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Communications Bill


Communications Bill
Schedule 14 — Media ownership rules
Part 4 — Supplemental provisions of Schedule

    429

 

          (6)      holding of licences already held by him, would (apart from sub-paragraph

(4)) constitute a contravention of a requirement imposed under paragraph

11.

          (7)      Where the contravention is one arising under paragraph 12 in the case of a

person who, under a local digital sound programme licence, was providing

5

one or more local digital sound programme services immediately before the

coming into force of the order, there is a relevant change of circumstances

if—

              (a)             another person becomes the holder of that licence, otherwise than in

consequence of a transaction under which the person in

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contravention ceases to be a holder of the licence; or

              (b)             the person in contravention becomes the provider of another local

digital sound programme service provided under that licence.

          (8)      A change of circumstances is not a relevant change of circumstances by

virtue of sub-paragraph (7)(b) unless the service of which the person in

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contravention becomes the provider is one the provision of which, with the

services already provided by him, would (apart from sub-paragraph (4))

constitute a contravention of a requirement imposed under paragraph 12.

          (9)      For the purposes of this paragraph, in its application in relation to a

contravention of a requirement imposed under paragraph 11 or 12—

20

              (a)             references to holding a licence or providing a local digital sound

programme service are to be construed in accordance with the

provision having effect for the purposes of that requirement; and

              (b)             the persons who are taken to be holding a local digital sound

programme licence immediately before the coming into force of the

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order include every person who at that time would, in accordance

with that provision, be treated as providing local digital sound

programme services that were being provided at that time under

that licence.

Part 4

30

Supplemental provisions of Schedule

Procedure for orders

  15      (1)      Before making an order under any provision of this Schedule (other than one

that is confined to giving effect to recommendations made by OFCOM in a

report of a review under section 381), the Secretary of State must consult

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OFCOM.

          (2)      No order is to be made containing provision authorised by any provision of

this Schedule unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and

approved by a resolution of each House.

Interpretation of Schedule

40

  16      (1)      Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the 1990 Act applies for construing this Schedule as it

applies for construing Part 2 of that Schedule.

          (2)      References in this paragraph to an area overlapping another include

references to its being the same as, or lying wholly inside, the other area.

 

 

Communications Bill
Schedule 15 — Amendments of Broadcasting Acts
Part 1 — Amendments of the 1990 Act

    430

 

Schedule 15

Section 350

 

Amendments of Broadcasting Acts

Part 1

Amendments of the 1990 Act

Licences under Part 1

5

  1       (1)      Section 3 of the 1990 Act (licensing under Part 1) shall be amended as

follows.

          (2)      For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there

shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

          (3)      In subsection (1), for “Chapter II, III, IV or V of this Part” there shall be

10

substituted “Chapter 2 or 5 of this Part or section 230 of the Communications

Act 2003”.

          (4)      For subsection (8) (saving for telecommunications licences) there shall be

substituted—

              “(8)                The holding by a person of a licence under this Part shall not relieve

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him of—

                    (a)                   any liability in respect of a failure to hold a licence under

section 1 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949; or

                    (b)                   any obligation to comply with requirements imposed by or

under Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Communications Act 2003

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(electronic communications networks and electronic

communications services).”

General licence conditions

  2       (1)      Section 4 of the 1990 Act (general licence conditions) shall be amended as

follows.

25

          (2)      For “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted

“OFCOM”.

          (3)      In subsection (1), in each of paragraphs (a) and (c), after “this Act” there shall

be inserted “, the Broadcasting Act 1996 or the Communications Act 2003”.

          (4)      In subsection (3) (fixing of fees), for the words from “regard as necessary”

30

onwards there shall be substituted “regard as necessary for the purposes of

paragraph 8(1) of the Schedule to the Office of Communications Act 2002

(obligation to conduct affairs so as to be able to meet their obligations and

carry out their functions).”

          (5)      In subsection (5) (provision of false information to be breach of condition)—

35

              (a)             for “imposed under this Part” there shall be substituted “contained

in the licence”; and

              (b)              after “and 42” there shall be inserted “or (as the case may be) sections

232 and 233 of the Communications Act 2003 (enforcement of

television licensable content service licences)”.

40

 

 

Communications Bill
Schedule 15 — Amendments of Broadcasting Acts
Part 1 — Amendments of the 1990 Act

    431

 

Restrictions on licence holding

  3       (1)      Section 5 of the 1990 Act (restrictions on licence holding) shall be amended

as follows.

          (2)      For “The Commission” and “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there

shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

5

          (3)      In subsection (2) (incidental requirements to provide information), after

paragraph (d) there shall be inserted—

                    “(da)                      impose conditions in a licence requiring the licence holder, if

a body corporate, to give OFCOM notice, after they have

occurred and irrespective of whether proposals for them

10

have fallen to be notified, of changes, transactions or events

affecting—

                           (i)                          shareholdings in the body; or

                           (ii)                         the directors of the body;

                    (db)                      impose conditions in a licence enabling OFCOM to require

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the licence holder to provide them with such information as

they may reasonably require for determining—

                           (i)                          whether the licence holder is a disqualified person in

relation to that licence by virtue of Part 2 of Schedule

2; or

20

                           (ii)                         whether any such requirements as are mentioned in

subsection (1)(b) have been and are being complied

with by or in relation to the licence holder;”.

