Agenda item

(1)       The Chairman welcomed Mr Waterson from CapGemini who gave a power point presentation on the main findings of the review of Kent TV which he had undertaken on behalf of KCC.   Details of this review were also circulated with the papers for the meeting.  It was confirmed that this review was only one factor that would inform the final decision on the future of Kent TV. 

(2)       Members questions and comments were invited and the responses to these included the following:-

·        Regarding governance arrangements for Kent TV, Mr Gilroy expressed the view that consideration could be given to looking at the governance arrangements of other public bodies such as the BBC, with maybe not having Elected Members on the Board but with them instead being part of an advisory group.  He hoped that if a new contract was entered into for Kent TV then the governance arrangements would be reviewed.

·        Ms Oliver confirmed that marketing for Kent TV formed part of the specification for the new contract.

·        Ms Oliver referred to the work that was currently being undertaken to establish a schools channel on Kent TV.  Reference was also made to the enthusiasm of Head Teachers at the Secondary Heads Conference for making use of Kent TV, and also the interested they had expressed in establishing a separate channel for Head Teachers.

·        Regarding the timescale for the new contract, Ms Oliver informed the Committee that full specifications had been issued following an invitation for expressions of interest in August 2009.  Tenders were due to be received on 1 December 2009. The current contract ended on 31 March 2010, therefore a decision was required on the contract before Christmas because there may be TUPE transfer issues or other staffing issues that required notice periods.  Short listing and interviewing of successful tenders would take place in early December 2009.   She stated that 24 expressions of interest had been received.

·        In response to a question on which other stakeholders could have been engaged, Mr Waterson stated that although he had consulted Chambers of Commerce, with hindsight he would have liked to have consulted with some substantial Kent businesses.

·        Mr Waterson expressed the view that Kent TV should make the leap to digital TV, which was a small step that could be achieved in the next year.

·        A view was expressed that although there was an elaborate path to access Kent TV which affected its ease of use, it was ahead of its time and its content had improved.

·        It was confirmed that Kent TV was linked to social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

·        It was suggested that consideration should be given to whether it would be possible to have a facility for advertising for overseas ISP users only.

·        The lack of feedback from members of the public was mentioned, and Mrs Oliver referred to the unsuccessful attempt that Kent TV had made to include two representatives from the public on the Board. She stated that Kent TV doing had got an email contact data base of viewers and  at the County show had also obtained some feedback, there was the potential to use the citizens panel.  She agreed that there was need to find a means to have a meaningful engagement with the public.

·        Mrs Dean expressed the view that based on available viewing figures the potential of Kent TV had not been realised in the first 2 years of the project.  She stated that the number of views was equal to the number of hits on “Explore Kent” which was only one part of KCC’s website.

·        In response to a comment that the amount of time that each viewer spent on Kent TV was decreasing, Mrs Oliver explained that there had been a change in the way that people viewed content on the internet.

·        Mrs Dean acknowledged that there was a niche for community TV but that Kent would be better to host programmes. 

·        The need for the gap in local TV news to be filled was mentioned.  Ms Oliver referred to the amount of local content on Kent TV.

·         Mrs Dean reminded the Committee that it was originally intended that Kent TV would be self funded after 2 years.  Ms Oliver explained that in relation to the original proposal to raise income from advertisements a decision had been taken by the Board not to do this.  This had been a result of lobbying by local media.

·         In response to a question on Webcasting, Mrs Oliver confirmed that this did form part of the Kent TV contract.  The aim with the new contract was to provide something that was more creative and interesting for example having democratic highlights of the week.

 (3)      The Leader reminded the Committee that the decision on the future of Kent TV would be made before Christmas.   He acknowledged the potential of Kent TV but stated that there were a number of issues that needed to be addressed including improved marketing. This was a form of community TV  and the potential of getting other public bodies involved to help to support it needed to be fully explored.  

(4)       Mrs Oliver undertook to supply the viewing figures hits from abroad and also figure for Kent TV views on YouTube and Facebook.

(5)       RESOLVED that the presentation on the review and the comments made by Members be noted.