Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Fifth Report


2  NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY IN THE UK TODAY

How do consumers benefit?

6. The last two to three years, in particular, have witnessed a pace of change in communications technology which has been extraordinary. Much of that change has been directly relevant to people's daily lives and their typical leisure activities: watching television and film, reading a newspaper, listening to music or playing interactive games. The Internet has become a new focus for entertainment, having moved beyond being purely a vehicle for access to information to become a media platform in its own right, hosting live broadcasts of television services, Video on Demand, catch-up services for linear[4] TV and radio channels, websites offering creative material (film, visual art and music),[5] interactive gaming and "user-generated content" such as home-produced videos, audio and written material.

7. Consumers have more flexibility than ever before as to how, when and where they consume creative content: this message was re-iterated throughout evidence to the inquiry. PACT's written submission illustrated the point well:

    "The public now has unprecedented levels of choice not only in the variety of content available but in how it accesses that content. People can choose from pay-TV and free-to-air packages on satellite, cable, digital terrestrial or broadband. They can watch films and sports on a pay-per-view or on-demand basis, and pause and rewind live television using PVR technology. With the advent of content distribution via portable devices, audiences need not even go near a television. And those 'audiences' are becoming creators, with 'user-generated' content democratising the media, as illustrated so dramatically by the mobile phone clips that bore witness to London's July bombings."

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising described a "seismic shift" in the relationship between consumers and the media, with consumers now dictating how they used it.[6] DCMS noted that consumers sought choice, flexibility and protection, adding that consumers expected products and services to work together seamlessly.[7]

8. The choice available to consumers has increased dramatically in just a few years. The move from analogue platforms has allowed the number of terrestrial channels to rise from just five to dozens while digital cable and satellite channels offer hundreds more.[8] The online world will offer a virtually limitless number. The Internet is altering the economics of retailing by making it viable to offer a far greater range of product even if there may only be a tiny demand. This is already benefiting authors, musicians and other creators through increased sales. The UK Film Council predicted that this "long tail" effect could also be particularly valuable for the British film industry as consumers take advantage of the opportunity to choose from a far wider range of titles online.[9]

The contribution of the creative industries to the UK economy

9. The creative industries do more than inform and entertain the general public: they are a major part of the UK economy, generating 7.8% of Gross Value Added in 2003[10] and possibly 10% of the economy in the near future.[11] The extent of employment in the creative industries is not entirely clear. Ofcom told us that the creative industries supported almost two million jobs, including 130,000 in the music industry and 85,000 in broadcast TV and radio.[12] Recent research conducted by Frontier Economics for DCMS (and using a different methodology) suggests, however, a total of 1.15 million people employed in the creative industries in 2004, including 73,000 in the music sector, another 73,000 in the television and radio sector, 331,000 in software and computer services, 185,000 in design and 168,000 in publishing.[13] The Minister for Creative Industries and Tourism described the creative industries as "an enormous engine of growth" which had grown in the last five years at about twice the rate of the rest of the economy.[14] The Alliance Against IP Theft described the creative industries as "innovative and dynamic" and "a hugely successful sector of which the country can be proud";[15] and Phonographic Performance Ltd. (PPL UK), a collecting society licensed on behalf of performers and record companies, identified the creative industries and the financial sectors as "the key to prosperity in modern economies".[16] The music industry alone accounts for a large slice of that prosperity, being the third largest market in the world for music sales (behind the US and Japan) and the second greatest source of music repertoire globally—again, behind the US.[17] UK investment in television content has been estimated to be greater per head than that of any other country, at $75 per person.[18]

10. The UK has the world's third largest computer and video games market by value (after the US and Japan), recording sales in excess of £2.3 billion every year;[19] one study suggested that 21.6 million people aged between 6 and 65 in the UK played such games every week.[20] Mr Ian Livingstone, Product Acquisition Director at Eidos Interactive UK, a major games firm, told us that interactive games are "important economically and culturally as much as music, films and television".[21]

11. The UK also has the largest concentration of picture libraries in the world,[22] offering tremendous potential for creative industries through the supply of images worldwide.

