OFCOM TO HAVE SEPARATE CONTENT FUNCTION

A REPORT from the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport has partially supported a call by BECTU for new regulatory body OFCOM to have a separate section to deal with content issues.
Recognising the difference between economic decisions and content regulation matters that would apply within OFCOM, the report calls for the new regulator's structure to be debated by Parliament, with a recommendation that there should be "greater lay involvement in content regulation".
However, BECTU's views on control of media ownership found less favour with the Committee. The report rejected the union's view that the government should keep cross-media ownership rules limiting newspaper holdings in television companies, with BECTU said to be simply supporting the status quo.
Plans to exclude the BBC from the new regulatory framework, supported by BECTU, were questioned by the Committee, who described as "absurd" the argument that Parliamentary scrutiny of the Corporation would be diminished if it were overseen by OFCOM.
The report noted that BECTU had sought to emphasise the need to “ensure such obligations were maintained in practice, with particular regard to regional news and the contribution of regional production to network programming”.
The report further urged that the right to approve new BBC digital channels should be transferred from the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport, citing Chris Smith's decision to delay a review of BBC News 24 until after the general election as an example of political interference.
Ever since the BBC's continuous news channel began broadcasting, it has been viewed as a favourite kicking stool for members of the Committee.
Public service broadcasting was given qualified support by the Committee, but the report threw out BECTU's view that any relaxation of quality and diversity obligations would lead to a fall in programme standards.
Instead, the report set out three principles for Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) - firstly, public service is not provided only by the recognised terrestrial broadcasters, and equally, not all the output of BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 qualifies for the description. Secondly, the costs of providing public service should be transparently measured, and compared against "other means of achieving the desired ends".
Thirdly, and the most alarming, in the opinion of BECTU, for current PSB broadcasters, is the principle that provision of public service content from "whatever source" is more important than protecting the "privileges of certain broadcasters".
OFCOM, said the Committee, should be responsible for an annual audit of progress towards analogue switch off, and a leaflet on digital TV should be distributed to every household, followed by a public information campaign on free-to-air channels.
Along with other submissions on the White Paper from organisations, the report from the Select Committee will be considered by Ministers at the DTI and DCMS.
The new Communications Bill is likely to feature in the legislative programme of the next government if Labour are re-elected, and the proposed changes could become law within the next year. (CD/SP)