Ms Emma Bowell:

The question was whether we agreed with the statement made about BAI support. Certainly, we do agree. We have a good working relationship with the BAI both through sound and vision programming, and the sectoral development fund. We often use the analogy of an airport to describe the situation. We have been able to access sound and vision funding and good programmes have been made but that is a bit like funding the planes in the sky but there is nothing to fund the airport itself. sound and vision is a competitive funding round and we seek annual guaranteed funding. There is a lot of competition for the licence fee but the 1% that we ask for would give us those core costs and enable us to have that guaranteed annual income, which is what we need to develop. We feel that we fit into the whole picture because when people engage in community television they are not just watching television in a passive way. They are actively participating in the making of those programmes and can see themselves on local television. They see local stories and local news, which enhances the whole culture of television watching. We are also developing players and video on-demand services. If people get involved, media literacy is a huge part of what we do. With every programme people get involved in we teach them about media literacy and how programmes are made so they then become much more aware of content and where content comes from. They are much more in tune with whether programmes come from the States or other streaming services. We have our part in the media landscape. We feel that if we were adequately funded with some guaranteed funding then we can continue that relationship with the BAI. We are very happy to collaborate with the other players here in the room and we feel we have a part to play.