12. Early in the inquiry, we were told by Mr Anthony Lilley, Chief Executive of Magic Lantern Productions, that there were "whole sectors" within the creative industries which were "growing incredibly quickly" but which were not dependent on television, radio or music: they were native to the new media technological environment. Mr Lilley observed that more people are involved in web production in the UK than in television production in the UK "by a very large number".[23]

13. In June 2005, the then Minister for the Creative Industries at DCMS, prompted perhaps by the evidence gathering on the value of the creative industries to the economy, announced his intention that the UK should become the world's creative hub for the creative industries.[24] The Government has since established a Creative Economy Programme and plans to publish a Green Paper on the creative industries later this year.[25] We consider the Government's role in supporting the creative industries in section 7 of this report.

14. Witnesses were unanimous that the pace of technological change had enormous implications for the creative industries and for their consumers.[26] In many cases these were very positive:

  • the Creators Rights Alliance told us that the new technology had introduced potential new revenue streams to the economy, which were to be shared by all organisations involved;[27]
  • Equity said that technical development presented an opportunity for creative industries to improve the accessibility and availability of creative work across platforms;[28]
  • the UK Film Council told us that "the development of the new media is transforming the landscape of the creative industries and film in particular" and it identified the speed of scale and change in the film world as being greater than at any previous point in the history of film";[29] and
  • Ingenious Media, a major investor in the sector, concluded that Britain, as a home for production companies with strong creative abilities, was well placed to take advantage of these opportunities.[30]

Communications technology and the media: where the UK stands

15. The UK is well placed to take advantage of advances in communications technology:

  • By the end of March 2006, 60% of UK households claimed to have an Internet connection, compared to 45% at the end of 2001;[31]
  • Internet penetration continues to intensify, reaching 88% of 15 to 24 year olds and 67% of over 45 year olds;[32]
  • The UK compares well to other large EU Member States in terms of broadband penetration, estimated by Eurostat in April 2006 to have reached 32% of households, below only Benelux and Scandinavian countries;[33]
  • The Office for National Statistics, meanwhile, estimates that 40% of UK households had broadband Internet access between January and April 2006;[34] and
  • DCMS cited analysts' estimates that, by 2010, 90% of Internet-connected households would have a broadband connection, representing 60% of all households.[35]

16. Consumers, particularly young people, have adopted new products and services with enthusiasm:

  • Claire Enders, Chief Executive of Enders Analysis, told us that the UK had the highest penetration of DVD players, MP3 players, digital terrestrial television and satellite television;[36]
  • In January 2006, the then Minister for the Creative Industries claimed that no other country had the same combination of high uptake of mobiles, broadband and digital TV and radio;[37]
  • of media consumption worldwide is now in front of a computer screen;[38]
  • We were told that the UK had the biggest legitimate download market for music in Europe;[39] and
  • There were 53 million legal downloads of single tracks in the UK in 2006, double 2005 levels,[40] and it has been forecast that as much as 25% of the global music market will be represented by digital music sales within the next few years.[41]

17. The rapid expansion of broadband availability and increases in broadband speeds are key drivers for the growth of new media services[42] and are themselves partly driven by demand for faster download speeds allowing the distribution of "rich" content such as video, film and television.[43] DCMS observed that "each time the networks press the broadband accelerator pedal, the content community responds with content ideas, which in turn encourages broadband adoption".[44] Other drivers include price reductions in high-speed broadband connectivity, improved functionality, increased interconnectivity between devices in the home, digitisation of content, growth of computer processing power, the development of the PC as a media platform and, perhaps most importantly, greater storage capacity.[45] Personal Video Recorders routinely allow 100 hours or more of television programming to be stored and replayed on demand.[46] In the case of iPods, storage capacity has increased by a factor of 12 within three years; and Google suggested that in five years it might be possible to store all the music ever created on a single iPod.[47]

18. A further stimulus is provided by the Government's plans to cease analogue television transmission region by region, starting in 2008 and finishing in 2012, releasing spectrum and opening the door to an even greater choice of applications.

19. The communications and media industries have been quick to respond to technological change by developing new products and services. Some are well-established among consumers: satellite and cable TV services have been available as alternatives to terrestrial broadcasting for many years; and interactivity between broadcast media and consumers, including participation and feedback, is now commonplace. The availability of music as digital files for download has stimulated the development of the MP3 player (such as the iPod, which has itself developed video-enabled models). Mobile phones have travelled from being single-purpose instruments owned by less than 10% of the UK population some 10 years ago to multi-function devices complementing voice telephony with text messaging functions and video capability. Mobile phone penetration has now reached the stage where handsets are almost ubiquitous.[48]

