Professor Steven Barnett helps shape future of UK broadcasting landscape as part of DCMS Future of TV Distribution Audience working group

Professor Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster and member of CAMRI, has been contributing his expertise to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) Future of TV Distribution Audience working group, helping to inform government thinking on the next phase of the UK’s broadcasting infrastructure. The group has been tasked with examining the implications of a potential long-term shift from traditional broadcast transmission to television delivered entirely over broadband networks, and with considering how to protect universal access to public service content in that context.

The working group brings together key stakeholders from across the media ecosystem, including broadcasters, regulators, infrastructure operators and audience representatives, to explore the technological, economic and social consequences of any future switchover. Professor Barnett’s participation builds on CAMRI’s long-standing research into public service media and media policy, and ensures that questions of democratic accountability, media plurality and access for those without reliable internet connectivity are central to policy debate.

Reflecting on the work of the group, Professor Barnett has highlighted how rapidly changing viewing habits and the growth of on-demand, internet-delivered services are raising fundamental questions about what “broadcasting” will mean in the coming decades. The DCMS is expected to draw on the group’s findings as it considers decisions in the next two years that will shape the UK’s media landscape well into the 2030s, with CAMRI research continuing to inform public and parliamentary discussion.

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