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 retail market is heading – [...]
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 industry comments by September 16. [...]
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 division and sale [...]
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 topics covered in the [...]
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, It is much more open [...]
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 is planned although not without [...]
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 flexible manner. BT needs to [...]
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 taken off the list.”
Tragedy.
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 a subsidiary of the BBC [...]
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 the communications sector over the [...]
A report published today by the DCMS shows that a technical trial of digital switchover in Wales was a success and had overwhelming support from the people who took part.
In March households in the villages of Ferryside and Llansteffan became the first in UK to switchover to digital television, as part of preparations for UK [...]
Traditionally broadcasting has been heavily regulated, while effectively the Internet is hardly regulated at all. But what happens when more and more broadcasting material is delivered on the Internet? Do we regulate that material as if it were conventional broadcasting or do we abandon all regulation because the delivery platform is the global Internet or [...]
To kick off the Parliamentary session, the new Culture, Media and Sport Committee has decided to inquire into the Government’s proposals to switch off analogue terrestrial television broadcasts over the period 2008-2012.
The Committee is particularly interested in receiving evidence on the following issues:
- the policy objectives and economic benefits of digital switchover, and the [...]
All of these issues are well-treated on page 6 of today’s FT:
‘Ofcom chief executive receives 12% rise in renumeration package’
‘Minister admits blitz on red tape has failed’
‘Planned changes [in FSA enforcement procedures] illustrate previous flaws’
The FT story about Stephen Carter’s pay package is based on the Ofcom Annual Report. More on that later…
The Ofcom Consumer Panel – which is in fact independent of the regulator – has just published its response to the European Commission consultation on the scope of the universal service obligation. The Panel accepts that, under the current terms of the Universal Service Directive, neither mobile nor broadband should be included in the USO, [...]
Ofcom today announced �30,000 worth of fines for breaches to the program code. Video Interactive Television Plc (VIT) licensed by Ofcom to run the satellite service Channel U received an �18,000 fine, whilst Life TV Media Ltd received �12,000 in respect of its service Life TV.
In the case of Channel U the list of breaches [...]
On July 12 the EC Directorate-General for the Information Society and Media (�InfoSoc�) launched a consultation on its proposed revision of the Television Without Frontiers Directive (�Consultation�). Click here for the EC�s website on the issue. Click here for OfcomWatch�s recent post on the issue.
My verdict? This Consultation is an embarrassment for the EC, and [...]
For the fifth year, the �Guardian� has published a list of the top 100 power players in the media industry. Where do the top guys at Ofcom figure? Answer here.
The MediaGuardian just released its MediaGuardian 100 list of the top people in the bidness.
In an initiative led by the Finnish Population Register (VRK), a department of the Finnish Ministry of the Interior, SmartTrust is helping mobile users in Finland to securely identify themselves and sign for goods and services across a range of public and private sector providers using just their mobile phone.
Since 1999, VRK has been responsible [...]
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