My Lords, I, too, support this amendment, which was so ably moved by the noble Lord, Lord Grade. I declare my interest as chairman of a commercial PSB company, STV plc, which of course operates the Channel 3 licence in Scotland.
As almost all the speakers have said, the amendment focuses on a change that is very long overdue. For many years, the current arrangements for television platform access have been wholly inappropriate to secure the continued investment in original content made by all the commercial PSB operators in the United Kingdom. I, too, urge the Government to develop a commercial and market-orientated solution that recognises the real value of this original content to the pay TV operators. The amendment presents a golden opportunity to effect that change. Often throughout my career I have heard Governments say, “We recognise a need to change but we do not readily possess the legislative vehicle to effect it”. That is not so in this case. By repealing Section 73 of the 1988 Act, this time the change could be very readily and swiftly achieved.
In support of the amendment, I offer additional points to reinforce some of the important points already made. I particularly emphasise that the current legislative framework that determines television access arrangements between channel operators and pay TV platforms is, as everyone else who has already contributed has said, totally outdated, completely inappropriate and biased in favour of pay TV platforms. We have reminded ourselves, and the Government must be clear on this, that, as the noble Lord, Lord Grade, said, the current arrangements, based on legislation set out in the 1980s, had the necessary aim at the time of encouraging the rollout of the cable network in the UK to challenge the analogue monopoly that existed at that time. However, the current landscape is totally unrecognisable from that time, and legislation has simply not kept up with industry changes. Sometimes I think at my board meetings that we have enough trouble keeping up with industry changes, so it is not surprising that legislation struggles to keep up. However, here is an opportunity.
For example, the online providers and aggregators of content are using the lack of clarity in the legislation to exploit the content of public service broadcasters in an online environment. This was simply not foreseen at the time of the original legislation. Indeed, the real and potential value of original content was not properly understood at that time, probably by any of us. No one makes that mistake now. So long as commercial PSB operators carry a must-offer obligation within their licences and pay TV platforms retransmit PSB channels without any charge for carrying that content, the net result is that the PSB channel operators suffer a net outflow of value which, as other noble Lords have said, is subsidising large pay TV platforms. This has to change.
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I had the pleasure of listening to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he addressed the Royal Television Society conference in September. It struck me that he clearly understood the issue. It was very heartening to hear him say:
“Politicians and Government have no business controlling television. What we do have is a role to play in making the industry work for viewers. That’s why we’re going to look at whether the time is right to remove Section 73 of the Copyright, Design and Patents act, which could allow PSBs to invest more in high-quality content”.
He hit the nail right on the head with the last point. The creative industries are hugely important to the UK economy—and, as my noble friend Lord Macdonald said, disproportionately important to regional economies and to the Scottish economy. In one of the few truly global and increasingly consolidated industries, the role of PSBs in creating high-quality content has never been more important. This change would result in an increase in investment that would directly and swiftly enhance capacity in the industry and act as a clear incentive to further investment by PSBs by transforming the return on investment—a huge incentive.
This is an important amendment and a rare opportunity for public policy to catch up with a changing industry landscape and lay the foundations for strengthening that industry further. I urge the Government to take the opportunity.