The Radio Independents Group, or RIG, is the trade body that represents the interests of the independent radio producers of the United Kingdom. Established in June 2004, RIG is mandated to negotiate terms with broadcasters and audio consumers, such as digital publishers to benefit its members. The organisation is a non-profit body financed solely through membership fees and donations.
Membership of RIG is open to any UK-based independent radio producer or production company. RIG membership represents some 95% of total industry turnover. The trade body represents all business sizes, from sole traders and partnerships to limited companies and public companies.
An independent radio producer is defined as a supplier of radio programmes who is not affiliated with the commissioning broadcaster or company. They can be individuals working as sole traders and partnerships, as well as limited companies and sometimes public companies. There are some indies in radio who are also independent television producers. Many radio indies supply additional audio, training, teaching and various other services due to the low budgets inherent in the industry.
For most radio indies, the BBC national radio networks are their programs' main, or only, commissioner. BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC 5 Live, BBC 6 Music, BBC 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network, BBC World Service, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio Wales all actively commission independently produced programming. Unlike the television sector, which has a legally guaranteed 25% share of the BBC's output (with an additional 25% open to competitive bidding), the radio sector has no guarantee. The BBC voluntarily offers approximately 10% of its 'eligible' hours to independent production. This figure has stayed the same for over 13 years, and both the BBC and the British Government refuse to alter the status quo. This has led to an unstable and uncertain sector with many companies pitching for small amounts of air-time. The Radio Independents Group is tasked with increasing the voluntary 'quota'.
Radio Indies also produce many hours of programming for Commercial Radio companies, such as chart shows, traffic & travel bulletins and entertainment news. However, unlike the BBC, the majority of this material is paid for by third-party sponsors rather than by the radio stations. There needs to be more commissioned programming on UK commercial radio due to the cost of making such material and the low programming budgets of commercial radio stations.
Up until Dec 2004, when commissioning programs from independent producers, the BBC would purchase an 'all rights' deal. This meant the independent producer retained no ownership or control over their product. Following negotiations between RIG and the BBC in 2004, the new Terms of Trade now in place have had a considerable positive effect on independent producers:
The BBC has a requirement written into the BBC Agreement [1] to commission a 'suitable proportion' of radio programming from independent producers, which it has set at 10% of 'eligible' hours (i.e. excluding news).
In 2010, the BBC Trust published a report [2] requiring the BBC to operate an additional Window of Creative Competition, set at 10% of eligible hours, encompassing programming for which independents can compete against in-house producers.
In June 2015, the BBC Director of Radio Helen Boaden announced the intention [3] as part of the BBC's 'Compete or Compare' initiative, [4] to put out 60% of eligible radio hours to competition from indie and in-house producers, a target to be reached over six years.
The RIG since 2010 has organized the Radio Production Awards, supported by the Radio Academy. The awards "recognise and celebrate the production skills of radio and audio producers based in the UK or supplying UK-based broadcasters from overseas." [5]
A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or, in the United States, multichannel video programming distributors. Until the mid-1980s, broadcast programming on television in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of terrestrial networks. Many early television networks such as the BBC, CBS, CBC, NBC or ABC in the USA and in Australia evolved from earlier radio networks.
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story: "It is auditory in the physical dimension but equally powerful as a visual force in the psychological dimension." Radio drama includes plays specifically written for radio, docudrama, dramatized works of fiction, as well as plays originally written for the theatre, including musical theatre, and opera.
ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is branded as STV. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition and reduce the current monopoly to the then BBC Television. ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time: BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4.
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the public service broadcast outlet British Broadcasting Corporation. The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of musical genres, as well as local radio stations covering local news, affairs and interests. It also oversees online audio content.
Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed.
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, primetime drama and entertainment, and live BBC Sport events.
Canadian content refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters must produce and broadcast a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada. CanCon also refers to that content itself, and, more generally, to cultural and creative content that is Canadian in nature.
The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themselves. It was established by the British War Office in 1943. In 1944, it was managed by Gale Pedrick.
The Radio Academy is a registered charity dedicated to "the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production". It was formed in 1983 and is run via a board of trustees, with a chair and a deputy chair, and a managing director. Their responsibilities include designing, planning, and implementing projects and programmes.
The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television – and commercial and independent radio broadcasts. The IBA came into being when the Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 gave the Independent Television Authority responsibility for organising the new Independent Local Radio (ILR) stations. The Independent Television Commission formally replaced the IBA on 1 January 1991 in regulatory terms; however, the authority itself was not officially dissolved until 2003.
The Canadian Television Fund, sometimes abbreviated as CTF, supported the production and broadcast of Canadian television programs. A non-profit corporation operating as a public-private partnership, the CTF was financed by contributions from the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canadian cable and direct-to-home satellite industries.
Trevor John Dann is an English writer and broadcaster best known for his radio and print journalism with BBC Radio, Q magazine, Mojo, and The Guardian, and his critically praised 2006 "Darker Than the Deepest Sea" biography of Nick Drake.
Helen Boaden is a British former broadcasting executive who spent more than 30 years working for the BBC, including as Director of Radio between February 2013 and September 2016.
In the United States, commercial radio stations make most of their revenue by selling airtime to be used for running radio advertisements. These advertisements are the result of a business or a service providing a valuable consideration, usually money, in exchange for the station airing their commercial or mentioning them on air. The most common advertisements are "spot commercials", which normally last for no more than one minute, and longer programs, commonly running up to one hour, known as "informercials".
There are several types of mass media in Scotland: television, cinema, radio, newspapers, magazines, game design and websites. The majority of Scotland's media is located in Glasgow, the countries largest city, which serves as the HQ for much of the countries major media employers such as broadcasters BBC Scotland and STV, radio services including BBC Radio Scotland, Clyde 1 and Pure Radio Scotland. Game design and production company, Rockstar North, has its international offices in the countries capital city, Edinburgh.
Ashley A Byrne is a radio and television presenter, newsreader and producer. He was born on 13 November 1972 in Doncaster, England. His father is the British artist, Tony Byrne.
The UK Screen Alliance is a trade body that represents British companies working in the film, TV and commercials industries. The association promotes the business interests of companies involved in audio and video post-production, visual effects (VFX), special effects, animation, camera and equipment hire and production studios.
BBC Studios Limited is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. BBC Studios creates, develops, produces, distributes, broadcasts, finances and sells content around the world, returning around £200 million to the BBC annually in dividends and content investment.
Red Bee Media, formerly Ericsson Broadcast and Media Services (EBMS), is an international broadcasting and media services company and the largest access provider in Europe. Red Bee has its headquarters in London, England, with branch offices in Glasgow, Cardiff, MediaCityUK in Salford and Newcastle upon Tyne, and international offices in Australia, France, Spain, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Canada, United States and Abu Dhabi. It has 2,500 employees worldwide across eight media hubs and distributes over 2.7 million hours of programming each year worldwide. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ericsson.
Radiocentre is the industry body for commercial radio in the UK. It exists to maintain and build a strong and successful commercial radio industry. The organisation works on behalf of over 40 stakeholders who operate over 300 licensed radio stations across the UK and represent 90% of commercial radio in terms of listening and revenue.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), HM Government. BBC Agreement. The Stationery Office, Jul 2006 pp30-31, Clause 58.