20. The trend towards multi-purpose devices seems likely to continue. As the Entertainment and Leisure Software Providers Association (a representative body for the interactive games sector) observed, the home computer itself can serve as a single control point for an entire household's audio-visual and information requirements. Many new games consoles are Internet-enabled devices, often portable, which also play video and music from both broadcast and recorded sources.[49] The Mobile Broadband Group noted that consumers were increasingly using portable entertainment devices such as mobile phones, iPods, portable Playstations and digital radios, to consume content. The main obstacles to all these being combined into one, it suggested, were memory and battery life; and it predicted that both blockages would be overcome.[50]

New media services and genres: a survey

21. A range of new services and genres is now emerging, taking up the opportunities offered by technological change. The short survey which follows offers a snapshot of what was new to the market in early 2007, when this report was prepared.

On demand and "time-shifting" services

22. Domestic television viewing practices are beginning to move away from the standard format, in which viewers watch linear services at the time of transmission. By March 2006, there were over 1.4 million subscribers to BSkyB's Sky+ personal video recorder (PVR) service, which uses a hard disk drive to store digital TV programmes and replay them with no reduction in picture quality. PVR facilties are also offered for broadcasts by BT, Telewest (now Virgin Media) and the Freeview consortium.[51] ITV cited forecasts that there could be 10 million homes in the UK with PVRs by 2014.[52]

23. All the major UK broadcasters have launched or are planning to launch on-demand services. Besides the BBC proposals which are described below, Channel 4 has launched a video­on­demand product using cable technology (in late 2006) and via broadband (in March 2007). The broadband service allows users to catch up on content up to 28 days after transmission and to access archive material from the past two decades. ITV plans to launch an on­demand broadband service in spring 2007.

24. In December 2006, BT launched BT Vision, offering a range of on-demand and interactive services via a BT broadband line,[53] complemented by access to Freeview channels received via a standard aerial. BT stressed the interactive potential offered by the broadband line, which permits flows of data both to and from the user. BT suggested that TV-based interactivity could help bridge the "digital divide", providing information services to people who do not have a PC at home.[54] It hinted that its network could have the capacity in future to offer not just single services on-demand but streaming of a range of channels.[55]

25. Digital files of music and film content are already widely available on demand. The UK Film Council noted the convenience for consumers of downloading a file rather than renting a DVD, and it saw the potential for on-demand download transactions to generate very substantial revenues for the film industry.[56] The growth in the number of online music sales outlets has enabled consumers to become more selective about the music they listen to (and where they obtain it). The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) acknowledged that there was a move towards a track-based culture and a "sampleable" framework for music listening, which gives buyers more opportunity to buy selected tracks from a compilation rather than obliging them to buy a complete album.[57] The Musicians' Union made the same point and warned that the music industry would need to adapt to this extension of consumer choice.[58]

26. While PVRs have allowed consumers to "time-shift" their viewing, other technologies have emerged which enable them to "place-shift". For example, the Slingbox allows viewers to redirect the television signal from their home to their desktop or laptop, regardless of where the computer is located. This means, for example, that viewers can access domestic services from their home country while they are overseas, as long as they have a broadband connection. There is already heated debate about the complex rights issues which are raised, as it becomes possible for viewers to gain access to content which is available in their home country but which has not been released in the destination country.

Television on mobile handsets

27. Since October 2006, BT, in partnership with Virgin Mobile, has offered a service "Movio"—broadcasting digital TV and radio to mobile phone handsets in the UK. The service uses spectrum allocated to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) services[59] and offers a range of content including BBC One, ITV1, Channel 4, E4, ITN News and DAB radio. BT trials ahead of the launch of the Movio service found the TV and radio service to be either "appealing" or "very appealing" and that consumers watched on average 66 minutes of television on their mobiles each week. The principal constraint was signal strength and reception quality.[60] Evidence from these trials needs to be placed against consumer surveys which report that only 17% of the wider public are keen on taking up mobile TV;[61] and questions remain, as ITV pointed out, about the viability of television services delivered by mobile telephony as a mass market model.[62]

28. BT is not the only provider of televisual content to mobile handsets in the UK. Witnesses from the Mobile Broadband Group outlined services offering streamed live content (as opposed to video clips on demand) available to mobile handsets using 3G technology based upon cellular networks. The nature of 3G technology can place a strain on network capacity if there are large numbers of simultaneous connections.[63] We asked therefore whether the quality of the picture would degrade when the number of users reached a certain level. The Mobile Broadband Group assured us that technological enhancements using HSDPA technology[64] were being developed which would provide the necessary capacity.[65]

