30th June 2024
Dear Readers
During the course of the British General Election Campaign, I have seen some of ITV1 Granada Reports‘ coverage. The main ITV1 Regional TV News-service for North West England has been looking at selected constituencies in North West England to see how they might vote on 4th July.
Cumbrian Constituencies
What drew my attention over the last couple of weeks was that ITV1 Granada Reports covered both Barrow and Furness and the revised Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in considerable detail. The programme also covered the Burnley constituency in Lancashire. This meant that Cumbrian and Lancastrian constituencies got coverage comparable to that of constituencies in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire.
All well and good, and BBC1 North West Tonight also covers Cumbria on most days: Even the short Sunday bulletin today featured Swallows and Amazons cast returning to The Lakes fifty years after production of the film in 1974. One million people live in the large rural area between Penrith and Preston and receive either one or both of BBC1 North West or ITV Granada. It’s good if these folk receive geographic-appropriate local and Regional TV News.
But northern NW English Viewers have been here before
However, folk crying out for geographic- appropriate news have been here before: There would be a week when BBC North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports cover Cumbria and cover Lancashire well, then nothing north of the M62 for weeks. And a proper scroll through news-reports from ITV1 Granada Reports gives the game away: Before and since the detailed reports on constituencies the news-stories are 80% Greater Manchester, Liverpool, the Wirral and Cheshire.
In the case of BBC1 North West Tonight, programmers do cover Lancashire and Cumbria better than ITV1 Granada Reports: Even so BBC1 North West can have weeks with no coverage of Cumbria and precious little news-coverage north of Preston.
It would be necessary to see a consistent increase in news-stories covering communities north of Preston from both broadcasters to state Regional TV is representing communities further north better. If there was 20 to 25% coverage of Cumbria, northern Lancashire and the Isle of Man over a significant period of time that would mark real improvement to Regional TV coverage. But a scroll through ITV1 Granada’s website feed shows that this proportion is about 10%.
Regional TV coverage for northern NW England isn’t getting better
Broadcasters covering the English North West and the Isle of Man are not increasing their coverage of areas north of Preston. Broadcasters are motivated by two things, higher number of viewers and the increased revenue they bring. For ITV1 Granada Reports, which is dependent on advertising revenue, broadcasters will aim to provide a news-service pleasing to the densely populated parts of the transmission area and covering metropolitan concerns.
BBC1 North West Tonight programmers are also motivated to please viewers in the transmission area the programme is broadcast to: However, BBC NW’s transmission area extends further north into Cumbria and the programme is less- dependent on private income. Instead, the BBC Charter puts some pressure on the BBC to represent and cover all parts of the UK, this leads to a more geographically spread news-coverage across North West England.
These facts both inform viewers what North West Regional TV- service is best for them, and it also provides viewers with crucial tools to gain better news-coverage for their communities.
Money- and Boycotting Regional TV- Talks
The desire of Regional TV broadcasters to optimise their revenue-streams and the number of viewers is why they focus news-gathering on Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire. This consideration of broadcasters is why viewers in rural South Cumbria often get the thin end of the wedge in terms of coverage of their areas and the surrounding northern North West. But viewers can use the broadcasters’ desires for money and viewers to pressurise broadcasters into covering northern North West England much better.
In simple terms, if you live anywhere north of the M62 Corridor BBC1 North West Tonight will cover your area and surrounding areas better than ITV1 Granada Reports. If folk living north of a line running from Southport to Bury do this, and get their friends to do the same ITV1 Granada will lose a lot of viewers. At the same time BBC1 North West Tonight will gain viewers. When the broadcasters compare notes and discuss why this might be, they may well realise that more viewers want better coverage of Lancashire and Cumbria, and ITV1 Granada will feel pressure to cover Lancashire and Cumbria better in order to keep viewers (and- with them- advertising revenue).
Once viewers in Lancashire decide to stick with BBC1 North West Tonight, and come to realise that this programme covers their area and towards The Lakes better, they may be happier with a broadcaster that covers their area better.
A Potential Loss of Thousands of Viewers North of Preston would focus minds
Unfortunately, it remains the case that neither BBC1 North West Tonight nor ITV1 Granada Reports adequately serve communities north of Preston. The same is true for folk living on the Isle of Man, so if viewers want for themselves better geographic representation stronger measures are required. This must play on broadcasters’ same fears over losing viewers and revenue.
