Memorandum submitted by Emap Performance
Thank you very much for inviting Emap to give
evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into
A New Future for Communications.
Emap has views on areas in the White Paper that
refer to commercial radio. Our chief concerns are to replace the
ownership points system, protect radio within OFCOM, rope in the
rampant BBC, and warn against commercial funding of "Access
Radio".
Deregulation of commercial radio is vital. Larger
commercial radio companies improve diversity for listeners and
sustain niche services through economies of scale. The Government
agrees to look into a new ownership system, but does not indicate
whether it will allow radio ownership to grow. We would like to
know if the Government will replace the points system with one
that allows for further consolidation of radio ownership.
In line with our trade body CRCA, we think radio
regulation should be through a unique organisation within OFCOM,
not coupled to television. The Skillset Employment Census 2000
counts 22,819 people working in Broadcast Radio, compared to 24,102
in Broadcast Television. But, radio's often out-of-London charter
can often mean out-of-London, out-of-mind. We will remind Government
that radio differs from television and telecom and is regulated
differently, I am afraid radio might be lost in the OFCOM sauce.
I feel disappointed that the Government may
not subject the BBC to the same regulation we face. The Paper
states that OFCOM "will give formal advice to the Secretary
of State on the market impact of new BBC public services and for
material changes to existing ones, before the Secretary of State
reaches a final decision". This seems to be no substitute
for independent regulation. Regulating all radio together will
allow the widest possible diversity of listening choice, creates
a level playing field for competition and future investment, and
ensures the best, transparent use of public resources set aside
for radio. Separation of regulation and legislation for BBC services
from its competitors is untenable, in the long run. It's all "running
together", I guess this is the thinking behind the creation
of OFCOM. The current regime allows the BBC to be sloppy, wasteful
and to set its own goals. With a flick of its tail it can do great
damage to a commercial market.
"Access Radio", designed to serve
excluded communities, is not expected to be commercially viable,
as its audiences cannot attract sufficient revenue. To allow "Access
Radio" to be commercially funded will, I think, lead it to
become indistinguishable from commercial radio. At the same time,
it will imperil small commercial stations by taking revenue from
them. We will remind Government that Access Radio should not threaten
the survival of small-scale commercial radio. We propose that
"Access Radio" should not be funded with any commercial
revenues.
February 2001
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