Weekend Spy: Community spirit

Following on from Weekend Spy’s look at broadcasters and climate change last month, Joanne Oatts takes a closer look at the Community Channel and talks to controller Nick Ware about how it started and where the channel “that gives a damn” is heading.

Picture this: BBC, BSkyB, Channel Four, Five, Flextech, Discovery Networks Europe, GMTV, ITN, ITV and Pact agreeing on something. That is what happened when they all signed up to the Joint Declaration in 2004 - a collective agreement to help support the Community Channel. Since then MTV, Disney and Turner have also joined that list, providing news and information, as well as raising awareness about the work of the voluntary, charitable and community sectors. Since launching in September 2000 as a three-hour-a-day TV channel, mainly showing charity advertisements and selling charity merchandise, it has come a long way. Funded mainly by the Cabinet Office (through the Office of the Third Sector - the government department that focuses on charities), it receives free airtime from Sky, Ntl:Telewest and Freeview. The channel now gets around 1.2 million viewers each month, with more than 10,000 responses per month to its calls-to-action and campaigns.

Community Channel controller Nick Ware was managing editor at BBC Four at its launch and prior to that was the BBC's creative director of learning, working on BBC-wide campaigns. Both roles gave him a good base for understanding the audience and content of the Community Channel, which he joined 18 months ago. So what attracted him to the role? “I think the fact that it’s all about encouraging viewers to do stuff, and it’s unique in that respect. The whole channel is about trying to make a difference, and it’s exciting to try and do that all the time. When we get it right we make some really inspiring programmes and we get some great responses from our audience,” he says.

One of the channel’s aims is to give the charity and voluntary sector a space to get its message across; a part of his job that Ware is very happy about: “It’s about bringing those things to people’s consciousness, and trying to be slightly ahead of the game with things that are more mainstream now, like ethical living, fair trade and climate change; subjects that over the last year have really taken centre stage." The feedback the channel gets from the charities is also very positive. “They like the fact they’ve got a national profile, and people can see what their work is like. Television is really brilliant at giving people inspiration and so it’s a far better way to get their message across than a flat website or a charity communication.”

The channel is very interactive with its audience too. On the Community Channel website, viewers can search for a volunteering post, with people able to make donations through red-button interactivity as well as going online. For the Asian Tsunami appeal, the channel provided red-button operations for other broadcasters, as it was the only channel with the right software. “We always try to work with other broadcasters to bring the work of charities to a wider audience, and that’s one of the reasons those broadcasters want to work with us,” Ware says.

Channel 4, the BBC and Sky are among the main supporters of the channel, with The Media Trust now working with people like Disney to not only reach their audience on screen, but also encourage their staff to get involved through schemes like volunteering. The big advantage of having the Joint Declaration is that it allows the channel to potentially acquire the broadcaster’s content at cost. But it isn’t all BBC wildlife and poverty-in-Africa programmes, says Ware: “We couldn’t run the channel on other people’s content. There just isn’t enough (relevant content) being made. If there was we probably wouldn’t need to exist.”

Ware is generally encouraged by the increased amount of content that has been produced around charity-related issues in the last year. “Whether it’s a fashion moment I don’t know. It’s been exciting, with lots of initiatives. Even in the very mainstream areas, ITV have done things like Soccer Aid, The Prince’s Trust and Extinct. Those are big events that are about raising money and awareness. It’s really good when ITV gets involved, as well as the BBC - who you’d expect to do it. It’s right across the media landscape.” Even on Channel 4, Secret Millionaire, a programme about philanthropy which the Community Channel worked on, got 3.5 million viewers. The Community Channel is currently showing its own documentary about the trend in philanthropy in Britain, called The Generous Gene. Ware is keen to produce more shows around the subject of health and social enterprise. When programmes on the latter have been shown in the past, they have received a positive response. A US-made show called The New Heroes, about social enterprise around the world, has been one of the channel’s most successful shows. A regular 'ethical living' show is also a gap that Ware wants to fill on the channel, and he says they are currently in talks with partners to make this happen.

The Media Trust - which owns the channel - has an in-house production department Media Trust Productions, which makes a lot of the 10% of commissioned programmes seen on the Community Channel, as well as having its own direct relationships with other broadcasters. On occasions, the Community Channel and Media Trust will pitch shows to charities together. “We often say to them it would help raise their profile if - rather than making a five minute piece of video that will sit on the shelf and won’t get seen by anyone (typically for an award ceremony or a conference) – we say work with us and we can turn it into a programme, because you’ll reach more people and it will have a longer shelf life.” Though Ware wishes more charities would embrace this opportunity: “In the charity sector, people are quite blinkered about opportunities in the media, or they have very traditional ideas about how the media could work for them. They think they need to get on the Today programme or be putting an advert in the paper to get people to respond to an appeal, rather than asking what else they can do to engage with their audience."

The channel certainly has a unique set up, and a growing and surprisingly diverse audience. Research by the channel shows that the majority of their viewers really like the fact the channel represents a truly global view through a “slightly different lens” on Britain. It also has an above-average ethnic minority audience of 17%. “People like the fact that there is diversity on screen. It’s not written into our manifesto, it’s actually there. They get a window on the world which is not shown that often," says Ware.

On Freeview (channel 87) it currently broadcasts between 6am and 9am, but is in talks with the BBC - which provides the bandwidth for free - to extend those hours by two more in the spring. The channel is lalso obbying to have a permanent slot by the time of the digital switchover in 2012, and hopes to move toward broadcasting 24-hours a day, as it currently does on satellite and cable, (Sky 539, Ntl:Telewest 233). The broadband TV player has been a success, with users growing every month, and many of the channel’s shows are also on other online platforms like Tiscali.

Another of its unique offerings, is how the channel has encouraged new film-makers to submit documentary ideas. Ware explains: “People often struggle to complete that first film. There are a lot of people trying to make films, but sometimes all they really want is a bit of guidance. We can’t give them a lot of money, but we can guide them to make a good film for television and give help with post-production.” One of the schemes the channel is involved with is engaging with the regional screen agencies around the UK. Last year they commissioned three new filmmakers through working with Northern Film and Media, helping them with compliance and assisting with production. One of the films subsequently went on to be nominated for a Royal Television Society award. A 2007 Community Documentary Scheme has been launched just this week. “We’ve got a good track record there, and it’s always good if people come to us at an early stage, because there are a huge amount of films that never get seen and we try to be that 'place to come'. Particularly if you’re trying to make films about social issues – it’s really only Channel 4 and the BBC you can go to – so we want to be that third place,” adds Ware.

As a platform for those who don't get their voice heard elsewhere - and that goes for charities as much as new film-makers - the Community Channel is certainly a worthwhile cause. In its commitment to nurturing new talent, the channel could definitely put some commercial networks to shame. And in a media world so much associated with greed and making money, its good to see one channel doing some good, and making it a success too.

To find out more visit the Community Channel at: http://www.communitychannel.org
For more info on the regional screen agencies: http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk
Northern Media: http://www.northernmedia.org/