In my view, viewers in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire have it very good. They would still have it very good if broadcasters for ITV1 Granada Reports and BBC1 North West Tonight reduced their coverage of this southern part of North West England by 15%: What are they going to do- switch to BBC1 Look North to get news about West Yorkshire? Folk in the northern half of Greater Manchester and the Southport area identify as part of Lancashire and people from these areas would choose the Lakes or Blackpool over the crowded Peak District for summer days out.
It’s true that Cheshire folk and Merseysiders could switch to Liverpool TV, which provides dedicated localised coverage of the Liverpool, Wirral and northern Cheshire (link here via: https://uklocal.tv/). However, are folk living in places like Warrington or St. Helens likely to boycott ITV1 Granada Reports in disgust because coverage of South Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire drops from 65% to 55%? Fifty-five percent coverage of happenings within 25 miles of your home is still very good coverage- right?
But of course, viewers living in northern North West England have real alternatives that provide much more geographic-appropriate news. If you live in Morecambe or Kendal you can svivel around your areal to watch ITV1 Border Lookaround– which covers Cumbria extremely well.
Northern NW English viewers can warn North West broadcasters, then Boycott them
It is this real fear broadcasters have of a loss of viewers- and with it, money- that viewers should use to push North West Regional TV broadcasters into covering the northern half of North West England well, as well as places further south. In the first instance the first instance must be to write to broadcasters to explain that coverage of places northwards of Preston is not geographic-appropriate.
Folk living in places like Lancaster, Fleeetwood, Barrow-in-Furness and Kirkby Lonsdale should write to broadcasters, and get their friends to do the same. Viewers should remind broadcasters in their communications that while they acknowledge that Machester and Liverpool are part of North West England, that what happens there or south of the M62 corridor is of little relevance to them. Viewers should explain tht they have more links with the Lakes- where they go in nice weather- than the Wirral or South Manchester.
If the replies from broadcasters indicate nothing much will change, then viewers should write to their local MP (likely to be new and Labour after 4th July, except the South Lakes returning a Liberal Democrat). Viewers should ask their MP to prevail upon broadcasters that the level of local and geographic-appropriate coverage is insufficient and unacceptable. Folk must get local friends in towns like Blackpool, Morecambe, Millom and Garstang to do the same.
It is when writing to local MPs does not lead to improvements in Regional TV coverage that viewers must again write to broadcasters stating that unless Regional TV is more locally-relevant soon that their Regional TV programme will be boycotted. Viewers should get their friends to do likewise: When both BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports still don’t improve coverage should viewers then switch their aerials to watch ITV1 Border’s Lookaround.
Alternatives for Regional TV coverage in northern Lancashire and South Cumbria
If one lives in the sizeable area between Preston and Kendal that nonetheless receives both BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports by default there exist alternatives providing more geographic-appropriate news-coverage. There’s That’s TV Lancashire, which provides ten minutes’ pure Lancashire news-coverage at 6.pm on week-days on Freeview Channel 7 (details here: http://www.thats.tv/lancashire/). This would be ideal for viewers in Blackpool and on the Fylde Coast who can receive this more localised news-programming.
Unfortunately, That’s TV Lancashire is hard to get further north around Lancaster, but here a combination of ITV1 Border Lookaround (the signal of which can be found across a significant part of North Lancashire) and the LancsLive website full of news and some clips of happenings (details here: https://www.lancs.live/) would enable one to get a good deal of all-round local news coverage.
Viewers on the Isle of Man do not, unfortunately, have an alternative Regional TV service covering the Isle of Man. The best really is Manx Radio, which also has a website you can look through clips of what is happening locally: Details here: https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/. There is a You Tube channel, but when- in this day and age- should folk in what is a small country in it’s own right have to scabble about on the Internet to find out what is happening locally? Viewers need to demand that the Manx Government sets up a dedicated Isle of Man TV- News-service to serve their needs!
NW Regional TV broadcasters will only cover areas North of Preston better if they think it’s in their interests to do so
All of this would put pressure on broadcasters for both BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports because at the end of the day programmers don’t like losing viewers and their revenue streams. Were half the viewers between Preston and Kendal, and on the Isle of Man to boycott BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports for just a few months they would do something about poor regional coverage across the northern two-thirds of geographical North West England and on the Isle of Man.
Any improvement in local news-coverage for short periods is welcome for viewers in Morecambe, Carnforth, Kirkby Lonsdale and Fleetwood. However, it is only likely to be sustained if broadcasters in North West England see it is in their interests to provide better coverage continually. That means viewers north of the M62 Corridor up to Preston switching to BBC1 North West Tonight, whilst those north of Preston switch to ITV1 Border’s Lookaround and LancsLive in combination after first warning broadcasters to improve their offering or lose custom.