IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS OR ISSUES WITH TELEVISION OR RADIO IN ANY PART OF DORSET

we are here to help.   We aim to improve:

ALL ASPECTS OF DIGITAL TELEVISION -  FM RADIO – DAB –

& ESPECIALLY LOCAL DORSET NEWS & EVENTS COVERAGE ON ALL MEDIA

 

Picture: From The Dorset Page 

The Dorset Broadcasting Action Group (DorBAG) is Co-Chaired by Oliver Letwin MP and Jim Knight MP with an Executive Committee comprising county, borough, town and parish council representatives, plus some other group representatives & experts. DorBAG's ultimate aims are  to achieve a fair and reasonable service, from the BBC in particular, for the County of Dorset.   The BBC freely admits that Dorset is ‘underserved’ despite no discount on our licence fee! 

We are concerned at the quality and level of service on both Radio (FM & DAB) and on Terrestrial Television.  In addition, the committee has worked closely, especially with Digital UK, to address issues particularly relating to Terrestrial Television reception, with a focus on switchover to digital.   This started, depending on where you live, in the spring of 2009. 

Apart from reception issues, DorBAG continues to push hard for Dorset to be provided with proper local news and events coverage on both terrestrial Television and on Radio. 

Television:  The BBC has advised that, for television, transmitting local news and events coverage for the county will only be possible after switchover to Digital Terrestrial Television, & if they can get the necessary funds.   That time is here now in West Dorset - so what is the plan?   

In the meantime, the BBC has encouraged the present regional services (BBC Spotlight from Plymouth, BBC South in Southampton and Points West in Bristol) to cover more items on Dorset in their local news.  Although Plymouth has made a marked improvement, as we are not their prime audience, we still get minimal coverage in the county from the others which is totally unsatisfactory - and what is worse is that, depending on where you live in the county, you can only see that local news broadcast from that particular region's transmitter.   There are no means (today) to view the combined total news from all regions in one programme.  Hence, our main thrust now is to persuade the BBC to ensure the county has adequate newsgathering resources and proper services by:

• Folding Dorset into one BBC Region with one manager responsible for all our broadcasts & resources. 
   
• Building up a full team of people with an editor in charge, responsible for all Dorset news & event submissions, facilities, staffing, recruitment etc.
  
• Providing a new up to-date studio with space to accomodate additional staff
  
• Adding a new TV transmitter in the county, or providing a suitable method to enable one transmission to reach all of Dorset
  
• Reinstating BBC Radio Dorset as an additional radio station to BBC Radio Solent
  
  FM Radio:  At one point, the BBC did agree to reinstate #BBC Radio Dorset on FM - only for it to be cancelled later when funds were cut back.  Sadly, when it was cancelled, we heard from within the BBC that they were almost ready to re-launch BBC Radio Dorset at the time of the announcement, which rather added salt to the wounds!   If the requirements outlined in DorBAG's aims above were implemented, we believe the local radio problem will solve itself in the process.

So we continue to press, not only for our own county coverage of both Dorset news and activities on Radio & on Terrestrial Television but, in addition, and most importantly, for a consolidated Dorset-wide service that we can all access at the same time, anywhere in the county, by being folded into one BBC Region and with appropriate/additional transmitter coverage.  

Status:  As the BBC's plans for expanding activities by introducing "BBC Local" on the internet was cancelled by the BBC Trust, the English Region managers had to submit bids to have a share of the £68 million that had been "freed up".   We were assured by senior BBC Management that Dorset's needs/requirements will be high on the list!   Although bids had to be in by 5th January 2009, and although this deadline was met, the BBC Trust has failed to make any announcements to this day!  It seems that they will now hold back in the current financial climate.    However, we continue to work with the BBC Management and are making some progress - see 'Latest news'.

We have emphasised to the BBC that, while their additional services on the internet are very welcome, they are no substitute for the majority of residents who still rely on radios and televisions for their news, information and entertainment.   Nevertheless, we are delighted to work with the BBC on their Internet developments for the county, as it is obviously the way broadcasters (and others e.g. press) are moving with an eye to the future.  

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