IN 2024 IT’S TIME FOR VIEWERS TO UNITE TO DEAL WITH POOR REGIONAL TV COVERAGE FOR NORTHERN NW ENGLAND AND ISLE OF MAN

13^th January 2024

Dear Readers

Firstly, I would like to wish all readers of this website “Happy New Year”. I hope that it will be a more prosperous and joyful one than 2023, when many folk have struggled with poor Public services for which they have paid more in tax.

One of the poor Public services that folk living in more northerly parts of North West England have is the lack of a geographic-appropriate local TV news- service. Readers of this site will know that this Website is about Regional TV in northern NW England and the Isle of Man.

Both the BBC and ITV also inflict viewers on the Isle of Man with “local news” mainly about Manchester and Liverpool. Neither BBC NW nor ITV1 Granada, which serve the Isle of Man, provide opt-out coverage for the island. It is nothing short of appalling because the Isle of Man is a country in it’s own right. It is not part of the United Kingdom. In which other small country in the World do people have a “local” news-service that’s 95% about another country? Even the Faeroe Islands, with just over half the population of the Isle of Man, has its own news-service. That is also in Faeroese and in English.

Regional TV coverage for folk living North of Preston hardly serves viewers

Both BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports have also excelled themselves at providing very little, if any, coverage of happenings north of Preston since Christmas. Regional TV broadcasters transmit both BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports to northern Lancashire and much of South Cumbria by default. Neither has really covered Cumbria since Christmas, yet most folk living north of Preston have strong links regionally with Cumbria more than with Manchester or Merseyside. But NW Regional TV has produced, as usual, news-coverage 80% about locations along/ south of the River Mersey.

Regional TV news should have one purpose above all others: That is to provide people with information about what is happening in their communities. They should also provide news about the places that folk commute to, visit and go for nice days out. They wish to be informed about local opportunities, local and nearby weather conditions. Folk need news about what is likely to impact their lives.

Consider folk living in Carnforth or Garstang. The places that they are likely to visit on a nice day will take in the Lakes and westernmost Yorkshire Dales. It will likely not take in Manchester and Liverpool. If folk go shopping from North Lancashire they will do it in Lancaster, Morecambe or possibly Preston. Either that, or they go online if it would otherwise involve travelling a long way to get what they need. They will not- by choice- visit Liverpool unless completely unavoidable.

 

Regional TV News-coverage remains unacceptable for Local Communities

Folk who live in Carnforth, Morecambe, Ulverston, Kendal or Millom want news-coverage of their communities. That is, that they live in, work in and visit regularly. They are not interested in what happens in big cities up to two hours’ drive southwards of them. Those are happenings which are unlikely to impact their day-to-day lives. It is unsurprising that folk who live near the Cumbria- Lancashire boundary want local news about Cumbria and Lancashire. They don’t really want news about Manchester, Liverpool or Cheshire. If the local news folk watch does not cover their communities, “Local” news may as well be about Cornwall. It is no use nor ornament to a viewer living in, say, Ireleth, on the southwest Cumbrian coast!

Of course, it can be argued that a NW Regional News-service will cover Manchester and Liverpool because NW England includes those cities. That those cities will take up a high proportion of coverage because much happens there. North Lancashire and South Cumbria are in NW England and, from that, it can be argued that viewers must expect this. However, that does not mean that folk must put up with largely-irrelevant news-coverage.

It does not have to stay like this. People do have the power within their grasp, if they act collectively, to bring about real change to the relevance of content on TV screens. Content that broadcasters tell them is their “local news”.  At the bottom of this article are some helpful tools to that end.

