April 27th 2007
By: Luke
OFT press release follows...
The OFT today reported to the Secretary of State on the completed acquisition by British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (BSkyB) of a 17.9 per cent stake in ITV plc (ITV). The OFT believes that the test for a merger reference to the Competition Commission is met on ...
April 26th 2007
By: Roger Darlington
What is it? It is that there are two web sites that provide consumers with quality of service indicators produced by the operators themselves. The one for fixed-line services, which is mandated by Ofcom, was launched in July 2006 and the one for mobile services, which is a voluntary scheme, ...
April 25th 2007
By: Russ
I attended Tuesday's seminar in Oxford about whether anyone has made the case for a state subsidy public intervention in the new media sphere. Hosted by David Levy, the seminar mainly explored whether there are any 'gaps' in the marketplace provision of new media content that would warrant a 50 ...
April 25th 2007
By: Luke
This post picks up on some of Russ' earlier comments relating to Ofcom's role in regulating the interactive television market in the wake of Panorama's expose about GMTV and others on Monday evening.
Having observed Ofcom since its inception it is undeniable that the regulator has produced much innovative and well ...
April 24th 2007
By: Russ
Ofcom are under fire by politicians and the public for failing to stop the recent phone-in quiz scandals. The scandal took a turn for the worse this week when it was revealed on a BBC Panorama programme that GMTV viewers had been conned out of about 40 million GBP ...
April 23rd 2007
By: Russ
Last week saw Ofcom delve deeper into the future of radio licensing in the UK.
First, Ofcom began a consultation on the future regulatory framework for radio. The big issue is that people are switching to digital platforms (DAB, iTunes) and that analogue radio is beginning to fade in importance. ...
April 19th 2007
By: Luke
Speaking at the Voice of the Listener and Viewer's 'Fresh Visions from Familiar Faces - sustaining quality content into the digital age' conference today, ITV's Executive Chairman, Michael Grade reportedly said -
"I'm not opposed to regulation. What concerns me is that [when] any special interest group pops up and gets ...
April 19th 2007
By: Russ
I just stumbled across an interesting blog called 'Fighting BT Wholesale' -- an anonymous complaint-style blog devoted to one person's perspective on fighting working with BT. The blog's stated purpose:
'This blog is a record of an employee of a UK ISP who has to deal with BT Wholesale, and wishes ...
April 19th 2007
By: Russ
Dr. David Levy will be convening a seminar at Said Business School / Oxford on April 24 (16:00 - 18:00, drinks after) on the Ofcom-created concept of a public service publisher (PSP). Speakers include:
Peter Phillips, Ofcom
Robin Foster, Human Capital
Steve Folwell, Guardian Media Group
Click here for details on how to register.
Personally, I ...
April 19th 2007
By: Luke
Interesting article from Andrew Orlowski in The Register which highlights moves by mobile providers to restrict internet telephony functionality on handsets. Truphone, a provider of WLAN VoIP services is reportedly mulling an official complaint to Ofcom to ask the regulator to intervene if mobile networks continue to cripple VoIP-capable handsets.
The ...
