United Kingdom - Regulation and Spectrum - History
15.10.2012
A Royal Charter and Agreement govern the public broadcaster; the BBC, with new stations subject to Government approval and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) regulate the commercial sector . Multiplex licences are currently awarded on a beauty contest formula rather than auctioned . Regulation controls such things as minimum bit-rate for music stations, mandatory ‘must carry’ obligations, maintenance of service providers’ stations commitments and the amount of data content
15.04.2010
A Royal Charter and Agreement govern the public broadcaster; the BBC, with new stations subject to Government approval and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) regulate the commercial sector. Multiplex licences are currently awarded on a beauty contest formula rather than auctioned. Regulation controls such things as minimum bit-rate for music stations, mandatory must carry’ obligations, maintenance of service providers stations commitments and the amount of data content.
An Ofcom consultation document entitled 'The Future of Radio requested comments from the industry on changes to the current regulation system (total% of data permissible etc), there were around 160 responses to this document and Ofcom issued its final report at the end of 2007. Analogue commercial broadcasters who receive a DAB licence have their existing analogue licences extended for an additional eight years. Digital One (the national commercial multiplex operator) is required to carry the three existing commercial analogue national radio stations, and local and regional commercial operators must carry local and regional BBC (public radio) stations. DAB licences are awarded for 12 years. Commercial and public operators may carry broadcast data services. The national commercial operator must invest in promoting and marketing DAB. As part of the bid for the second multiplex DAB it was stipulated that DAB+ could not be used for radio stations though it could be used for data services such as podcasts.The UK Government published its final Digital Britain report on 16th June. This follows on from the government’s Digital Radio Working Group report which published its own recommendations for the digital future of radio in the UK. The Digital Radio Working Group suggested that these criteria could be met between 2015 and 2020 and therefore a switchover could occur as early as 2017.
The Digital Britain Report set out a five point plan for DAB to be in all new cars by 2013 is proposed and the report called on the European Commission to lead a common Europe-wide approach to digital radio. The Digital Britain report by Lord Carter, the British Minister for Communications, is the culmination of work by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DIS).The report can be found in full at http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digitalbritain-finalreport-jun09.pdf
Details of the Digital Economy Act which sets out details of plans for migration of analogue to digital radio can be found at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2010/ukpga_20100024_en_1
17.07.2008
A Royal Charter and Agreement govern the public broadcaster; the BBC, with new stations subject to Government approval and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) regulate the commercial sector. Multiplex licences are currently awarded on a “beauty contest” formula rather than auctioned. Regulation controls such things as minimum bit-rate for music stations, mandatory ‘must carry’ obligations, maintenance of service providers’ stations’ commitments and the amount of data content. An Ofcom consultation document entitled ‘The Future of Radio’ requested comments from the industry on changes to the current regulation system (total% of data permissible etc), there were around 160 responses to this document and Ofcom issued its final report at the end of 2007. Analogue commercial broadcasters who receive a DAB licence have their existing analogue licences extended for an additional eight years. Digital One (the national commercial multiplex operator) is required to carry the three existing commercial analogue national radio stations, and local and regional commercial operators must carry local and regional BBC (public radio) stations. DAB licences are awarded for 12 years. Commercial and public operators may carry broadcast data services. The national commercial operator must invest in promoting and marketing DAB. As part of the bid for the second multiplex DAB it was stipulated that DAB+ could not be used for radio stations though it could be used for data services such as podcasts.