BBC Cuts and the TV License-fee

The BBC likes to advertise its Regional TV as “The News where you live”. National BBC1 News-reporters like to state this before switching to Regional news. And indeed, the Regional News should be just that, but often isn’t. Regional TV should be relevant to the communities it serves! Unfortunately, the BBC have been cutting Regional TV and BBC Local Radio services recently. Already inadequate local news-services have, in other words, been made worse for folk. At the end of 2022 the BBC mothballed two Regional TV News-services in Southern and Eastern England. The BBC has also cut it’s local radio services,  amalgamating them with adjacent stations. Yet the TV-Licence fee increases to £169.50 annually from April 2024, walloping already-impoverished Cumbrians and Lancastrians! The Government should make the BBC use some of that money to pay for better, more localised Regional TV!

Taxes should fund Public Services, not Entertainment

The TV License-fee is a tax on TV-viewing because people can be fined if they don’t pay it. Any tax- the legal requirement to hand money over to the State- should only fund Public services. The provision of entertainment should not be paid from any form of taxation. Yet the TV License pays for East Enders, Bargain Hunt, The Weakest Link, Call the Midwife to name some examples! If folk want these programmes, just like if they want to go to the cinema, they should pay themselves. Why should taxpayers subsidise Entertainment?

This is why Parliament must pass legislation to halve the TV License fee. The BBC can then make up the shortfall and more from a combination of the following. This includes subscriptions to foreign viewers, product-placement, local lotteries, etc. Then TV License resources would only pay for National News, Regional News, BBC Local radio, and serious Documentary Programming only. In other words Public service provision. Half of what is raised from today’s TV License fee reserved only for news and serious Documentaries would leave money to pay for several more new Regional TV services. Plus reinstating the two Regional TV services that the BBC axed in the South of England.

Simple Steps Viewers can take to put pressure on Regional TV broadcasters

Now folk in South Cumbria and northern Lancashire can unite to bring the matter of poor Regional TV coverage to the attention of broadcasters. This can be done in a way such that programmers for BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports cannot dismiss North Lancastrians as “Moaning Minnies”. The strategy is simple but it is better if a number of people- perhaps fifty or more- can do it. It involves the following steps:

• Write to the producers for BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports explaining why the Regional TV news-coverage is not appropriate for local communities where one lives. You can also complain about BBC programming here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints. To complain about ITV1 Granada Reports coverage one can contact ITV Content Services.

 

• If the response from broadcasters or BBC/ ITV complaints ombudsmen is to take no notice of one’s complaint one can then write their MP. Repeat the complaint about the lack of geographic-appropriate news-coverage, and that broadcasters have no intention of making real changes. And let alone to provide opt-outs for more local news-coverage. It is also possible to escalate a complaint through the BBC’s Complaints office. In the case of ITV1 Granada Reports, complain through OFCOM regarding the response received from Regional TV programmers.

 

• If several folk complained to their local MP, and through OFCOM about poor Regional TV provision Regional TV broadcasters might take notice. They may offer to provide an extra item of news-coverage each night for locations north of Preston. More likely is this does not result in OFCOM and local MPs putting pressure on broadcasters to improve local news-coverage. The next step is to boycott Regional TV- services. Viewers in northern NW England should shop around to see what else is available.

Boycotting Regional TV

In addition to the above, local groups of viewers should follow through the above steps in combination other actions. This means writing to Regional TV broadcasters in the NW again. Viewers must to explain why broadcasters are being boycotted in favour of other local news-outlets. Folk living north of Preston,  with strong connections to Cumbria, should know ITV1 Border Lookaround consistently provides 50% Cumbrian coverage. They should note that the Lancs Live website has lots of news just about Lancashire and the odd news-clip. It’s possible, after a period of adjustment, to find local news outlets that provide more geographic-appropriate coverage. If enough folk in northern NW England do this, it will send a powerful message to broadcasters. A message to NW Regional TV- broadcasters that they cannot dismiss their viewers who live north of Preston.

The Power of Protest Rallies: How North Cumbrians took on the BBC and won 

The above steps will make producers for BBC1 North-West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports receptive to the needs of viewers. It’s doubtful though, that these steps alone will move the dial with either of the mainstream NW Regional TV-services. If just a few people follow these steps, it is a foregone conclusion that not much will change.

