Interesting speech … with a not-so-subtle undertone.
Vervaayen may as well have played GW Bush’s ‘circling wolves‘ commercial. The message: There is danger in the east. But instead of terrorists it is patent-holders from China and India. Europe is in danger of falling behind in education and entrepreneurship. What can save [...]
C/net reports today that Ofcom is sitting on a report that evaluates the potential uses (and misuses) of so-called ultrawideband (UWB) devices in the U.K. Details of the report have apparently leaked out, although a brief check of Ofcom’s website reveals no published materials since February 2004.
C/net says Ofcom will produce the report in [...]
Ofcom is set to scrap its bold targets for the rollout of third-generation (3G) phone technology in the latest setback to the development of high-speed internet services via mobiles, according to The Times.
The paper goes on, “The move will mean that large areas of the country could be without access to the new service for [...]
Union Bectu reports…
ITV regulator OFCOM has denied that that its proposals to relax ITV’s regional obligations are a “done deal.”
Speaking at a conference on the future of regional TV in Manchester on Thursday 4 November OFCOM’s project leader Robin Foster and Content Board advisor Sarah Thane both insisted that OFCOM’s proposals for the future [...]
* Emily Bell mocks Ofcom’s alcohol advert guidelines in today’s MediaGuardian. She says: ‘What Ofcom has managed to do is hit on a perfect compromise of ineffectual rule-tightening, which dodges the question while trying to address it.’ Ouch.
* Ofcom continues down its PSP primrose path. Last week, the regulator [...]
When OfCom’s top partners and board first went to visit the FCC in 2002/3, they found an organisation in crisis. No leadership (Kevin Martin having abandoned Powell), no action (T.Act mired in the courts – wait and see in the UK), and no policy. Well, one – the ‘Wireless Broadband Express’, as Chairman Powell described [...]
As our loyal readers (both of them) know, OfcomWatch usually has no agenda. One of the few items we bang-on about, however, is Ofcom’s transparency, mostly reflected in its consultation procedures. We’ve been critical of Ofcom’s procedures, mostly because they are below par for a 21st century, converged regulator. Ofcom’s consultation procedures [...]
Not sure whether this has been touched on before. I am interested in the long announced shake up of the Commission, especially in the move of MEDIA Plus (the EC’s audiovisual programme) to be part of DG Information Society under the lead of Vivianne Reding. If anybody has come across an analysis of what this [...]
FT reports:
“Sir Christopher Bland, chairman of BT Group, has warned that if Ofcom does not resolve current imbalances in wholesale broadband internet pricing, it could be forced to shelve a �10bn investment in its next generation network.
The dominant telecommunications operator is currently investing heavily in a new internet-based telecoms infrastructure that will radically transform the [...]
On Monday, I attended a small seminar at the Oxford Internet Institute where Columbia professor Eli Noam presented the results of some of his recent research into concentration in the IT, telecommunications, internet and media sectors. Noam criticises those who blindly talk of a ‘handful’ of companies that control the world’s media and injects [...]
In the wake of Bush victory in the US, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is likely to revisit its proposal to allow greater consolidation of media ownership, though perhaps more gingerly than the first time, when the sweeping rule change largely failed due to public opposition and legal challenges.
The most important changes to be [...]
Richard Nosworthy, who runs the ‘Save Welsh TV’ group dropped me a note to highlight that the official campagin website is at:
www.savewelshtv.org
The site is run on behalf of the NUJ campaign to save ITV Wales and provides links and contact information for campaigners for the future of Welsh TV to write to the various organisations [...]
Ofcom has granted Five permission to cut its nightly news bulletin from half an hour to 15 minutes. Five said the reduction in news length would allow it to run more arts, science and history programmes between 7:15pm and 8pm.
As an example of the channel�s commitment to arts, science and history programming, Five is running [...]
Ofcom- Statutory obligation on the promotion of media literacy
Here at Ofcomwatch we like to think we meet the grade when Ofcom defines media literacy as, “[citizens having] the ability to access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts.” Indeed, we would welcome Ofcom putting Ofcomwatch forward as a good model of grassroots electronic [...]
Ofcom rules on alcohol ads
The Publican – the magazine, not that frosty bloke behind the bar at the local boozer – reports the good news that Ofcom has seen sense on alcohol advertising…
Despite strenthening the language in regard to the rules on alcohol adverts, Ofcom, backed down from earlier proposals that would have banned celebrities, [...]
We’ve received hundreds of emails over the past week, asking OfcomWatch for our recommendations on the best, unbiased coverage of the crucial U.S. elections.
Just point your browser here.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), as of yesterday, became the new one-stop shop for review of advertising complaints, both broadcast and non-broadcast. The ASA says: ‘[this] new start helps straighten out the regulatory maze and that�s good news for consumers and for advertisers, too.’ The advertising complaint intake form is here.
Just as [...]
November 4th – IPPR Seminar ‘What Future for Regional TV?‘ (Manchester)
November 11th – Salford IMC ‘ Television from the Nations and Regions’ (Manchester)
November 24th – OfCom/Bournemouth University ‘Emotional/Political Literacy and the Media ‘(London)
I shall be attending all three… Watch this space for my thoughts….
Latest from Ofcom