Significant falls in Channel 4 and Channel 5 news and current affairs coverage is offset by increased output from BBC One, BBC Two and ITV1, according to an Ofcom report
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News and current affairs output on Channel 4 and Channel 5 fell by 82 and 55 hours respectively in 2010 compared to 2009, according to a report by Ofcom. The annual review of public service broadcasting (PSB) by the regulator found an overall "modest" decrease in the hours of news and current affairs provided by broadcasters of 0.3 per cent.
However, the report claims BBC One, BBC Two and ITV 1 all recorded increases in output, of 20 hours, 35 hours and 16 hours.
A spokesman for Channel 4 explained the decrease followed the de-commissioning of More4 News after the launch of Channel 4 +1, and the axing of a lunchtime bulletin.
The channel's Dispatches programme was also cut back on last year.
Ofcom's report also publishes audience ratings on the delivery of PSB "purposes", with the role of broadcasters in informing peoples' understandings of world events achieving the highest ranking of 70 per cent.
Other figures in the report showed spending on news and current affairs among PSB channels, excluding BBC News and BBC Parliament, rose by 2 per cent to £262m in 2010, which the report suggests may have been driven by the general election.
The report for the previous year found that national news viewing dropped from 100 hours per individual, per year in 2005, to 88 hours in 2009.
Today's report suggests no change from that 2009 figure, with 88 hours still reported for news viewing time in 2010, down from 91 hours in 2006.
However, the viewing figures in the latest report were taken from a new panel and are therefore "not strictly comparable", Ofcom says.
Also, as the report highlights, the figures must also be viewed in light of the heightened coverage of events surrounding the general election last year.
