What is Small Screen: Big Debate?

In our Small Screen: Big Debate, we have looked at how to renew the UK's public service media (PSM) system, including both broadcast and online, over the next decade.

To support our work in this area, we commissioned a wealth of market research and analysis, to help us understand what different audiences value about PSM and how current regulation can be modernised to support the transition from a public service broadcasting (PSB) to a PSM system.

We have hosted events across the country to hear as broad a range of opinions as possible about options for PSB in the future including broadcasters, producers, manufacturers, platform providers and academics.

In October 2020, we held a virtual conference looking at the big questions facing public service broadcasting in the 2020s. You can find reports about all of this work and watch panel discussions and interviews with many of the senior figures across the broadcasting world on this website.

We also ran a competition with the Financial Times asking school pupils to submit a blog or video on how media providers stay relevant in the future. You can read the fantastic winning entries.

In December, we published a three-month consultation (PDF, 3.4 MB) on our findings following an extensive programme of research and analysis on the future of public service media. In response to our consultation, we received over 100 submissions from a range of individuals, broadcasters, producers, platform operators, parliamentarians and academics.

The responses and research fed into our statement and recommendations for Government which aim to support the ongoing sustainability of PSM. We will continue to work with Government and the industry ahead of any new legislation to ensure the continued success of PSM at the heart of the UK’s vibrant creative economy.