not traceable, or traceable only by unreasonable administrative effort.
In recent years, some attempts have been made to find solutions that would allow broadcasters to exploit productions held in their archives for online services while sufficiently respecting the rightholders' interests. This presentation will firstly analyse the efforts led by the Council of Europe and the European Union to clarify whether legislative action would be needed in order to solve this problem.
Secondly, an overview will be provided on current solutions adopted by collecting societies in order to facilitate the finding of rightholders and the acquisition of licences for online distribution of audiovisual works.
Finally, different legislative solutions will be outlined for the case when certain rightholders are not traceable at all.
Francisco Javier CABRERA (FR) -- European Audiovisual Observatory