          (4)      In subsection (6)—

              (a)             in paragraph (a), for “complained of” there shall be substituted

25

“constituting their grounds for revoking the licence”; and

              (b)             in paragraph (b)(i), for “Parts III and IV of Schedule 2” there shall be

substituted “the requirements imposed by or under Schedule 14 to

the Communications Act 2003,”.

          (5)      In subsection (6A)—

30

              (a)             paragraph (a) shall cease to have effect; and

              (b)             in paragraph (b), for “Part IV of that Schedule” there shall be

substituted “Part 1 of Schedule 14 to the Communications Act 2003”.

          (6)      Subsection (6B) shall cease to have effect.

          (7)      In subsection (7), for the words from “a failure” to the end of paragraph (c)

35

there shall be substituted “a disqualification under Part 2 of Schedule 2 to

this Act or a contravention of a requirement imposed by or under Schedule

14 to the Communications Act 2003”.

Repeal of previous regulatory regime

  4        Sections 6 to 12 of the 1990 Act (which contain the mechanism for regulation

40

in relation to licences under Part 1 of that Act) shall cease to have effect.

Prohibition on providing television services without a licence

  5       (1)      Section 13 of the 1990 Act (prohibition on providing television services

without a licence) shall be amended as follows.

 

 

Communications Bill
Schedule 15 — Amendments of Broadcasting Acts
Part 1 — Amendments of the 1990 Act

    432

 

          (2)      In subsection (1) (offence of providing such service without a licence), for

“service falling within section 2(1)(a), (aa), (b), (c), (cc) or (d)” there shall be

substituted “relevant regulated television service”.

          (3)      After that subsection there shall be inserted—

              “(1A)                In subsection (1) ‘relevant regulated television service’ means a

5

service falling, in pursuance of section 206(1) of the Communications

Act 2003, to be regulated by OFCOM, other than a television

multiplex service.”

          (4)      In subsection (2) (exemption orders made after consulting the ITC), for “the

Commission” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

10

Television broadcasting on Channel 3

  6        In section 14 of the 1990 Act (establishment of Channel 3), for “The

Commission” and “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be

substituted “OFCOM”.

Applications for Channel 3 licences

15

  7       (1)      Section 15 of the 1990 Act (applications for Channel 3 licences) shall be

amended as follows.

          (2)      For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there

shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

          (3)      In subsection (2), for “specified in section 16(2) or (3) (as the case may be)”

20

there shall be substituted “that have to be imposed under Chapter 4 of Part

3 of the Communications Act 2003 by conditions relating to—

                    (a)                      the public service remit for that service,

                    (b)                      programming quotas,

                    (c)                      news and current affairs programmes, and

25

                    (d)                      programme production and regional programming.”

          (4)      In subsection (3)—

              (a)             in paragraph (b), for “specified in section 16(2) or (3) (as the case may

be)” there shall be substituted “that have to be imposed under

Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003 by conditions

30

relating to—

                                 (i)                                   the public service remit for that service,

                                 (ii)                                   programming quotas,

                                 (iii)                                   news and current affairs programmes, and

                                 (iv)                                   programme production and regional

35

programming”;

              (b)             paragraphs (c) to (e) shall be omitted.

          (5)      After subsection (3) there shall be inserted—

              “(3A)                For the purposes of subsection (1)(d)(ii)—

                    (a)                   different percentages may be specified for different

40

accounting periods; and

                    (b)                   the percentages that may be specified for an accounting

period include a nil percentage.”

 

 

Communications Bill
Schedule 15 — Amendments of Broadcasting Acts
Part 1 — Amendments of the 1990 Act

    433

 

          (6)      In subsection (4), for “paragraphs (b) to (e)” there shall be substituted

“paragraphs (b)”.

Procedure on consideration of applications for Channel 3 licences

  8       (1)      Section 16 of the 1990 Act (consideration of applications for Channel 3

licences) shall be amended as follows.

5

          (2)      For “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted

“OFCOM”.

          (3)      In subsection (1), for “specified in subsection (2) or (3) below (as the case may

be)” there shall be substituted “that have to be imposed under Chapter 4 of

Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003 by conditions relating to—

10

                           (i)                             the public service remit for that service,

                           (ii)                             programming quotas,

                           (iii)                             news and current affairs programmes, and

                           (iv)                             programme production and regional programming”.

          (4)      Subsections (2) and (3) of that section shall cease to have effect.

15

          (5)      In subsection (4) of that section—

              (a)             for “specified in subsection (2) or (3) (as the case may be),” there shall

be substituted “that have to be imposed under Chapter 4 of Part 3 of

the Communications Act 2003 by conditions relating to—

                           (a)                             the public service remit for that service,

20

                           (b)                             programming quotas,

                           (c)                             news and current affairs programmes, and

                           (d)                             programme production and regional programming,”;

              (b)             the words from “and in applying” onwards shall be omitted.

