October 26th 2004
By: Luke
Ofcom's Strategic Telecoms Review provides a great opportuntity to deliver on the UK's telecoms potential. But it might be worth the regulator keeping a few things in mind...
1. Regulatory certainty through defined, measurable goals
The telecommunications industry needs a goal if it is to hit its target. Ofcom must not ...
October 26th 2004
By: Russ
The long-awaited (and ultra-violent) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is being released today. If sales go as planned, it will likely outgross the movie 'Titanic' in a first-week sales comparison. Just more evidence of the ascendance of video games in the media industry... and the growing irrelevance of regulations affecting ...
October 25th 2004
By: Russ
Azeem Azhar recently wrote OfcomWatch and shared an interesting idea he has been writing about lately. He says:
We shouldn't just measure the competitiveness of a PSB/P by funding. Competitivenesss could come from other measures, like the PSP having a different IP licensing scheme. For example, a license that moved PSP ...
October 25th 2004
By: Luke
Radio groups are urging Ofcom to ban a merged Capital Radio/GWR from bidding for FM licences for the next five years.
Fair enough...
October 24th 2004
By: Luke
Ofcom has been accused by ICSTIS, the body that regulates premium rate telephone services, over claims that the watchdog is failing to prevent consumers from being cheated by fraudsters. George Kidd, director of ISCTIS, has sent a furious letter to Ofcom chief exec Stephen Carter, claiming that Ofcom's refusal to ...
October 23rd 2004
By: Luke
Trojan Horse Virus' Send Phone Bills Soaring
Today's Independent thinks so...
Icstis is also rather toothless [in tackling trojan horse phone bill cons]. In August, it took steps to ensure that all premium-rate dialler services would have to obtain a licence. Only this week, it said that it had banned 11 companies ...
October 22nd 2004
By: Luke
Ofcom is considering price ceilings on BT's local and national rate call charges.
In a series of announcements and consultations, Ofcom said it's focusing on number translation services (NTS), particularly 0845 (local rate) and 0870 (national rate) numbers that offer consumers and businesses access to services that include dial-up pay-as- ...
October 22nd 2004
By: Luke
Someone at 'Save Welsh TV' dropped me an e-mail to say...
"I'm intrigued that Ofcom's proposal to drain the lifeblood out of non-news programming in the ITV Nations and regions has raised so few comments, either on this site or in the English/Scotish or Northern Irish media.
Ofcom are also ...
October 21st 2004
By: Russ
Just browsing around lately and thought I would review Ofcom's Television Without Frontiers consultation document. Here are my thoughts:
* Misnomer alert. The directive should be called 'Television Without (European) Frontiers'. Articles 4 and 5 of the TWF directive basically require 50% of broadcasters' transmission time to be ...
October 20th 2004
By: Jan
Screendaily.com: 'BBC director general Mark Thompson has said the broadcaster needs to look at raising its investment in the UK film industry. Thompson told an all-party select committee on Tuesday that the BBC would be willing to screen more UK films and less US fare. He added that the broadcaster ...
