Disruption in action

The earnings reporting season is upon us, accounting for a marked blogging slowdown as I torment myself. BT reported some pretty decent numbers today, and to be fair there was a lot to be positive about in them, but in the detail there is some stuff which shows where the ...

Ofcom outlines low power licences for low cost local mobile services

Ofcom is preparing to auction five to ten low-power radio spectrum licences in a move that could lead to a host of low-cost, local mobile phone firms breaking into the UK mobile markets. The regulator today outlined plans to award the licences after one round of sealed bids and called for ...

Spanish Cable Consolidation� A Happy End?

After years of flirtation, the romance between the two Spanish cable operators Ono and Auna is likely to end in marriage. Something has made things easier: Auna has divorced its mobile division (Amena), 80% of which is about to be bought by France T�l�com�s mobile division (Orange) for 6,400 million ...

The OfcomWatch Interview Series Continues with SCBG . . .

OfcomWatch recently sat down with John Hambley and Charlotte Wright of the Satellite and Cable Broadcasters� Group (SCBG) to discuss many of the regulatory and policy issues confronting the television industry. Click here for the full interview. If you�re like me, you�ll appreciate SCBG�s common-sense�and sometimes blunt�approach to these issues. Aside from ...

The deregulatory regulator

Last week, Ofcom published its Annual Report for 2004/5. While much of the media coverage focused on the high salaries and bonuses of the top executives, a quiet reading of the weighty document reveals an impressive record of achievement. The whole tone of Ofcom is different from its predecessor organisations, ...

Television With or Without Frontiers?

Following on from Roger Darlington�s post last Wednesday �What happens when broadcasting and the Internet collide?� I was fortunate enough to attended a Westminster Media Forum seminar concerning the revision of the Television Without Frontiers directive on that very day and I can perhaps shed a little light on what ...

More trouble over local loop unbundling

It is reported today that Cable & Wireless is close to making a formal complaint against BT for problems incurred in obtaining unbundled local loops from the incumbent for C&W company Bulldog. The independent adjudicator Peter Black was appointed precisely in order to resolve such problems in a speedy and ...

Ofcom asked to better regulate silent calls…

Check out this interesting article in the Scotsman. It's basically about a call-centre operator asking Ofcom to better regulate the bad apples in the industry--get this--to stop the flow of people putting their names on the 'do-not-call list'. We're told: "If things go unchecked, in theory, everyone will end up being ...

Something fishy in White City

Ofcom announced in yesterday�s Competition Bulletin that it had opened an investigation following allegations of market foreclosure and predatory pricing by the BBC. The complaint centres on BBC Broadcast�s winning of contracts in 2004 to provide �media access services�, such as subtitling, to Channel 4 and Five. BBC Broadcast is ...

Ofcom remix the top team

Ofcom today confirmed details of an organisational restructuring. This is intended to increase Ofcom's operating effectiveness, build on the past two years of post-merger efficiencies (including a 32% reduction in headcount and an 8% reduction in operating budget in real terms for 2005/6) and to anticipate the regulatory needs of ...

About OfcomWatch

Mission - OfcomWatch is an informal group blog commenting on the processes and practices of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) and related media and communications regulation issues both in the United Kingdom and around the world...

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May 9th 2008
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Ofcom pluralism book: Tim Suter on impartiality in broadcasting

I thought one of the more engaging articles in Ofcom's recent book on pluralism was written by Tim Suter. In his piece Suter questions the notion that rules on due impartiality are coherent and future-proof. He writes in part: 'The fact that the requirement for impartiality stretches back to ...
May 6th 2008
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UK no. 1 in broadband international league table…

According to the OECD's most recent statistics, the UK is number 1 in the international league table of people videoing their destruction of ADSL wireless routers: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgBNc8Z0Zxk[/youtube] What is it about BT Home Hubs that drive people to violence?
May 4th 2008
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The GMTV phone-in scandal: Was Ofcom too soft?

On Friday, Ofcom denied my FOI Act request to uncover how much money GMTV refunded to victims of its wrongdoing. Ofcom stated that the information was subject to exemption 44 under the FOI Act and also stated 'Ofcom have not conducted any follow up and therefore we do not ...
May 2nd 2008
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OfcomWatch Friday Film Festival: Tiscali under scrutiny…

Here's an instant classic: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cBVAu927mw[/youtube]
May 1st 2008
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Rapture responds to OW post about Ofcom appeal…

This is Rapture thing is getting a bit tired. Isn't the fundamental problem here that satellite television carriage is just really expensive and under-capitalised firms who want to reach the public are better off just maintaining a web presence? I had the unfortunate task in my earlier job ...

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