Jennifer Dempsie: Broadcasting needs an independent outlook

For the past few weeks I have been suffering badly from Borgen withdrawal. In case you are not in the know, Borgen is Denmark’s hit political drama television series telling the story of charismatic politician, Birgitte Nyborg, who unexpectedly becomes the country’s first female prime minister. Like many others I became a fan of The Killing beforehand, another Danish political programme but in the style of a thriller.

For me, Borgen is the best thing to hit our TV screens in quite some time. Captivating TV with first-class writers and actors who encapsulate the mood of Scandinavian politics which shares many similarities with Scotland’s political system.

The first season of Borgen has been sold to a number of broadcasters outside Denmark, including BBC4, and last September it was announced that America’s NBC is developing an American remake as the successor to The West Wing.

With Denmark’s population of 5.4 million, roughly the same as Scotland’s of 5.2 million, you have to ask yourself, why is Denmark producing such successful quality programmes? And importantly, why is Scotland not having similar success? Denmark sustains a licence-fee funded public service broadcaster (DR) with five national TV channels plus HD version, four national radio stations on FM and more on DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting). There are also national commercial TV channels. Even Norway, with a similar size population, has NRK with five public service television channels and 17 radio stations.

In comparison, Scotland only has a limited number of opt-out programmes on BBC and STV, the Gaelic services of BBC Alba and Radio Nan Gael and BBC Radio Scotland. We have some commercial radio too, although largely foreign owned and run on skeleton structures. The “indie” TV production sector in Scotland has a total turnover of under £50 million as against the £100m for indies in Denmark. Full-time employment in Scotland’s indie sector is around 200, against 900 in Denmark, not including freelancers. The contrast is stark and shows that the potential benefits in terms of jobs and support for the wider creative industries is vast.

So what’s been holding Scotland back? It is the scale and range of the Danish indigenous television market that enables it to generate international hits like The Killing and Borgen. A recent field trip to Denmark by a handful of Scotland’s leading indie companies was a real eye opener. The initial feedback was clear: Scotland has a lot to learn from Denmark in creating a domestic television market with all the benefits that brings to audiences and producers. Whilst the Scottish sector is now starting to improve, it was from a very low base, which was declining until the SNP government started holding BBC, C4 and ITV to account. Network spend from Scotland by the BBC was less than 4 per cent of their total in 2006 but is now closer to 8 per cent (based on our representative population share).

However, important programmes such as BBC Radio 1 Introducing, one of the few Scottish opt-outs which is a flagship music channel acting as a platform for new Scottish music, and Janice Forsyth’s popular daytime show on BBC Radio Scotland are both earmarked for the axe.

Scotland’s broadcasting sector cannot thrive until Scotland is fully independent. Only then can we have a national public service broadcasting structure that creates a substantial industry, bringing jobs, retaining talent, and allowing us to compete.

The licence fee revenue in Scotland is around £325m (sadly the BBC are not too keen to publish official figures in this area). If you assume total BBC Scotland overhead and distribution costs of about £50m (including the contribution to BBC Alba costs), we are left with a public service programme budget for radio, television and online services in an independent Scotland of approximately £275m. A report showed the BBC as providing figures for their total Scottish spend as just £102m plus £70-75m of network-related spending. So, a Scottish public service broadcaster retaining the entire licence fee would have a budget of about £325m, as against the measly £175m currently. Approaching double.

Even allowing for the need for acquisitions from BBC and overseas, a modest estimate would be that there would be at least an additional £100m to spend on television and radio production in an independent Scotland. And that’s before we start looking at the additional revenue streams from co-production and overseas sales. Also, Scotland has the advantage of being English-speaking which greatly enhances our ability to export programmes – a major moneymaker. In September 2008, the Scottish Broadcasting Commission concluded an independent investigation into the current state of television production and broadcasting in Scotland. Its findings were that Scotland is underserved by the current set-up and recommended a Scottish Digital Network, our own national channel. Not much progress has been made since then, but a lot has happened in politics.

If we are to right this wrong, we need to take a fresh look at Scotland’s broadcasting requirements given independence could be just around the corner. It’s time to be bold and think outside the restrictive BBC framework. First and foremost, we could ensure all our licence fee is spent in Scotland for Scotland. By creating our own broadcasting network we would generate more jobs, reverse the chronic London brain drain for the sector and establish a more confident Scottish sense of identity through increased Scottish TV, radio and online production. And we would have more money to buy in programmes from other places, including the BBC favourites, broadcasting them on our own channels as well as keeping a BBC channel, like the Irish do.

The world could be Scotland’s broadcasting oyster – if we let it.

• Jennifer Dempsie is a communications adviser to the SNP and former special adviser to First Minister Alex Salmond.