Appendix 1: Letter from the Chief Executive
of Ofcom to the Chairman of the Committee
It is, I know, customary to provide a response within
two months to reports from Select Committees. I hope you will
appreciate why, in this instance, I am sending this brief interim
note in response to your Committee's thought-provoking report
on Public Service Content. The report expressed the hope that
it "will help inform both Ofcom and the Government's policy
processes". We are grateful to the Committee and can assure
you that the report will help inform the next phase of our work.
We have, as you know, brought forward our second
statutory review of Public Service Broadcasting, reflecting in
no small part the pace of change referred to in the report. We
propose to publish the first phase of the Review, seeking views
on our analysis of prospects for the future, in the spring.
The Committee makes a number of specific recommendations
that Ofcom is examining closely as part of this review process,
and for which we have commissioned, or will be commissioning,
specific research. Specifically, we have a programme underway
to assess the necessary levels of plurality (paragraph 42), as
well as an assessment of future provision of children's content
(paragraph 86), regional material (paragraph 107) and other public
service genres (paragraph 141), and whether there will be a need
for further public service intervention in those areas.
When the findings of this research become available
we would be happy to offer the Committee a briefing on the conclusions
if you would find that useful.
Radio will not specifically form part of the PSB
Review (since the Communications Act requirements focus on public
service television broadcasting). But since the publication of
your Committee's report, Ofcom has published a policy statement
and further consultation setting out our plans for relaxing the
regulation of analogue commercial radio, to enable stations better
to deliver the range and diversity of services that listeners
demand. We also made recommendations to Government for relaxing
the radio ownership rules to allow for further consolidation while
protecting plurality, and we intend to play an active role in
the Digital Radio Working Group which has been established to
explore radio's digital future. Our proposals to relax the regulation
of localness in commercial radio have recently been the subject
of a further consultation. In general we received a positive
response to the consultation, including support from 16 Members
of Parliament and we hope to publish our conclusions on this issue
very shortly.
14 January 2008
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