DTI News Round-up

The DTI has been busy lately:

* The DTI announced today that it is seeking public comment on its proposed guidelines for media mergers. Comments are due no later than March 12, 2004. I’m too tired to read them now, but the guidelines appear fairly exhaustive — with one exception: The word ‘internet’ does not appear in the 57-page guidelines. That’s not exactly forward-looking. The Wall Street Journal, for example, now has approximately 290,000 people worldwide that pay $79.00 year for online access, according to a recent report. If there’s one issue that Ofcom Watch tends to push, it is the impact of technology on regulation and policy. Seems like we are still a lone voice on this issue.

* The DTI is releasing a report later today on the status of the broadband industry, and will announce the creation of a Digital Inclusion Panel that will “advise on how to bring the benefits of online access - through computers, TV and even mobile phones - to the whole of Britain by 2008.” What happened to the 2005 target? Are we there yet? Did I miss something?

* By the way, the DTI has a great section of its website that features Alice Beer (photo: circa 1979) and specifies common consumer scams, such as the Nigerian email scam. But DTI missed the most recent and pervasive scam: Bogus 10-pound notes that feature the likeness of Charles Darwin instead of Tony Blair. Ofcom Watch has made special arrangements to collect and destroy these bogus notes on behalf of The Bank of England, so please send them to us.