However, in the late 1980’s the BBC put northern Cumbria in the BBC1 NW transmission area and northern Cumbria received mostly Manchester/ Liverpool coverage. The result was uproar! Many thousands of Cumbrians wrote in and complained, local newspapers and MPs got involved. Quite soon, BBC1 NW found resources to provide Cumbrian viewers with bespoke Cumbrian news-bulletins at lunchtime. This happened despite the onset of recession in 1989-1990.

Alas, North Cumbrians continued to protest. They complained that they had more links with neighbouring Northumberland and Newcastle-upon-Tyne (just an hour’s drive from Carlisle). Finally the BBC eventually backed down. In September 1991 all northern Cumbria was returned to BBC Look North, broadcast from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This did not please all North Cumbrian viewers who lost their special lunchtime Cumbrian news opt-out when northern Cumbria was returned to BBC NE: One local viewer complained to the local paper “We used to get good local news. Now it is 95% North East!”. Of course, ITV1 Border Lookaround provides most Cumbrians with great geographic-appropriate news-coverage. The programme recognises that Cumbria is in North West England- albeit very much the north of the region.

The Power of peaceful Protest Rallies: Relevance for South Cumbria and North Lancashire communities

There is a lesson from the sorry episode where the BBC had to back down in the face of local opposition to BBC1 North West Tonight in northern Cumbria. This lesson should encourage folk living fifty to seventy miles further south. It is that is when local communities strongly oppose what Regional News-broadcasters produce the Regional-TV broadcasters back down. Thus, viewers of BBC1 NW Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports have the ability to make their Regional TV providers provide local news-coverage. It’s called Protest Rallies.

If over fifty North Lancastrians to travel down to Media City, Salford with large banners. Were these banners to intone WE WANT LANCASHIRE AND CUMBRIA NEWS NOT MANCHESTER AND LIVERPOOL NEWS. If they also intone PROVIDE AN OPT-OUT OR SWITCH OUR AREA TO ITV BORDER. Should they add OUR LOCAL CONNECTIONS ARE WITH THE LAKES NOT MERSEYSIDE the group will have an impact! If our 50-strong group have several such rallies outside BBC1 NW and ITV1 Granada offices over several weeks, the effect is magnified. It would be a visible and Public demonstration of how the Regional TV-services for NW England fail viewers in the north of Regional TV transmission areas. The matter of TV broadcasters not providing geographic-appropriate news for almost a million viewers North of Preston and a community-fightback becomes the news-story! However, I must stress, such protests must not involve unruly behaviour or illegal activity such as violence.

 

Campaign for all Northern Lancashire and South Cumbria to be transferred to ITV1 Border

Parallel to such a protest rally could be a Campaign for folk living north of a line running from Blackpool to Broughton (just north of Preston) to Clitheroe to be transferred from ITV1 Granada to ITV1 Border. Then that the area receives ITV1 Border Lookaround. Were ITV.Plc to do this, they would transfer the area from an ITV1 region with a population of seven million to one that would have just 1.5 million with all South Cumbria and northern Lancashire included.

At a stroke, this measure ought to increase coverage of local communities in South Cumbria and northern Lancashire almost five-fold. In practice all South Cumbria is covered in news-output from ITV1 Border Lookaround anyway, thus the only additional areas in coverage would be northern Lancashire. It’s not likely that coverage would be increased to the 40% commensurate with the population of northern Lancashire compared to the expanded ITV1 Border area population. It will be more like 20% because ITV1 Border producers won’t want to dilute coverage of Cumbria, southern Scotland, and north-west Northumberland for existing viewers.