29. Other technologies capable of transmitting television services to mobiles are being developed. In Korea, we were shown services using Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) technology; Italy is pioneering the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting (Handheld)) standard which, it was suggested by BT, could be a future technology for the UK if spectrum is made available.[66] Arqiva and O2 have already conducted a trial of broadcast mobile TV using DVB­H technology in late 2005, which reported positive results. Sky has also conducted a trial using MediaFlo technology. It is not clear at this stage the extent to which the market will support a number of competing technologies.

30. Mobile handsets, while not an obvious choice for prolonged viewing of television content such as film[67] or drama,[68] are nonetheless suited to short clips from full­length shows, comedy sketches or sports highlights. Producers of television programming are therefore responding with specially assembled packages—"mobisodes"[69]—on which consumers can "snack"[70] while on the move or in short leisure breaks. The Mobile Broadband Group forecast that mobile content would become more sophisticated once battery life for handsets had lengthened.[71]

BBC new media services

31. In Building Public Value, the BBC's policy paper published in June 2004, the BBC set out its vision for expansion of its digital services, recognising its key role in enabling digital switchover and outlining a set of new digital services. It stated that "over the next decade, the BBC will invest in digital infrastructure, content, services and promotion to help bring the benefits of the new digital technologies to everyone".[72] As the Charter Review process proceeded, the BBC refined and trialled its proposals, and Government confirmed its intention that the BBC should have the scope, under the future Charter and Agreement, to develop its role as a "trusted guide" to new technology in broadcasting.[73]

32. In April 2006, the Director-General of the BBC announced "a new editorial blueprint designed to deliver more value to audiences over the next six years and turn the BBC's public purposes laid out in the recent White Paper into quality content for the on-demand world". Known as Creative Future, the BBC's blueprint includes plans to relaunch the BBC website, deliver a new teen brand via broadband, TV and radio services, and "learn from the world of video games and experiment with commissioning for new platforms".[74] It remains to be seen what impact, if any, the settlement of a licence fee at a level lower than that sought by the BBC will have on its online plans.

33. Some of the BBC's proposed new services have now undergone trials. The BBC has for some time offered podcasts of its radio output, allowing consumers to download excerpts from recent broadcasts. There were 4.8 million downloads of BBC radio programmes in September 2006.[75] Television content has also been made available on demand for a seven-day window on a trial basis to 5,000 households. The two proposals have now been rolled together to form a package—the BBC i-Player—which has recently undergone a Public Value Test and has been approved by the BBC Trust, subject to modifications.

34. A proposal for a Creative Archive was announced in 2003 by the then Director-General, Greg Dyke, in a speech at the Edinburgh Television Festival. The aim of the Archive is "to create a substantial—but selected—national archive of audio-visual material in the public domain that is available for users to download, manipulate and reuse for their own ends".[76] A one-year pilot has been held in which members of the Creative Archive Licence Group[77] have made material available under a licence which sets out restrictions, including requirements that anything created from Creative Archive content must credit those who have contributed to it and that downloaded material cannot be used for commercial purposes. The pilot closed in September 2006 and the project is expected to be submitted to the BBC Trust in order to undergo a Public Value Test.

35. The BBC described the Archive as providing "creative fuel for the nation",[78] and it was praised by many. The British Screen Advisory Council (a cross-sector body seeking to enhance the prosperity and effectiveness of the screen industries in the UK) said that it very much welcomed the Creative Archive as "a natural and logical way of the BBC making its programme archive materials either more easily available or, in many cases, available for the first time to the public"; and it described the venture as "brave".[79] Others described the Creative Archive as "a grand and generous vision"[80] and as "an innovative way of giving back the content which has effectively been paid for by public funds".[81] The National Consumer Council also commended the initiative, although it regretted that the range of material available was limited and "fragmented", as it depended upon rights holders' exercise of their rights.[82] However, others expressed serious reservations about the project, because of the message it might convey on copyright and the potential for harmful effects on commercial undertakings. We examine these arguments at paragraphs 155 and 187 respectively.

