Guidance

Future of TV Distribution Stakeholder Forum - terms of reference

Published 8 November 2024

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Purpose

1. The Future of TV Distribution stakeholder forum will serve as an opportunity for the Government, Ofcom and stakeholders, representing both audiences and industry, to engage in a coordinated and collective structure. It will do this by convening regularly to bring together a range of organisations to identify, discuss, and make progress in refining options.

2. The forum will be supported by three working groups - focusing on the TV sector, the infrastructure industry, and audiences respectively. The forum itself will serve to coordinate and consolidate the progress of the working groups to drive forward policy.

Objectives

3. The stakeholder forum aims to bring together organisations and individuals from the TV industry, infrastructure partners, audience advocacy groups, the regulator and government to achieve the following:

  • Improve the evidence base on the future of TV distribution;

  • Identify the issues and options that are relevant to the future of TV distribution;

  • Act as a forum for discussion between members to identify areas of consensus and explore options

Frequency and duration

4. The forum will convene for at least 12 months.

5. The forum will meet once per quarter. Each of the three working groups will meet before each meeting of the forum. As announced on 8 November, the first stakeholder forum will take place on 19 November. Exact dates for subsequent forum and working group meetings will be communicated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in due course.

Membership

6. The forum will be chaired by the Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth. In the event that the Minister cannot attend a meeting, the forum will be chaired by DCMS’s Director for Media and International, Robert Specterman-Green.

7. The three working groups will be chaired by:

  • TV Sector: Gill Hind, Chief Operating Officer & Director of TV, Enders Analysis

  • Infrastructure Industry: Richard Lindsay-Davies, Chief Executive Officer, Digital TV Group

  • Audiences: Prof Catherine Johnson, Professor of Media and Communication, University of Leeds

8. Membership of the working groups has been drawn from a range of TV and infrastructure stakeholders, audience advocacy groups, trade bodies, and senior individual sector leaders and experts.

9. Membership includes representation from across the UK and covers the breadth of the TV distribution ecosystem.

10. Other relevant stakeholders may be invited by the government to take part on specific agenda items of the forum or its working groups.

11. Provisional membership of the forum was announced on 8 November and DCMS will invite additional attendees as appropriate.

12. The occasional use of substitutes within the same organisation to attend meetings is acceptable by prior agreement of the chair.

13. DSIT officials will actively contribute to stakeholder forum discussions, however papers from the group will be produced independently from government and should not be considered as endorsed by DSIT.

14. Ofcom will actively contribute to meetings in an advisory capacity on areas in which they have expertise.

15. To reflect the need for flexibility, at the discretion of the working group chairs, and the secretariat, working group members may be nominated to attend other working group meetings of which they are not regular members.

Role of members

16. Forum members will:

  • Actively contribute to meetings of the forum and its working groups

  • Develop recommendations on how best to deliver the objectives of the forum

  • Commit to contributing proactively to the work of the forum, which will involve attending and participating in meetings, and contributing to policy progress between meetings by presenting their - or their organisation’s - work

  • Support and deliver the expansion of the evidence base to refine options

17. Relevant officials from DCMS may engage with the business of both the forum and its working groups.

18. Where possible members of the forum should avoid sharing commercially sensitive information at forum or working group meetings.

Secretariat and logistics

19. The secretariat for the forum will be led by DCMS officials. The secretariat will be responsible for arranging meetings of the forum and its working groups, circulating papers at least five working days in advance of each meeting and recording minutes of meetings. The secretariat will also maintain and track progress of the agreed work plan.

20. DCMS will provide details of stakeholder forum proceedings as appropriate. Forum members will be bound by confidentiality and may not disclose details of proceedings.

21. Each main forum meeting will last for ninety minutes. The duration of working group meetings will be at the discretion of the chairs and secretariat.

22. Working group chairs will meet individually with the secretariat before working group meetings to discuss strategic priorities. They will also meet collectively with the secretariat to discuss the potential agenda for upcoming meetings of the forum.

23. Meetings of the forums will take place in a hybrid setting, the location of which will be confirmed in due course. Virtual participation will also be possible.

24. It is anticipated that working group meetings will take place virtually.

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