Audience participation in regional public television: A proposal that looks the 2016 reform of the BBC

Abstract

The BBC opened two public enquiries in 2015 during the drafting of the "Report on the Reform of the Charter of the BBC", which will expire in December, 2016. Among the issues raised was the need to create new ways of audience participation. In fact, the BBC has taken steps to integrate audiences through its four Audience Councils: England, Wales, Scotland, and North Ireland. Likewise, in Spain, regional public television offers a specific way for public participation similar to Audience Councils: the Consejos Asesores. The research presented in this paper is based on the "classification of participation" offered by Carpentier and the British and Spanish cases, and it offers some indicators to assess and improve the participation of the audiences in Spanish regional public television.