The Campaign for ITV1 Border Lookaround in North Lancashire is a Means to an End

It’s unlikely that ITV.Plc would transfer all areas north of Preston into ITV1 Border’s remit. Some folk living in places like Clitheroe could object even were this to mean more coverage of their immediate area. It is not easy to persuade folk to abandon a Regional TV service that they have watched for years. Not even if the Regional TV news-service serves them poorly. They will not easily swap it for one with plenty coverage of the Scottish Borders, 100 miles north of them! But enough people in North Lancashire and South Cumbria would find news about Cumbria better than 80% Manchester/ Merseyside. That’s folk who may visit the Lakes on a nice day, or occasionally venture north to Hadrian’s Wall.

It is this cohort of the North Lancastrian population who could protest demanding ITV.Plc transfer their local area to ITV1 Border. They could do this because they have more in common with Cumbria than the M62 Corridor. This could have banners demanding the transfer of the area to ITV1 Border. They could protest outside BBC NW and ITV1 Granada in Media City to get local news-coverage fitting better with local links.

Yet BBC1 North West Tonight would still cover Manchester/ Liverpool for those that wanted it

In defence of such action, viewers who still wish to look south for their Regional TV news would still get BBC1 North West Tonight. That programme which would continue to cover Manchester, Liverpool and south Lancashire! This assumes, of course, that ITV.Plc does actually transfer all areas north of Preston from ITV1 Granada to the transmission area for ITV1 Border. Viewers in North Lancashire would have a real choice of news- Cumbria/ Scottish Borders or mostly Manchester/ Liverpool. Each choice would have some Lancashire coverage, ITV1 Border providing more of North Lancashire. Yet this is unlikely to happen. ITV.Plc would not consider subjecting viewers in places like Stranraer or Melrose with news about Blackpool or Clitheroe. Then telling them it’s their local news!

Protests demanding a change of TV Region would put pressure on Broadcasters

Protests from just fifty North Lancastrians demanding transfer of their area to ITV1 Border would send a strong message. To producers for ITV1 Granada Reports just how unhappy viewers in the north of the ITV1 Granada transmission area are about Regional TV coverage. This might be what will make Regional TV-producers commit to opt-out coverage of Lancashire and Cumbria.

Such viewer pressure would feed through readily to programmers for BBC1 North West Tonight,. If there are such rallies outside BBC NW offices, they will take steps to increase coverage of Cumbria and northern Lancashire. It’s even possible that they’ll set up a ten-minute opt-out within  NW Tonight covering Cumbria and northern Lancashire. BBC1 NW is not so dependent on retaining high viewership from Greater Manchester/ Merseyside because of the way it’s funded. It’s transmission area also extends deeper into Cumbria- into areas covered today by ITV1 Border Lookaround.

The old Cumbrian News opt-out

It’s also possible that the BBC NW could revive old Cumbrian news opt-out broadcast from BBC Radio Cumbria studios based in Carlisle. This used to be used to broadcast special Cumbrian lunchtime bulletins when northern Cumbria got BBC NW. BBC NE would opt Northern Cumbrians out of continuity BBC1 NE, South Cumbrians/ northern Lancastrians would be opted out of BBC1 NW. All Cumbria and northern Lancashire would then get the new Cumbria/ North Lancashire lunchtime bulletins. The opt-outs could also take 10 minutes out of the respective evening bulletins. An entire area, stretching from the Scottish Border to the Fylde would then enjoy a much more localised, geographic-appropriate news-coverage.

 

Campaign for Local News-Coverage on the Isle of Man

None of this addresses the problems faced by Manx viewers of Regional TV, many of whom are utterly bewildered that their Government in the Tynwald cannot find the resources to, or bring about, a national TV News-service that covers the Isle of Man. Unlike viewers in northern NW England, Manx folk are on their own and there are no proper TV News stations serving the island properly. Their leverage over BBC1 North-West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports to get them to cover their small country properly is therefore limited.

