S.C.E.
Amendment Paper as at
Thursday 16th January 2003
STANDING COMMITTEE E
New Amendments handed in are marked thus *
COMMUNICATIONS BILL
NOTE
The Amendments have been arranged in accordance with the Order of the Committee [10th December].
Mr John Whittingdale
Mr John Greenway
Mr Andrew Robathan
Mr Mark Hoban
283
Clause 199, page 174, line 11, leave out from 'Authority' to end of line 14 and insert 'must use part of the signals carrying S4C to provide subtitling in relation to programmes included in the service and may use part of those signals to provide other services which are ancillary to programmes included in S4C and which are directly related to their contents.'.
Mr Calum MacDonald
384
Clause 203, page 178, line 19, at end insert—
| '(d) | the holding of licences to provide a service of Gaelic television and sound programmes so as to be available to persons in Scotland and elsewhere.'. |
Mr Calum MacDonald
385
Clause 203, page 178, line 27, at end insert—
'(4C) For the purpose of enabling the Service to carry out its functions, it shall be the duty of each of the persons mentioned in subsection (4D) to provide the Service, free of charge (including any charge arising from royalty payments), with at least 52 hours of new Gaelic programmes per year, with material from their archives, and, in the case of the BBC, with no less than 30 hours of new Gaelic radio programmes per week.
(4D) The persons referred to in subsection (4C) are—
| (b) | any holder of a Channel 3 licence to provide a regional Channel 3 service for reception wholly in Scotland, and |
| (c) | such other persons providing television broadcasting services as may be specified by order by the Secretary of State.'. |
Mr Calum MacDonald
386
Clause 203, page 179, line 2, at end add—
| '(5) | The Gaelic Television Fund shall be linked to the retail prices index.'. |
Mr Calum MacDonald
387
Clause 204, page 179, line 13, leave out subsection (5).
Mr Calum MacDonald
388
Clause 204, page 179, line 17, at end insert—
| '(d) | a member nominated by SDN'. |
Mr Calum MacDonald
389
Clause 205, page 180, line 21, after 'Service', insert 'or of any organisation which receives funding from the Service'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
360
Clause 209, page 182, line 19, leave out '31st December 2014' and insert 'the initial expiry date'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
361
Clause 211, page 185, line 36, leave out '31st December 2014' and insert 'the initial expiry date'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
362
Clause 213, page 187, line 1, leave out from 'as' to end of line and insert 'Channel 4, S4C and one or more Channel 3 services are'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
363
Clause 213, page 187, line 2, at end insert—
'(2A) The service, if licensed to do so in accordance with section 214, may continue to include an analogue teletext service after it is no longer required under subsection (2)(b) to include such a service.'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
364
Clause 213, page 187, line 3, after 'be' insert 'or may be'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
365
Clause 214, page 187, line 38, leave out '31st December 2014' and insert 'the initial expiry date'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
366
Clause 217, page 191, line 22, leave out '31st December 2014' and insert 'the initial expiry date'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
367
Clause 219, page 192, line 8, leave out 'second' and insert 'any subsequent'.
Mr John Whittingdale
Mr John Greenway
Mr Andrew Robathan
Mr Mark Hoban
391
Clause 219, page 192, line 11, leave out from 'begins' to 'and' and insert 'on the date on which the replacement licence comes into force'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
368
Clause 219, page 192, line 16, leave out subsection (3) and insert—
'(3) For the purposes of this section a subsequent review period in the case of a replacement licence is so much (if any) of the following period as falls before the end of the initial expiry date, namely, the period which—
| (a) | begins four years before a subsequent notional expiry date; and |
| (b) | ends with the day before the day that OFCOM have determined to be the one by which they would need to publish a tender notice if they were proposing to grant a fresh licence to take effect from that notional expiry date.'. |
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
369
Clause 219, page 192, line 29, leave out from beginning to end of line 31.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
370
Clause 219, page 193, line 4, leave out from beginning to end of line 11 and insert—
'"subsequent notional expiry date", in relation to a replacement licence, means—
| (a) | in a case in which an application by the licence holder for a review under this section was made during the review period beginning four years before the last notional expiry date, the tenth anniversary of the date on which OFCOM's determination on that review was notified to the licence holder; and |
| (b) | in any other case, the tenth anniversary of the last notional expiry date;'. |
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
371
Clause 222, page 195, line 8, leave out paragraphs (a) and (b) and insert 'must not fall before whichever is the earlier of—
| (a) | the next notional expiry date after the application for the review; and |
| (b) | the end of the licensing period in which that application was made.'. |
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
372
Clause 222, page 195, line 31, leave out from beginning to end of line 32.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
373
Clause 222, page 195, line 35, leave out '31st December 2014' and insert 'the initial expiry date'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
374
Clause 222, page 195, line 37, at end add—
'"notional expiry date' means a first or subsequent notional expiry date within the meaning of section 219.'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
375
Clause 223, page 196, line 12, at end insert—
'(4A) Where the Secretary of State makes an order under section [Meaning of "initial expiry date"] after receiving a report under this section in anticipation of the end of the licensing period that is extended by the order—
| (a) | he may require OFCOM to prepare a supplementary report in the light of the postponement of the beginning of the next licensing period; and |
| (b) | it shall be the duty of OFCOM, within such period as may be specified by the Secretary of State, to prepare the required supplementary report and to submit it to him.'. |
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
376
Clause 223, page 196, line 21, leave out '31st December 2014' and insert 'the initial expiry date'.
Mr Andrew Lansley
Nick Harvey
Mr Richard Allan
304
Clause 224, page 196, line 33, leave out from 'section' to end of line 35.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
377
Clause 224, page 196, line 41, at end insert—
'(3A) The Secretary of State is not to make an order under this section preventing the renewal of licences from the end of the initial licensing period unless he has fixed a date before the end of that period as the date for digital switchover.
(3B) Where the Secretary of State postpones the date for digital switchover after making an order under this section preventing the renewal of licences from the end of the initial licensing period, the order shall have effect only if the date to which digital switchover is postponed falls before the end of that period.
(3C) Subsection (3B) does not affect the power of the Secretary of State to make another order under this section after postponing the date for digital switchover.'.
Mr Stephen Timms
Dr Kim Howells
378
Clause 224, page 197, line 12, at end insert—
'(6A) Subsection (8) of section [Meaning of "initial expiry date"] applies for construing references in this section to the date for digital switchover as it applies for the purposes of that section.'.
