Press Release
The OFT today announced the clearance of the proposed acquisition by BSkyB Broadband Services Limited (Sky) of Easynet Group Plc (Easynet) and the merger of NTL Incorporated (ntl) and Telewest Global, Inc (Telewest).
The OFT has decided that the test for merger reference to the Competition Commission is not met in either case. Both cases [...]
Ever wondered what would happen if you woke up one morning to find that Ofcom and all telecoms regulation had disappeared overnight? Perhaps you were recently whisked away by the ghost of Christmas future only to find a land where mobile operators ran shoddy, inefficient monopolies, markets were stagnant and service was unreliable. Or then [...]
Ofcom recently stood up against Digital One over the issue of Ofcom issuing a second national DAB multiplex license. Digital One, which is majority owned by GCap, holds the only current national DAB license. Predictably, GCap opposes Ofcom’s intention to issue a new multiplex. It’s hard for someone like me to side [...]
Folks, the FAPL research was released by the European Commission.
Click here for the document (140-page .pdf file).
Most people think of the Internet as embracing cutting-edge technology, but the reality is that at the core of the network is an old and inefficient protocol that has not been up-graded much sooner because of the dispersed nature of the ownership of the Net. As I wrote in one of my monthly Internet [...]
France was until now the only European country which still maintained a model of two competing satellite pay-TV platforms. This will probably change as Canal Satellite (jointly owned by Vivendi Universal and Lagardere) and TPS (owned by the commercial broadcasters TF1 and M6) join forces to create a single platform. It is expected that the [...]
Ofcom’s research goes to the heart of a big part of the television market in the U.K. – under what terms and conditions can the FA Premier League (FAPL) sell its television rights? In the past, Sky has been the sole buyer of this programming, helping the satellite provider garner subscribers and market share. [...]
Ofcom yesterday announced a consultation on product placement. The consultation document is here. This particular consultation permits respondents to submit their views via this online response form. I’ve been traveling lately, so a little out of touch — is this the first time Ofcom have tried this? Anyway, responses are due [...]
At the December 2003 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, governments adopted a Plan of Action that called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to set up a Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG). After seven months of work, the WGIG�s Report and a longer Background Report were released in July [...]
I agree with Monica’s post (below) concerning the proposed TV Without Frontiers revision, particularly her concerns with respect to the jurisdiction question. Really, the EC’s proposals are over-regulatory and short-sighted in nearly every respect. I was tempted to do a very long post on this issue, but decided to simply put forth a [...]
The European Commission�s Christmas present to the media and communications sector is a proposal for a new Directive on the regulation of audiovisual media services. Along with it comes an Impact Assessment Document in an attempt to balance risks and benefits of the legislative initiative. The scope of the Directive has been considerably extended [...]
The European Regulators Group (which represents both National Regulatory Authorities �NRAs and the European Commission Services of DG Infosoc and DG Competition) has published for consultation a draft document which sets the common position of the ERG members regarding �Remedies� under the European regulatory framework for electronic communications.
Responses should be sent to the ERG Secretariat [...]
As I mentioned in an earlier posting would be the case, proposals for a substantial review of the 1989 European Union Television Without Frontiers Directive were considered today by the College of Commissioners. The draft proposals have been published together with a media release from Commissioner Viviane Reding.
The Commission believes that, in line with the [...]
Folks, some media and telecoms numbers out this week and last:
* The Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator reports that there are now 163000 unbundled local loops, with about 5000 line orders per week. The UK is on target to hit one million unbundled loops in 2006.
* Ofcom reports 65.9% of UK households [...]
The European Commission’s revision of the Television Without Frontiers Directive to extend it to most audio-visual material has caused great concern in the UK where the Government, Ofcom and most of industry have seen this as an unnecessary and unhelpful set of proposals that fails to understand the dynamics of technological convergence and the new [...]
I just read an interesting article in the most recent McKinsey Quarterly, focusing on the role of regulation in corporate strategy. McKinsey writes in part:
Despite the increasing importance of regulation, many businesses, even in heavily regulated industries, treat regulatory strategy as more art than science. Many lobby and conduct public relations on an ad [...]
Ofcom announced today a series of administrative and procedural reforms to its ship licensing requirements. The new policies are contained in this policy statement.
Well, this is a good thing, and Ofcom are moving in the right direction any time they make greater use of technology to interface with the public and regulatees. I [...]
Folks, Ofcom just released an interesting consultation on cross-promotion. I�ll probably write more on this later, but here is a brief overview.
* The consultation document is available here.
* Ofcom proposes two main policies:
1. A requirement on all commercial television licensees to limit the subject of cross-promotions to broadcasting-related services. This is necessary in order to [...]
The clock is ticking on data retention policy for the EU, and the good folks at EDRI (along with many others) are miffed at the process, which they question as being less than democratic and transparent. Not to mention that the entire exercise is almost certainly pointless and counterproductive. Point five of the letter to [...]
Ofcom has selected Capgemini UK plc as its preferred bidder for an Information Systems contract which includes integrating or replacing the organisation’s legacy systems inherited from previous regulators.
Capgemini will run Ofcom’s IT systems for a five-year period from 1st February 2006 under the terms of a contract expected to be worth a total of [...]
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