Entire communities on the Isle of Man need to come together, write to their representatives in the House of Keys, and write to the Chief Minister, currently The Honourable Alfred Cannan. Viewers of news-programming must demand the provision of the Isle of Man’s own national TV News-service, not a mere radio station. A large number of people need to come together to demand this, gathering peacefully with placards outside the Tynwald to put pressure on the Manx Government to do this. The current arrangement whereby the Isle of Man only gets “local” news that is 95% about another country, about places that are four hours or more away by ferry is utterly unacceptable.

Other small counties don’t put up with no national News

Folk living in other small island countries in the North Atlantic like Iceland or the Faeroe Islands would find such an arrangement utterly intolerable and unacceptable: Were folk in the Faeroe Islands to be told that they would get “local” news that is 95% about Denmark or Scotland there would be mass-protests, sit-ins in the Føroya Løgting (the Faeroese Parliament), and the home of the Løgmaður (Faeroese Prime Minister) would be targeted! This is why the authorities have seen to it that the Faeroese are provided with their own national news-service (Kringvarp Føroya): The authorities ensure that this Faeroese news-service is provided because the consequences of not providing it would be unthinkable.

Whilst I would not in any way suggest breaking into the Tynwald for a sit-in in protest, the Manx should be more forceful in requiring that some of the resources of what is quite a wealthy small country (in terms of GDP per capita) is put towards setting up the Isle of Man’s first proper Manx TV News-service. Not even a very poor country like Burundi in east Africa is devoid of a national TV-service. The fact that the Isle of Man, with one of the highest GDP per capita in the world and almost double the population of the Faeroe Islands does not have its own TV News-service is scandalous. A rally outside the Tynwald demanding such provision would be perfectly legal- and timely.

Make 2024 the Year when North Lancastrians, South Cumbrians and Manx viewers Change their Regional TV

And so viewers should expect Regional TV that is relevant and local to their communities. True, there will be some who say “Yes! That’s why it’s called Regional TV! Its not Local TV!“. But Regional News must be more local than National News and, if the BBC advertise it as The News Where You Are it must be relevant to viewers. Folk watch the Regional News to find out what is happening in their community. Additionally local and Regional TV News, BBC Local Radio, etc. informs, warns, tells folk what they need to know: Or should! So that folk can stay safe, make informed choices, discover the new factory opening to find work, etc. This marks out BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports as Public services. They should be funded as such from the TV License.

If Lancashire County Council decided to axe all libraries north of Preston there would be outrage. Ditto if the NHS closed hospitals north of Preston. Why is poor largely-irrelevant Regional TV any different for Cumbrians and North Lancastrians?

So fellow North Lancastrians and South Cumbrians fed up with Manchester/ Merseyside dominated “Local” News-services, it’s within your gift. To rise up, take control of what you receive from Regional TV and tell them: This Is Not Good Enough! Get your friends involved, organise a rally to Media City to, in effect, say “Improve Your Public Service or We Will Take Action”! Write to your MP, OFCOM and the BBC Complaints Department, Boycott the Regional TV, Campaign! Below is some information to get started.

If you live on the Isle of Man you have more reason than most to direct your ire. Not just at the BBC and ITV.Plc but your own Government for not finding the resources to set up a Manx TV service. Again, this must be done legally and peacefully, but in a forthright manner.

Helpful links and information to Campaign against poor Regional TV in northern North West England and on the Isle of Man

Contact details for Regional TV broadcasters in North West England

BBC1 North West Tonight

Michelle Mayman, Head of Online and TV News for BBC North West, Quay House, MediaCity UK, Salford Quays, SALFORD. M50 2QH.

Email: nwt@bbc.co.uk

ITV1 Granada Reports

Lucy West, Head of News for ITV1 Granada, Orange Tower, MediaCity UK, Salford Quays, SALFORD. M50 2EQ.

Email: granada.reports@itv.com

It is always better to write rather than just send e-mails. Letters cannot so easily end up in Spam boxes to be deleted.