          (6)      Subsections (5) to (8) shall cease to have effect.

25

Television broadcasting on Channel 3

  9       (1)      Section 17 of the 1990 Act (award of licences to person submitting highest

bid) shall be amended as follows.

          (2)      For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there

shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

30

          (3)      In subsection (12)(b), for “specified in section 16(2) or (3) (as the case may

be)” there shall be substituted “that have to be imposed under Chapter 4 of

Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003 by conditions relating to—

                           (i)                             the public service remit for that service,

                           (ii)                             programming quotas,

35

                           (iii)                             news and current affairs programmes, and

                           (iv)                             programme production and regional programming”.

Financial conditions of licence and failures to begin a service

  10       In sections 17A to 19 of the 1990 Act (financial conditions in Channel 3

licences and failures to begin a service), for “The Commission” and “the

40

Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

 

 

Communications Bill
Schedule 15 — Amendments of Broadcasting Acts
Part 1 — Amendments of the 1990 Act

    434

 

Changes of control in period after award of licence

  11       In section 21 of the 1990 Act (changes of control in period immediately after

award of licence), for “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever

occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

Temporary provision of Channel 3 service for an additional area

5

  12       In section 22 of the 1990 Act (temporary provision of regional Channel 3

Service for additional area), for “the Commission”, wherever occurring,

there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

Appointment of members of C4 Corporation

  13       In section 23 of the 1990 Act (appointment of C4C members), for “the

10

Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

Channel 4 licence

  14       In section 24(3) of the 1990 Act (Channel 4 licence), for “the Commission”

there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

Channel 5

15

  15       In section 28 of the 1990 Act (Channel 5), for “The Commission” and “the

Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

Application to Channel 5 of Channel 3 provisions

  16      (1)      In section 29 of the 1990 Act (application to Channel 5 of Channel 3

provisions)—

20

              (a)             subsection (2)(b) and the word “and” immediately preceding it, and

              (b)             subsection (3),

                   shall cease to have effect.

          (2)      In subsection (2)(a) of that section, for “the Commission” there shall be

substituted “OFCOM”.

25

Nomination of bodies to be eligible for appointment as news providers

  17      (1)      Section 32 of the 1990 Act (nomination of bodies to provide news for regional

Channel 3 services) shall be amended as follows.

          (2)      For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there

shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

30

          (3)      In subsection (1) for “section 31(2)” there shall be substituted “section 273 of

the Communications Act 2003”.

          (4)      In subsection (3) for the words from “and” onwards there shall be

substituted “; but a person whose nomination expires at the end of such a

period shall be eligible to be nominated for a further period.”

35

          (5)      In subsection (13)—

              (a)             in paragraph (b), for “section 31(2)” there shall be substituted

“section 273 of the Communications Act 2003”; and

 

 

Communications Bill
Schedule 15 — Amendments of Broadcasting Acts
Part 1 — Amendments of the 1990 Act

    435

 

              (b)             in paragraph (c), for the words from “section 31(2)” onwards there

shall be substituted “section 273 of the Communications Act 2003

under the arrangements referred to in that section.”.

Announcement of programme Schedules

  18       In section 37(1) of the 1990 Act (conditions requiring announcement of

5

programme Schedules), for “the Commission” there shall be substituted

“OFCOM”.

Enforcement of conditions of Channel 3, Channel 4 and Channel 5 licences

  19      (1)      In sections 40 to 42 of the 1990 Act (enforcement of licences), for “the

Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be

10

substituted “OFCOM”.

          (2)      In sections 41(1) and 42(1)(a) of that Act (which contain provisions relating

to the enforcement of directions under Part 1 of that Act), after “this Part”, in

each place, there shall be inserted “, Part 5 of the Broadcasting Act 1996 or

Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003”.

15

Restricted services

  20       In section 42B(1) of the 1990 Act (licensing of restricted services), for “the

Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.

Additional television services

  21      (1)      Section 48 of the 1990 Act (additional services) shall be further amended as

20

follows.

          (2)      In subsection (1)—

              (a)             for “telecommunication” there shall be substituted “electronic”; and

              (b)             for paragraphs (a) and (b) there shall be substituted “on a relevant

frequency”.

25

          (3)      In subsection (2), for paragraphs (a) and (b) there shall be substituted “any

part of the signals which—

              (a)             is not required for the purposes of the television broadcasting service

for the purposes of which the frequency has been made available;

and

30

              (b)             is determined by OFCOM to be available for the provision of

additional services;”.

          (4)      After that subsection there shall be inserted—

              “(2A)                For the purposes of this Part, if they consider it appropriate to do so,

OFCOM may, while an additional services licence is in force, from

35

time to time modify the determination made under subsection (2)(b)

for the purposes of that licence in any manner that does not reduce

the amount of spare capacity made available for the licensed

services; and when so modified any such licence shall have effect

accordingly.”

40

          (5)      In subsection (3)—

              (a)             for “The Commission” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”; and

 

 

 
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