TeleBusillis on Ofcom’s Digital Dividend Review…

Keith at TeleBusillis likes Ofcom's approach on the DDR...I haven't fully explored the document, but I must say I am initially disappointed with Ofcom's decision. Concepts such as uncertainty and market distortion are important and it is right and proper for Ofcom to take them into account. But let's face ...

Communications - The Next Decade - John Naughton

More commentary on Ofcom's recent publication...Today, I'll briefly examine 'Our changing media ecosystem' by John Naughton of The Observer. Bad title -- too obvious and sounds like one of those social science films you had to watch in school when you were 13... Naughton starts his essay by describing the changing ...

Should the BBC Feature User Generated Content?

I was teaching in Budapest this autumn, and while working with a colleague there, we started to brainstorm about user-generated content (UGC ~ like YouTube) and its place (or lack of) in the media policy scheme. It's mostly his idea, but I thought it would be good to tee-up for ...

Communications - The Next Decade - Viviane Reding

Someone was kind enough to supply me with a hard-bound version of Ofcom's recent publication, 'Communications - The Next Decade', so I thought I would go through it over the next few weeks, offering my observations on certain chapters.So, where to start? Well, how about the Foreward? It was written ...

Interview with David Stewart of Ofcom

OfcomWatch's sister site -- InformationPolitics.com -- recently interviewed David Stewart, Director of Investigations of Ofcom.Click here for the link to a report of the interview and a transcript.

Ofcom publishes consumer policy statement and launches new price comparison scheme

Ofcom today concluded its review of consumer policy which sets the framework for Ofcom's future approach to consumer issues and concerns. This includes a new price comparison scheme to help consumers choose between providers of fixed, mobile and international telephony, digital TV and internet services. The statement, along with details ...

Ofcom fines porn channel for broadcasting porn

Our beloved communications regulator, Ofcom, has fined Digital Television Production Company Limited (DTPC) £35,000 for broadcasting material, under PIN encryption on XplicitXXX, that was the equivalent of BBFC R-18 content (Hard Core Porn). Apparently, back on 13th December 2005 an impressive audience of 62 people tuned in the an episode ...

Timothy Garton Ash on the BBC Licence Fee

Today's Comment is Free has an interesting piece by Timothy Garton Ash on the License Fee. Read it -- very illuminating. I thought some of the comments were also of a high calibre. Here are my comments on a few of the nuggets contained in his article: TGA: 'Remarkably, ...

BrunswickWatch

Former Ofcom chief executive Stephen Carter has taken the CEO position at the PR firm Brunswick Group LLP.

Ofcom: The future’s bright, the future’s regulatory (for the moment at least)

OfcomWatch co-founder Luke Gibbs reports on last week's Ofcom conference entitled - 'Communications and Convergence - Challenges for 21st Century Digital Economies' - which brought together international regulators and industry players to discuss the challenges for regulatory frameworks posed by convergence. First, a brief overview of a couple of the sessions ...

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...

Our Sponsors

OfcomWatch Readers Poll

2008 - who will have the best year?
View Results
May 9th 2008
Leave a Comment

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
Leave a Comment

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
One Comment

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
One Comment

OfcomWatch Friday Film Festival: Tiscali under scrutiny…

Here's an instant classic: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cBVAu927mw[/youtube]
May 1st 2008
3 Comments

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 ...

Search

The archives run deep. Feel free to search older content using topic keywords.