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ITV Digital
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Independent Television Commission concerning ITV Digital's entry into administration. [50709]
Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Independent Television Commission concerning ITV Digital's entry into administration. [50669]
Dr. Howells: The Independent Television Commission has kept me closely informed about the regulatory implications of ITV Digital's decision to place the company into administration.
Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made
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of the impact of ITV Digital's collapse on plans for digital television take-up in the UK. [50666]
Dr. Howells: Section 33 of the Broadcasting Act 1996 places a duty on my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to keep under review the development of digital television, the availability of existing analogue services in digital form and the possession of digital receiving equipment, in order to decide when analogue services might be switched off. This review is being carried out and the results will be published in due course. The review will of course take account of the eventual outcome of the current administration of ITV Digital.
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Sports Action Zone
Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Sports Action Zone money has been spent in the Workington constituency since the initiation of the scheme; and on what projects. [51267]
Mr. Caborn: The Needs Assessment and Action Plan for the West Cumbria and Barrow Sport Action Zone identifies a range of projects which are priorities for the zone. The following relate specifically to the Workington constituency:
| Funding (£) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project | Location | Partners | Total project cost | SAZ funding |
| Commonwealth Games Co-ordinator to raise awareness of the Games and deliver a local programme in line with the Games | Allerdale | Allerdale borough council, NW Economic and Social SRB, Learning and Skills Council | 50,000 | 15,000 |
| Sports Co-ordinator to develop a sustainable sporting infrastructure | Allerdale, particularly Salterbeck, Harrington, Moorclose and Westfield wards | Impact Housing Association, Salterbeck Sports Association, Allerdale borough council, Youth Sport Trust, Women's Sport Foundation, West Lakes college, Age Concern | 112,000 | 54,000 |
| Young people in speedway | Allerdale—priority Northside | Groundwork West Cumbria, Allerdale borough council, Cumbria Waste Management, Workington SRB, Workington town council, Auto Cycle Union, St. John's Ambulance, Cumbria constabulary | 18,766 | 1,500 |
| Sport for Health Manager | Allerdale—including Oval Centre in Salterbeck, Copeland | Steering Group consisting of: West Cumbria CVS, Sport Action Zone, Health Action Zone, Primary Care Trust | (5)70,000 | (6)30,000 |
| Directory of sport and physical activity in West Cumbria | Allerdale, Copeland | West Cumbria CVS | 19,700 | 8,500 |
| Development of Adult Other than teacher (AOTT) programme | Allerdale—including Harrington and Ashfield schools in Workington, Barrow, Copeland | Cumbria Sport | 24,800 | 7,500 |
| Community Chest for funding smaller projects particularly in rural areas | Allerdale, Barrow, Copeland | Allerdale borough council | — | 7,000 |
(5) For two years.
(6) For two years with commitment of £45,000 for further three years.
Film Council
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the films funded by the Film Council for which (a) members of staff and (b) members of the board of the Council have received an on-screen credit, stating for each (i) the nature of and (ii) the reason for the credit. [51078]
Dr. Howells [holding answer 18 April 2002]: The following table details the films funded by the Film Council (since 1 April 2000) for which members of staff have received an on-screen credit. It is normal practice in the film industry to provide on-screen credits which reflect the work undertaken by the various partners.
No member of the board has received an on-screen credit through their membership of the board of the Film Council. However, some Film Council board members are employed by, or are directors of, the three lottery film franchise companies—DNA, the Film Consortium and Pathe Pictures Ltd. They may be credited by virtue of that role on relevant franchise films. Those titles have not been listed in the following table.
| Film title | Reason for the credit |
|---|---|
| Gosford Park | Executive Producer for the Film Council's Premiere Fund |
| Business Affairs | |
| Production Finance | |
| Production Executives | |
| Mike Bassett: England Manager | Executive Producer |
| Production Executives for the Premiere Fund | |
| Business Affairs | |
| Production Supervisor | |
| Bloody Sunday | Executive Producer |
| Legals Film Council for the Film Council |
Digital Television
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of (a) the number
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and (b) the percentage of households in the United Kingdom that (i) receive and (ii) can receive digital television by (A) digital terrestrial, (B) digital satellite, (C) digital cable and (D) other means. [51071]
Dr. Howells: The information available is as follows:
(A) Digital television take up
- (i) 5.7 million subscribers to Sky Digital.
- 0.7 million subscribers to Telewest.
- 1.25 million subscribers to NTL
- 1.26 million subscribers to ITV Digital
- Source:
- Pay television subscriber figures December 2001
- (ii) The Office for National Statistics has available the following figures for Great Britain from the National Statistics Omnibus Survey, October 2001. These figures were released on 18 December 2001.
| Percentage | ||
|---|---|---|
| Proportion of households in Great Britain by whether there is digital TV in the household; October 2001 | ||
| Households with digital TV | 29 | |
| Households without digital TV | 71 | |
| Proportion of households in Great Britain with digital TV broken down by service provider; October 2001 | ||
| Digital TV service provider | ||
| ONDigital/ITVDigital | 11 | |
| Sky Digital | 64 | |
| NTL (Cable-Digital)/Telewest | 25 | |
| Other (including other cable and terrestrial)(7) | 1 | |
(7) The majority of these households had digital terrestrial TV.
Note:
These percentages are proportions of all households with digital TV (29 per cent. of GB households). Like all estimates from sample surveys these figures are subject to sampling variability.
Source:
National Statistics Omnibus Survey
(B) Digital television coverage
The latest figures available from the Independent Television Commission are as follows:
| UK coverage | Percentage population | Number of homes |
|---|---|---|
| Multiplex 1 BBC | 81 | 20,261,000 |
| Multiplex 2, Digital 3&4 | 80 | 19,851,000 |
| Multiplex A, SDN | 78 | 19,455,000 |
| Multiplex B, ITV Digital | 79 | 19,546,000 |
| Multiplex C, ITV Digital | 76 | 18,963,000 |
| Multiplex D, ITV Digital | 74 | 18,441,000 |
| Core coverage(8) | 68 | 16,929,000 |
(8) Core coverage is the ability to receive all six multiplexes
The BBC and ITC, who are responsible for the DTT transmission network, are considering, in consultation with Government and stakeholders, how to improve coverage of all DTT multiplexes across the UK.
- (2) Digital satellite is predicted to reach about 98.2 per cent. of the UK population.
- (3) The ITC does not have figures for the number of homes passed by digital cable.
- (4) Data is not available for other technologies.
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Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what assessment she has made of the likelihood of digital television transmission reaching homes that are not receiving analogue reception in North Devon; and if she will make a statement; [51779]
- (2) what efforts have been made to encourage digital television switchover in areas that do not receive analogue television reception. [51780]
Dr. Howells: The Digital Television Action Plan, posted on www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk on 20 December, sets out a series of actions for Government and stakeholders to promote digital television and to prepare for switchover. We began a consultation on 11 December 2001 seeking views on the basis on which we should plan the use of spectrum once analogue transmissions cease, including what level of coverage would be required by terrestrial television for public service broadcasting and for pay-tv services. The consultation closed on 5 April 2002 and we are considering the responses.
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