36. The BBC has also trialled a local TV service, which used satellite and broadband technologies to deliver local news content to viewers in the West Midlands between December 2005 and August 2006. This too has attracted controversy, with concerns being expressed by the newspaper industry. The Director-General of the BBC recently acknowledged that the local TV trial had raised some "quite big questions", adding that there was no certainty that the trial would be carried forward in the light of the "tight" licence fee settlement.[83]

37. The BBC possesses a vast archive which has until now been difficult or impossible for the public to access. Mr Ashley Highfield (Director of New Media and Technology at the BBC) told us that 99.9% of all of the BBC's archive content was "stuck on shelves gently vinegaring away" and that the BBC was looking at how to make it available.[84] Since then, the BBC has announced a "limited consumer trial", expected to last for up to six months, in which 20,000 triallists would have free access to 1,000 hours of archive content drawn from a mix of genres. Ultimately, the BBC proposes to make large parts of its television and radio archive available on demand to licence fee payers.[85]

User-generated content

38. The genre in which recent growth has been especially striking is user-generated content on the Internet. The last two years have witnessed an explosion in the amount of audio, video and written material posted on websites such as YouTube, MySpace, and Flickr. Google told us that there are 65,000 videos uploaded to YouTube every day and a blog is created every second.[86] Tools of the trade are relatively inexpensive, typically a webcam or a mobile phone; and content may be uploaded and downloaded using either PCs and their equivalents or mobile phones. The nature of the content varies widely from short home-produced films to mobile phone video coverage of dramatic events.[87] Channel 4 identified the emergence of a new generation of non-professional creators, expressing themselves increasingly through their own websites, blogs, podcasts, games and digital art; and it believed that some of these creators would become "key players in the UK's creative industries in the coming years".[88] Channel 4's FourDocs project enables people to upload their own documentaries for assessment by Channel 4 commissioning editors, while also providing advice to documentary makers.[89]

39. The UK Film Council welcomed the development of user-generated content as "an entirely welcome democratisation of the media", important in its ability "to stimulate the development of better informed citizens and a more media-literate society".[90] For Google (which had just announced an intention to purchase YouTube at the time of giving oral evidence), the "huge revolution" symbolised by the rapid emergence of user-generated content showed that users were "finding a way to express themselves" and were wanting to "participate in the creative process of media".[91]

40. User-generated content commonly re-uses creative material from other sources (typically music or visual art and design). Such practices have led to disputes over rights, an issue which we note in more detail at paragraph 170. The BBC's Creative Archive pilot was designed to enable re-use of material to create derivative works; but the extent to which it enhances creativity is debatable. Phonographic Performance Ltd. (PPL) suggested that the BBC was muddled about what the Creative Archive was trying to achieve, confusing the value of releasing archive material with enabling true creativity. The Creators' Rights Alliance went further, stating that copying, cutting and pasting digital content electronically was neither original nor creative and could not be a substitute for self-expression.[92] This sentiment was echoed by others, who spoke of the Creative Archive as encouraging "regurgitation of others' work"[93] and who questioned the value of a "cut and paste generation".[94] A more positive view was taken by the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), which licenses works by creators in the visual arts: DACS acknowledged that there could be strong elements of creativity and even artistry in the re-use of existing works.[95] Mr Ahlert, a supporter of the Creative Commons concept, [96] said that copying was how one learnt and that "over time your creativity and originality increases because you are assembling the world and aggregating it".[97]

Other new services and genres

41. Five million homes across the world use data protocols similar to those that support the Internet to watch digital television via broadband (hence the term "Internet protocol television" or IPTV). To receive IPTV services, a television is connected to a telephone point via a decoder box. Availability of the service in the UK has been restricted to London and Stevenage, and take-up has been limited; but major growth has been forecast for the future.[98]

42. Viewers in the UK have had access to High Definition Television (HDTV) services from ntl:Telewest (now Virgin Media) since March 2006 and from Sky since May 2006. HDTV offers higher picture quality than standard definition television, and the UK Film Council observed that HDTV was of particular benefit to film, which has high production values.[99] During the lifetime of this inquiry, public service broadcasters have conducted a trial of HDTV services over digital terrestrial television (DTT).[100] A senior analyst at Screen Digest has suggested that there will be more than 51 million "HD-ready" households in Europe by 2010, 11 million of which would be in the UK.[101] HDTV broadcasts require significantly more spectrum than do standard definition television broadcasts, and the level of take-up in the UK may depend on whether extra spectrum is made available to allow it to be broadcast as part of the DTT offering.

