PART TWO: A Small Study to Examine the State of Local Television Program Production

 To determine why local television programs were not produced in earnest in the region and to find out if Cable television caused a decline in the quantity of locally produced television programs, I examined programming and production data from the Eastern Caribbean over a generation – 1980- 2000. All television stations in the Caribbean region that were affiliated with the Caribbean Broadcasting Union formed part of the sample for this exercise. These Union member stations represented the whole population and they provided the source of all materials used to study the changes for television programs produced in the islands before and after the arrival of cable television. The following served as indicators:

(1).   The drop in local television production based on owners anticipated flooding of cable television: In some areas program owners responded by reducing the amount of local television they produced.   Maybe they anticipated an abundance of cable television programs.

(2).   Influence of decision makers: The media owners and consultants to media unions predicted the impact of cable television and as a result encouraged less emphasis on local production.

(3).   Unequal increase in cable and local televise programs: There was a steady increase of local television programs but a wider increase in cable television programs.

(5)   Annual CBU reports, Television guides and program logs. These indicated the effect cable television had on the amount of local programs based on the amount of local programs listed.

The Method

Procedurally, each station was asked to assemble one sample of each television guide and program log for the period of 1980 to 1990. Due to the smallness of sample, exact information requested from the television stations was also obtained from the archives of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union for correlation and contingency. Contact was made by letter and followed up by telephone reminders. Stations had one month to collect data. Station’s data were recorded on a nominal scale by year, total amount of local programs and total amount of cable TV programs aired. Data for each year for every station were entered on the five- point scale. Stations with more than ten local programs produced in one year was recorded as very high, more than seven but less than ten was recorded as high, more than four but less than seven were recorded as low.

Very low was more than one but less than four and none recoded as zero. Each station’s program manager was interviewed via questionnaires on which they circled the most suitable answers as related to their system.

Questionnaires were distributed to managers through the weekly “Quickpak” mailing of the magazine program CARIBSCOPE. The respondents were contacted by telephone followed by a letter. A cover letter explaining the purpose of the study accompanied the questionnaires. Respondents were asked questions about their station’s advertising income before and during the cable television period, the number of years they have had cable television, the obvious benefits, the amount of local television programs (increase or decrease) and the motivation for them. Space was available for respondents to put any additional comment they had.

For this research, I requested via fax and followed up by formal letter, the annual reports of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union for the period of 1980 to 1992. I conducted field research at Union’s headquarters in Barbados. Over three days I interviewed resource personnel, collected data from their archives and files as pertained to the member systems of the region and I paid close attention to the work of the CBU in relation to program production, program sharing and costs. Using data collected from the CBU files, each station’s data were entered on a separate chart with a nominal scale listing year, total local television program produced, total cable television programs, total hours of operation per day, and advertising income as reported by the members.

Validity of the field survey was both in content and in construct. Content validity was covered because the questions asked and the data collected from the television guides, program logs and Caribbean Broadcasting Union reports were all related and represented all possible materials that could be included in the concept under study. The subjects used were the full sample under the circumstances of the survey – every television station in every Caribbean Island. Construct validity was covered because it was possible to select all necessary information needed for observation and measurement due to the effectiveness of the instruments used in the research. The methods employed for collecting the data were the best methods available for observing the progressive effect of cable television on local television production from 1980 to 2000 since each of the indicators reflected the relationship between access to cable television and a drop in local televisions production.

Analyzing the findings of the study proved enlightening. Regarding the anticipation of flooding of cable television, with the exception of new private-owned cable systems in Trinidad and Jamaica, which began operation in 1972, all other stations of the region, began cable programming in the 1980’s. A case study on Marpin Television Company provided reasons for that trend.

Foreign material was always the backbone of the Caribbean media programming content. Before the arrival of cable, programs were obtained from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and a few American stations. These programs were very old and therefore cost was low. From the 1980’s the islands found cable television to be convenient and readily available especially when they could pirate material straight from the United States via satellites. The flood of cable television programs continues in every Caribbean country today.

With the exception of Jamaica, that is utilizing between 75 to 78 percent of foreign program material, every other system in the region imports or carries 85 to 95 percent foreign programming. One manager claimed that foreign program content (See Case Study 1) is a reality throughout the world and quoted TV World (1991) which reported that even in Britain domestically produced programs dropped from 86 percent to 75 percent and that the British now had an insatiable appetite for Australian soaps.

In responding to whether advertising income influenced decision-making, most systems claimed that there was no change in advertising income. Very few made more than three million dollars. Of course, the advertising profits depended on the market size and the types and quantity of business available. Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados topped the list in advertising income, making more than three million. While Dominica, St. Kitts/Nevis and Antigua earned less than one million. The study observed that the government owned TV stations were an extension of the radio station that were operating before 1980s. Television service was seen as an extension of the radio business. There was no clear indication as to whether the income earned was solely from television advertising. Even today, most advertisers rely heavily on radio advertisement and there was no separate accounts for radio and television. The cable systems all said that the majority of their earnings came from subscribers’ fees and not advertising.

In examining local television production and cable television unequal increase, I noted that local programs included daily evening news packages that were in most cases, government information broadcasts and a few documentaries on health and social issues. Peak programming content was seasonal; Carnival, Christmas, national independence, regional cultural competitions and sporting events such as cricket. From 1980 to 1990 local programming content increased in some systems while for others it remained the same. For example, Trinidad and Tobago Company Limited (TTT) claimed to have produced at least twelve hours of local programming. This station did not have cable and most of its programming was foreign.

ZIZ-TV St. Kitts/Nevis produced about six hours (excluding news) of local programs before and after the introduction of cable television. St. Kitts, Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica were high producers of local television programs producing more than ten programs a year. The other islands produced less than four programs a year. The average local programming a day for the region was approximately one and a half hours.

Outside of “specials” which were aired one for each particular season (example independent celebration programs) and news which was daily, other programs ran once a week (Talk shows, call in programs, drama and comedy).

As the Cable Television systems increased transmission hours, their amounts of foreign programs increased and the already small quantities of local programs seemed to dwindle. However, some systems that had full cable (twenty-four hours a day) also showed an increase in total weekly hours of local television programs. This was due in part to the growth of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, which resulted in an increase of locally produced programs. Case Study 2 describes in detail the work done by this organization.

What I discovered in the contents of television guides, program logs and cable television program listings is important. The contents helped to cross-reference what member stations and the CBU reported. The television guides provided by the systems were merely a schedule of foreign movies, their dates, times and channels. The local programs were so few that the subscribers knew when and where to find them. Program logs carried mainly co-ordinates for locating programs on satellites, time differences and last- minute changes. In most instances, a copy of the weekly or monthly guide was adapted and updated for the headend operator’s use. The majority of the programs in the log were foreign and from American cable television satellites.

The question of economic viability was satisfactorily answered in this study. The data showed that local programs were costly and that cost was the sole reason for their low quantity. All systems agreed that it was cheaper to subscribe to foreign networks and have large varieties of foreign programs than to produce even one full-length local feature. The governments also deemed television as a costly venture and preferred to rely on simple, easy to produce government news packages and commentaries. Unlike before, when governments owned all television stations, a few private cable television stations with strong local production departments evolved. However, these admitted that their local production sections were difficult to maintain.

When studying small samples, a study is more robust if case studies are employed. In that light, I hope the following case studies will achieve just that. Case Study 1 examined trends in local television production and programming through the case of Marpin Television. Case Study 2 examined the CBU’s regional collaboration for the production of local television programs. In addition, both Case Study 1 and 2 will highlight the disadvantages of high cost of local production.