 

Write to your local MP

To write to your local MP to complain about your local news-coverage, then their address will always be:

House of Commons, Westminster, LONDON. SW1A OAA

Currently (and until the dissolution of Parliament likely in early October 2024) your local MP for the following Constituencies are as follows. Those marked in bold will likely stay your MP (based on the likelihood of a Labour win):

Barrow and Furness: The Right Hon Sir. Simon Fell (likely to be Right Hon. Lady Michelle Scrogham (Labour) after the Election)

Blackpool North & Cleveleys: The Right Hon. Sir Paul Maynard (likely to be Right Hon. Lady Lorraine Beavers (Labour) after the Election)

Copeland: The Right Hon. Lady Trudy Harrison (likely to be Right Hon. Sir Josh MacAlister after the Election)

Lancaster and Fleetwood (Lancaster and Wyre after net Election): The Right Hon. Lady Kat Smith

Morecambe and Lunesdale: The Right Hon. Sir David Morris (likely to be Right Hon. Lady Lizzi Collinge after the Election)

Westmorland and Lonsdale (Westmorland after next Election): The Right Hon. Sir Tim Farron

The Fylde: The Right Hon. Sir Mark Menzies

Again, the advise is to write to your local MP and send it is the post marked URGENT. Your MP is more likely then, to see your letter.

 

Contacting the Chief Minister on the Isle of Man

Chief Minister, Hon. Alfred Cannan, MHK, Office of the Chief Minister, Third Floor, Government Office, Bucks Road, DOUGLAS. IM1 3PN

Members of the House of Keys (MHKs)

Contact details- including postal addresses- for Members of the Tynwald Court and Members of the House of Keys (MHKs) can be found here: https://www.tynwald.org.im/members-officers/members

If you live on the Isle of Man you have more reason to write to both the Chief Minister and your MHK to complain about the fact that the Isle of Man does not have its own TV News-service. If you do, point out that countries like the Faeroe Islands (poorer and with lower populations) have their own TV News service. Get friends and family to write in too.

Contact details for writing to OFCOM and the BBC Complaints department about poor Regional TV coverage

OFCOM, PO Box 1285, WARRINGTON. WA1 9GL.

BBC Complaints: PO Box 1922, DARLINGTON, County Durham. DL3 0UR.

If the BBC Complaints Unit does not take one’s concern seriously it should be escalated to OFCOM. Write, rather than just e-mail, and mark the complaint letter as URGENT. This is more likely to get noticed.

 

Links to other Local TV News Sites to help one Boycott mainstream NW Regional TV

ITV1 Border Lookaround (this can be obtained on the Internet about two hours after being broadcast live). The programme has excellent coverage of Cumbria and also covers the Scottish Borders and south-west Scotland. Link here: https://www.itv.com/news/border.

That’s TV Cumbria (ten minute news-programme airs at 6.pm on weekdays on Freeview Channel 8). Details here: http://www.thats.tv/cumbria/

That’s TV Lancashire (ten minute news-programme airs at 6.pm on weekdays on Freeview Channel 7). Details here: http://www.thats.tv/lancashire/

Lancs Live: Website full of news and some clips with news about Lancashire. Accessible anywhere with Internet access. Details here: https://www.lancs.live/

A word of caution, That’s TV Lancashire and That’s TV Cumbria are available in fairly restricted areas. The former is available where there is a clear view of the Winter Hill transmitter (north of Bolton) and the latter is only available with a clear view of the Caldbeck transmitter (about twelve miles south-west of Carlisle). It is therefore difficult for viewers in South Cumbria and the Lancaster/ Morecambe area to get either.

Isle of Man TV. For viewers based on the Isle of Man the only TV News- service dedicated to this small country is You Tube based Isle of Man TV. Viewers can subscribe to it. Details here: https://www.youtube.com/@IOMTV/. In order to make any impact on the BBC and ITV.Plc so that these corporations provide a dedicated Isle of Man news-service their “local” offerings for the Isle of Man- as they exist- must be rejected. Is it then incumbent upon the Manx Government to do something about this state of affairs.