Ofcom Consumer Panel Releases Statement of Intent
The document can be found here.
The key points:
* The Panel will produce an annual report in July 2004.
* The Panel, similar to Ofcom will be ‘evidence-based’ and will develop a research programme to generate such evidence.
* The Panel will only intervene where it can (i) ‘add [...]
Ofcom Watch investigates: The Ofcom Pass…
If you’re like me, you’ve been tooling around on the Ofcom website for months now and continually seeing this thing called the ‘Ofcom Pass’. Today I finally clicked on it. Here’s the Ofcom Watch low-down:
* The Ofcom Pass will not work on the Tube, or the [...]
Competing in the [regulatory] marketplace…
It’s usually rare to see companies seeking stronger government regulation, especially in the area of technology policy, where ‘light touch’ or deregulatory policies have produced the most social benefits, but in today’s FT Tiscali and Cable & Wireless make such a call.
It’s a very terse piece, but we can imagine the [...]
Spectral Efficiency
Ofcom’s 2004 research programme may help to illuminate the balance of policy – and particularly the concerns that Spectrum Trading will not alone deliver significant gains in efficient spectrum utilisation.
In ‘Spectral Efficiency: beyond the comfort zone’, the challenges of measuring efficiency, or efficiency improvement, are considered in the context of the tension between [...]
David Elstein Goes Radio Gaga
‘The Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA) has announced that David Elstein will take on the roll of Chairman from April 1 2004. He replaces Lord Eatwell who stepped down after four years’.
Elstein: “Despite my background in television I have a keen interest in radio and I look forward to working with [...]
Stephen Timms On Broadband Targets For 2010
Today’s FT (pp 6) reports government is about to define new targets regarding the deployment of broadband for 2010. New targets will most likely be more related to fostering the use of broadband as opposed to take up or connectivity – a strategy supported on Ofcomwatch some weeks ago. [...]
PAC Release Telecom Consumer Pricing Report
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today released a report aimed at helping consumers get a better deal from telecom providers. The report is entitled – ‘Helping Consumers Benefit from Competition in Telecommunications’
Ofcom’s consumer panel will no doubt be taking a close look at the Committee’s findings.
Edward Leigh MP, Chairman of [...]
Regulatory Certainty v. Regulatory Advantage…
I was reviewing Hutchison 3G UK Ltd’s response to Ofcom’s Spectrum Trading Consultation and had the following thoughts:
* ‘3′ paid significant sums in the UK’s 3G auction in 2000, and now doesn’t want any changes (related to spectrum management) that would otherwise upset its expectations. That’s an understandable [...]
WiMax is Still Coming � How Regulators Can Help
A couple of months ago, I noted with some skepticism that the WiMax product � although promising � appears to be benefiting from a great deal of hype. A great article published this month in The Economist also underscored some of these same ideas: that WiMax [...]
PUAF: The Future Of Pay Phones
Roger Darlington’s CommsWatch weblog has an interesting post about a research conducted by the Public Utilities Access Forum into the number of operational pay phones in the UK.
According to the PUAF’s paper, over the last two years, BT has removed 17,500 payphones and of the remaining 75,000 claims that 27,000 [...]
From The Scotsman…
‘Don’t call us if there is nothing on TV’
“IF YOU want to complain about something on television what number should you call? Well, don�t ask Ofcom, the new regulator, as it struggled last week to come up with an answer.
“Off the top of my head, I don�t know,” said the organisation�s [...]
Complaints Guidelines and Standards
I have finally managed to uncover what happens when Ofcom receive a complaint from a member of the public that a broadcaster had used excessive censorship in a television programme, thanks to Bradley Brady Ofcom�s public and political relations manager.
The Ofcom complaints procedure is not geared to deal with this type of [...]
Lord Ashley of Stoke – Letter To The Times
‘Sir, On July 1, 2003, the Broadcasting Minister, Lord McIntosh of Haringey, informed the House of Lords that the Communications Act would “lead to a dramatic increase in the provision of services to help people with sensory impairments to enjoy television” (Hansard, col 844).
However, the Office of [...]
EU-Microsoft Rift May Produce US VOIP Fallout
Blair Leven, Legg-Mason’s Washington Telecom and Media Insider says…
“After the breakdown of settlement talks, Microsoft and the European Union appear to be on a collision course over the company’s integration of its Media Player and operating system.
While an EU move to forcibly unbundle the two would presumably be [...]
Regulatory Impact On Independent Television Production Sector
The current issue of Broadcast (subscription required) has a number of interesting pieces assessing the increase in inward investment and merger activity in the independent television production sector triggered by regulatory change.
Ofcom recently introduced a new rights regime that allows producers to retain increased secondary rights and strengthened [...]
England Advisory Committee Appointed
Ofcom today announced the appointment of nine members to its Advisory Committee for England.
The members of the committee are (Ofcom’s blurb not mine):
Suzy Brain England, 47, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, has a portfolio of directorships after a career of managing change in the private, public and voluntary sector. She is Chair of [...]
U.S. Posts Strong Internet Penetration Numbers
Nielsen//NetRatings reported yesterday that over 200 million Americans have access to the Internet from home. Sadly, most of us were gambling on the outcome of various celebrity trials.
The press release is very interesting. Among other things, it shows top-visited websites from U.S. users in February 2004. For [...]
Ofcom and PCC Look To Tackle Media Scrums
The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) and Ofcom have been holding meetings to discuss pushing for a self-regulatory approach to stop media scrums developing outside the homes of ordinary people. The meetings follow pressure from MPs for an industry-supported clampdown.
The Government, remains opposed to introducing a privacy law [...]
Ofcom Consultation Procedures, Reprise…
Ofcom have rearranged the links to responses to consultations on its website – for the better, I’m pleased to report.
I’ve been so busy lately (it’s March Madness here in the U.S. ~ a cultural phenomenon largely lost on Europeans) that I’ve not really had a chance to review – from a substantive [...]
New VoIP Lobby Association Formed…
The Register reports that a new UK-focused lobby association has formed for the fast-growing VoIP market – the Internet Telephony Service Providers Association, or ITSPA.
As a sign of the new group’s (lack of) prowess, they are seemingly invisible on Google, at least when I tried searching their name, and the acronym [...]
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