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Archive for May, 2008

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Ofcom Pluralism book:  Steve Morrison on who pays for TV distribution

Ofcom Pluralism book: Steve Morrison on who pays for TV distribution

Continuing my occasional look into the Ofcom Pluralism book, I came across this passage from indy producer Steve Morrison:

Seems like a very bad idea for me:
– Lots of people benefit from people watching good television, including indy producers, advertisers, the viewers themselves, the distributors, etc. Suddenly putting a whopping tax on distributors or distorting [...]

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Nick Reynolds was right about the licence fee…

I just heard last night that Poland’s Civic Platform led government failed in its attempt to eliminate the Polish television licence fee. It has been eliminated for the poor and elderly but everyone else must ‘pay up sucka’.
It seems that Poland’s cultural elite came out strongly in favour of retaining the fee and that [...]

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Debate on Ofcom’s performance

Debate on Ofcom’s performance

There was a bit of a debate — rare for this site — in the comments below. I thought I would share it on the main page.
I don’t think I am usually too soft on Ofcom, although oddly people always tell me that. I’m moody with Ofcom. I hate their closed and [...]

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Ofcom disrespect the Peckham Boys.  Holla back…

Ofcom disrespect the Peckham Boys. Holla back…

Ofcom released its 110th Broadcast Bulletin today. Woohoo!
One very important issue resolved by Ofcom dealt with whether it was fair or not for ITV to misidentify someone’s gang affiliation:

Reminds me of the Van Buren Boys:

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Ofcom and really responsive regulation

I’m constantly evaluating Ofcom — both for my PhD research and for this blog. The challenge for both is essentially giving the regulator a bit of a break at times: Gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges it faces but at the same time insisting that it function as a best-in-class regulator. Ofcom was born [...]

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OW Friday Film Festival: another BT Home Hub goes up in flames

Someone should do a PhD thesis on the social-psychology underlying these videos…

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Skepticism about Ofcom’s rural broadband claims

We received this comment from Richard Brown today:
‘I am astonished by the complacency of Ofcom in today’s (22nd May) announcement about the penetration of rural broadband. The implication is that because the same number of people in rural areas as urban areas now have broadband, the digital divide is closed. “Job done”. Not. Ignoring the [...]

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Competition Appeal Tribunal slams Ofcom over mobile termination rates…

Competition Appeal Tribunal slams Ofcom over mobile termination rates…

The CAT’s decision is here.
I have not followed this case closely. Well, I have not followed it at all, other than to maintain my firm conviction that mobile termination rates are like hospital super-bugs — they are nasty, bad for us and seemingly immune from eradication by the powers that be.
My uninformed reading of [...]

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Ofcom PSB Review: Peter Phillips says don’t focus on the BBC licence fee…

Ofcom PSB Review: Peter Phillips says don’t focus on the BBC licence fee…

Ofcom’s PSB Review blog remains a bit buried in its site — thought I would pass this along. Click on the image to link to the Ofcom blog and submit your comment:

I think people focus on the BBC licence fee because they strongly doubt Ofcom will convince the government to impose any new, media-related [...]

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Guardian: Gordon Brown should act on telecommunications / broadband…

From today’s Guardian leader:
‘The government would like broadband to be delivered by the private sector. There is, however, a troubling gap between a national vision of high-speed broadband to the home (as happens in South Korea, which has a government-backed industrial policy) and the perceptions of most big companies, like BT, that the market does [...]

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Ofcom PSB review: Channel 4’s past ain’t prologue…

Ofcom PSB review: Channel 4’s past ain’t prologue…

Remember the year 2000? Those were the days, huh?
I guess ‘recycling the profits’ no longer works — so now they want to recycle the BBC licence fee!

‘Commercially financed without public funding’ — I guess that experiment is dead under current management.
Channel 4 is no longer a benchmark for media organisations around the world. [...]

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Withering Sky response to Ofcom Pay TV market investigation…

From Sky’s recent response to Ofcom’s Pay TV market investigation:
‘However, despite the evidence in its own Consultation Document, Ofcom has set out – and then expressly sought evidence to bolster – a series of hypothetical concerns. This approach is inconsistent with both Ofcom’s regulatory principles and its statement in the Consultation Document that it [...]

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OfcomWatch book corner:  Charlie Beckett, SuperMedia

OfcomWatch book corner: Charlie Beckett, SuperMedia

I just ordered my copy.  Get yours by clicking on the image below:

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The GMTV phone-in scandal: Was Ofcom too soft?

The GMTV phone-in scandal: Was Ofcom too soft?

I SHOULD ADD:
I’ve written before how failed or inadequate regulatory remedies for consumers in the UK are opening the door to a relatively new type of remedy: the class action lawsuit.
Well, it turns out the case of the GMTV wrongdoing that at least one large law firm may be interested in taking the matter [...]

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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 the beginning of broadcasting, but [...]

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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:
What is it about BT Home Hubs that drive people to violence?

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OfcomWatch Friday Film Festival: Tiscali under scrutiny…

Here’s an instant classic:

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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 as in-house counsel to a [...]