An independent report commissioned by culture minister Ed Vaizey has said BSkyB should make a greater contribution towards British cinema.
A Future for British Film – it begins with the audience, the findings of the independent review panel chaired by Lord Chris Smith, welcomed the £2 billion (€2.4 billion) invested in content by the satcaster but said it had benefitted from the UK’s liberal approach to broadcasting legislation. “It is by far the biggest pay-TV operator in the UK but has no obligations to contribute to the wider audiovisual culture. By way of contrast, the pay-TV operators in France, Canal+ and its siblings, invested over £290 million in French films in 2010 as a result of legislative obligations,” said the review.
Technological change, such as the proliferation of video on demand, was also changing the importance of British film to the five main PSB channels.
The panel said a commitment to UK film production would be consistent with BSkyB’s goals to invest in a greater volume of high-quality original content and would be consistent with the emphasis placed on its movie offer in much of its current marketing to customers. Such an approach “could have disproportionately positive effects on the whole sector”.
“A healthy UK film sector is good for our customers and good for Sky. That’s why we support efforts to increase investment in all UK content,” said a Sky spokesperson. “Unlike those public service broadcasters who receive public money for the purposes of investing in UK content, Sky needs a clear and sustainable commercial rationale to do so. We look forward to continuing our constructive discussions with government and UK content producers on how we can continue to make a valuable contribution.”
Sky is continuing to increase its spend on UK production with a now well-documented 50% increase in home grown content to £600 million by 2014. It also prides itself in high quality craft skills as seen in productions such as Treasure Island, which premiered over Christmas.
Film institutions such as the BFI, BAFTA and National Film & Television School also receive support from Sky.
ITV, too, came in for criticism, with the panel saying that the number of British films appearing on the commercial channel remained consistently low.
A Memorandum of Understanding with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and BSkyB in which each would agree commitments to support British Film has been proposed.
It would recommend that the government include film-related licence requirements in the new Communications Act, should the approach prove unproductive.