43. Interactive computer and video games are not new; but the adoption of broadband by ever more households (and the increase in speeds) has expanded the market for downloading games which are rich in graphics and features. In Korea, we watched a demonstration of a "massively multi-player online role­playing game" (MMORPG), a form of interactive video game dependent on fast broadband speeds. A player assumes the role of a particular character—based on fantasy or possibly drawing on mythology—and pursues a quest, interacting with other players or competing against them. MMORPGs have attracted an avid following in Korea, and Mr Ian Livingstone—the Product Acquisition Director at Eidos Interactive UK, with a lifetime of experience in the industry, developing and marketing interactive games—forecast that they would also take root in the UK.[102] Ofcom also predicted that the experience of video console games could become more like that of films in a theatrical setting.[103] DCMS told us that the Government was becoming increasingly aware of the potential use of games technology in non-entertainment applications, for instance in simulation training.[104]

44. Newspaper publishers have developed an online presence, not just among national titles but also in the regional press. Johnston Press, the second largest regional newspaper group in the UK, announced plans in 2006 to convert 70 newsrooms to allow journalists to file video reports for streaming on newspaper websites.[105]

Future for "traditional" media

45. The advent of new technology and platforms for delivering creative content does not necessarily mean that traditional forms of delivery will cease. Mr Lilley, Chief Executive of Magic Lantern Productions, warned against any assumption that any one medium was "setting out to kill another one", saying that "media do not die, they just get better at what they were good at" and that "cinema becomes better at being cinema".[106] Neither DVD nor videocassettes destroyed the cinema, as was predicted at the time: in fact it was suggested to us that DVDs had helped people to rediscover the cinema.[107] The British Screen Advisory Council suggested that cinema could develop further, as an up-market theatre-style venue with a specialised clientele.[108] Similarly, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) predicted that newspapers, in their traditional format, would continue to be read in the future. An IPA witness saw "no reason at all" why a strong regional newspaper should not survive the development of online news services, although he acknowledged that regional titles' dependence on classified advertising had led them to suffer from the growth of online advertising.[109] The solution advocated by the IPA was to adapt and to operate on a cross-platform basis.

46. It is more difficult to predict with confidence the future for linear television (the broadcasting of television programming according to a schedule). Alex Graham, a witness appearing for PACT, suspected that "good old-fashioned linear television" would remain for the foreseeable future.[110] The Satellite and Cable Broadcasters' Group (SCBG) agreed and forecast that the big players "will certainly be there for some time to come", although it believed that television channels would disappear "ultimately". The Group predicted that 'niche' satellite and cable channels would start to be replaced by video-on-demand or IPTV services, neither of which were dependent on spectrum.[111] We note with interest the Group's observation that satellite and cable broadcasters, seen not so long ago as "new media", now found themselves classed along with traditional media platforms.[112]

47. The days of hard carrier formats such as CDs and DVDs may well also be numbered. Witnesses forecast their decline or disappearance as broadband delivery took over.[113] This does indeed seem likely, once high broadband speeds become widely available and affordable and once the hardware needed to access and play content meets the criteria of cost and user-friendliness which allow it to gain universal (or near-universal) penetration.


4   Broadcast according to a schedule Back

5   The Internet is the "primary marketplace" for the supply of images by members of the British Association of Picture Libraries. Ev 339 Back

6   Q 412 Back

7   Ev 298 Back

8   Ev 164 Back

9   Q 589 Back

10   Ev 296 Back

11   Budget Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, HC Deb, 22 March 2006, col.291 Back

12   Ofcom Ev 187 Back

13   Comparative analysis of the UK's creative industries, Frontier Economics, August 2006. Figures are mostly based upon Annual Business Inquiry data and are indicative only Back

14   Q 625 Back

15   Ev 44 Back

16   Ev 56 Back

17   Ev 56-7 Back

18   UK Television Content in the Digital Age, Oliver & Ohlbaum, October 2003 Back

19   Ev 216 Back

20   Ev 216 Back

21   Q 485 Back

22   British Association of Picture Libraries Ev 339 Back

23   Q 39 Back

24   Speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research: http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Minister_Speeches/Ministers_Speech_Archive/James_Purnell/James_Purnell_Speech01.htm Back

25   HC Deb, 26 January 2007, col 2056w Back

26   See for instance Alliance Against IP Theft Ev 44, British Music Rights Ev 32, DCMS Ev 287, National Consumer Council Ev 20 Back

