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 interview, Luke Gibbs, Monica Arino and I also had an informal discussion with John and Charlotte concerning Ofcom generally, and some of the larger policy questions facing private broadcasters. In no particular order, they were:

* Ofcom. While not always agreeing with Ofcom on policy-related issues, the SCBG generally give the regulator high marks for its openness and willingness to engage on substantive issues. This is particularly true in comparison to legacy regulators. The SCBG was somewhat more critical of Ofcom�s research activities, noting that Ofcom is often inconsistent when it comes to gathering and analysing evidence. OfcomWatch have noticed this problem as well.

* Food advertising. Do junk food and fizzy drink adverts cause or contribute to childhood obesity? The SCBG believes that they do not.

* Cross-promotion. SCBG expressed concern that public service (or �publicly subsidised�) broadcasters use their privileged public positions to cross-promote commercial activities. We�ve all seen these annoying cross-promotions. Do Ofcom have the legal powers to stop or limit this type of activity?

* DCMS. John and Charlotte met with DCMS just before we sat down with them. I think it�s safe to say that SCBG believes that�while it remains an uphill struggle�there is some cause for optimism that DCMS will take off its BBC blinders [my term not theirs ~ Russ] and start viewing the television marketplace from a more pluralistic (and realistic) perspective.

* * *

Questions / comments to blog@ofcomwatch.co.uk