27   Ev 51 Back

28   Ev 366 Back

29   Ev 260 Back

30   Ev 225 Back

31   Ofcom Consumer Engagement with Digital Communications Services Report 2006. Back

32   Q 412 Back

33   Eurostat News Release 45/2006 Back

34   See http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/inta0806.pdf Back

35   Ev 287-8 Back

36   Q 39 Back

37   Ev 147: speech by James Purnell MP to Foreign Policy Centre, 26 January 2006. Back

38   IPA Bellwether Report for 2006 Second Quarter: see www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/news/2160771/web-marketers-better-insight Back

39   Ms Enders Q 39 Back

40   Figures from Official Charter Company data: see IFPI Digital Music Report 2007 Back

41   British Music Rights Ev 32 Back

42   BT data from January 2006 shows that 99.9% of premises in the UK are connected to DSL-enabled exchanges Back

43   Q 166. "Rich" in this context means data-intensive Back

44   Ev 297 Back

45   The BBC told us that the cost of data storage had halved each year : Ev 135. MPEG4 technology allows significant reductions in file sizes required to store high quality video content Back

46   BBC Ev 135 Back

47   Q 519 Back

48   DCMS Ev 287 Back

49   Ev 216 Back

50   Ev 87 Back

51   Ofcom Communications Market 2006, page 25 Back

52   Ev 382 Back

53   On-demand: films, a range of TV programming, music videos and the previous seven days of broadcast programming (subject to rights availability); interactive services include video telephony, games, information and educational services. See Ev 99  Back

54   Ev 99 Back

55   QQ 215-6 Back

56   Q 589 Back

57   Q 125 Back

58   Ev 403 Back

59   Ev 100 Back

60   QQ 200-1 Back

61   Olswang Convergence Consumer Survey 2005: www.olswang.com/convergence/default.asp Back

62   Ev 383 Back

63   Ev 87 Back

64   High Speed Downlink Packet Access Back

65   Q 162 Back

66   See for instance Ms Lloyd QQ 202 and 206 Back

67   The UK Film Council nonetheless remarked upon consumers' loyalty to film and their willingness to absorb it wherever they can: Q 601 Back

68   See BBC Ev 135 Back

69   See Ofcom Ev 188 Back

70   This was the term used by Hutchison 3G: Ev 83 Back

71   Ev 87 Back

72   Building Public Value, page 61 Back

73   A Public Service for all: the BBC in the digital age, Cm 6763, March 2006, para 3.1.15 Back

74   BBC press release 25 April 2006 Back

75   BBC press release 6 November 2006 Back

76   Ev 138 Back

77   Group membership included the BBC, Channel 4, Teachers TV, the British Film Institute, the Media Trust (for the Community Channel) and the Open University. In March 2006, nearly 200 hours of material were available for downloading Back

78   Ev 138 Back

79   Q 37 Back

80   British Association of Picture Libraries, Ev 342 Back

81   Bridgeman Art Library Ev 338 Back

82   Ev 23 Back

83   Oral evidence from the BBC to the Committee's inquiry into Public Service Media Content on 24 April 2007, Q349, available on the Committee's web pages on www.parliament.uk and expected to be published in due course as HC 316-II, Session 2006-07 Back

84   Q 315 Back

85   BBC news release 15 December 2006 Back

86   Q 526 Back

87   See Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Q 420 Back

88   Ev 169.  Back

89   See Ev 371 Back

90   Ev 262 Back

91   Q 538 Back

92   Ev 52 Back

93   British Photographers Liaison Committee Ev 352 Back

94   Authors' Licensing and Collective Society Ev 327 Back

95   Ev 53 Back

96   A form of licensing regime offering greater freedom to re-use material: see paragraph 57 Back

97   Q 68 Back

98   IPTV: A Global Analysis, Informa Telecoms and Media, October 2006 Back

99   Q 602 Back

100   Digital signals received through an aerial Back

101   See PACT magazine, May 2006 Back

102   Q 488 Back

103   Ev 187 Back

104   Ev 295 Back

105   Guardian 28 June 2006 Back

106   Q 39 Back

107   Q 365 Back

108   Q 8 Back

109   Q 421 Back

110   Q 364 Back

111   Q 279 Back

112   Q 280 Back

113   Decline of DVD, BSAC Q 15; disappearance of CD and DVD, Ingenious Media, Ev 226 Back


 
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