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By Russ on September 29th, 2008
BSkyB forced to sell portion of its ITV stake…
(click to enlarge)
Archive for September, 2008
By Russ on September 29th, 2008
Andy Burnham on internet regulation: what he really meant to say was…
On Friday, the Guardian told us ‘Government to Tighten Up Web Controls‘. An interesting nugget. Culture Secretary Andy Burnham looked like he was in way over his head with some of these attributed quotes:
“The time has come for perhaps a different approach to the internet,” he said. “I want to even up that see-saw, even [...]
By Russ on September 26th, 2008
The Guardian’s Maggie Brown slams Ofcom over ITV cuts
In today’s Media Guardian Maggie Brown writes ‘Get Real Ofcom‘ and claims:
‘Let’s get real and say light touch regulation hasn’t worked very well in the global banking system, and it does not seem to be working very well for viewers in key media sectors either.’
Brown is pretty exercised over the fact that Ofcom — rightly [...]
By Russ on September 25th, 2008
Ofcom PSB review… the interesting nuggets
Wow — it’s a beast! I skimmed it this morning. Here’s some random commentary and criticism of Ofcom’s latest PSB review document. All off the top of my head, so take it with a grain of salt:
Section 1.41:
‘In any model, we must be confident that recipients of public funding use resources effectively and efficiently. Any [...]
By Russ on September 25th, 2008
Ofcom Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) review released…
Ofcom released its PSB review Phase 2 document today (here). I thought Ofcom was going to improve the cover art? I suppose the cover needs to match the contents: If you are painting a picture of an industry in crisis, go with the plain cover. Credit crunch and all that.
I amended the byline to state [...]
By Russ on September 24th, 2008
Ofcom’s Ed Richards and the disgruntled citizen-consumer
I thought it was pretty amusing depressing to see Ed Richards’ response to this one consumer’s question about misleading broadband speed claims and poor service:
Qu: I live within easy walking distance of a BT exchange. I pay for BT Broadband. I do not expect to receive downloads at “up to 8meg”. I expect to receive downloads [...]
By Russ on September 23rd, 2008
Ofcom and the FSA: the view from Parliament
As many of you know, I am completing my PhD thesis on Ofcom and the notion of evidence-based policy making (EBPM) this autumn / winter. I thought I would begin to publicly share some of my findings and other observations (although by prior arrangement, my interview data will never be put on this blog). The [...]
By Russ on September 23rd, 2008
Ofcom’s elusive definition of Broadband
Ed Richards is on the Telegraph website today, answering questions mainly about broadband. I put one in:
‘Mr. Richards:
What is your overall view of the role of the EU and its policies that relate to broadband?
Do they hinder the UK from making certain important investment or regulatory choices that have been made differently in countries such [...]
By Russ on September 22nd, 2008
Ofcom PSB review: 4Subsidy
Unsurprisingly, Channel 4 CEO Andy Duncan welcomes Ofcom’s rejection of a BBC-only model of public service broadcasting. Good CEO’s chase money. In this case, Duncan is chasing a prize equal to a multi-year smash hit television programme: State subsidy. Moral hazard alert!
I suppose all eyes will next turn to Andy Burnham. He doesn’t look like the sort [...]
By Russ on September 19th, 2008
Friday fun: Ofcom – They will eat junk food…
Which? says the Ofcom junk food advertising rules are not working…
By Russ on September 18th, 2008
Ofcom: lost focus in PSB review?
From Caesar’s … I mean … Ed Richards’ speech to the RTS:
‘There are in fact real issues facing our industry; issues that need to be confronted, argued about and addressed.
How do we strike a fair balance of public service obligations alongside the enduring value of ITVs licence?
How do we ensure channel 4 has a sustainable [...]
By Russ on September 17th, 2008
Ofcom Wednesday round-up
* I was in London yesterday for a presentation by Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt on Ofcom and the FSA. It was very interesting — lots of insights about how citizens consumers people view regulation. Sonia made a presentation on the consumer – citizen pairing in the Act and in Ofcom’s activities.
Fact: The only person [...]
By Russ on September 12th, 2008
FT: Sky abandons Picnic DTT plans
2nd UPDATE:
Below in the comments I respond to Scott on a point that should not go unmentioned here. In April 2006 Ofcom issued a press release entitled ‘Deregulation for Pay TV channels on digital terrestrial television.’
Here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/04/n_20060419b
Ofcom said: ‘Ofcom believes that the current restriction on pay TV channels is no longer a matter requiring regulatory [...]
By Russ on September 11th, 2008
James Enck: back on patrol in Eurotelcoland
I’ve been so disorganized and traveling so much lately I forgot to notice that James Enck is back blogging — taking it to the streets! Sticking it to the man! Or maybe he is the man? I’m confused.
Trivia buffs note: The great state of Tennessee punches above its weight both in (i) twangy, good sounding [...]
By Russ on September 09th, 2008
Ofcom promotes diversity toolkit
Ofcom write:
‘[W]e decided to put together this diversity toolkit to help all communications companies learn from the experiences of others. This is not a set of rules, but rather examples of policies, procedures and templates that can be easily adapted to different circumstances and help you meet your legal obligations and work towards best practice [...]
By Russ on September 08th, 2008
Ofcom PSB Review: broadcasters inherit the wind…
‘Opinions are bad for business’ is a great line from Inherit the Wind, when a storekeeper is asked his opinion about the teaching of evolution.
Whilst that may be true of shopkeepers, it’s not true about broadcasters. Where allowed by law — such as the U.S. — television broadcasters enjoy a booming business in election-related and [...]
By Russ on September 03rd, 2008
Ofcom PSB Review: no love story
Still catching up from the past few weeks… some pretty miserable stuff associated with the PSB review. First, there is Tim Gardam’s piece in the Telegraph – ‘Quality TV could disappear from our screens‘. Wow, what a pessimist.
Newsflash, Tim: The earth will still rotate around its axis if more public money is not pumped into [...]
By Russ on September 03rd, 2008
Mobileshop.com: what Ofcom really really meant about mobile phone calls…
It’s difficult for me to defend / harass Ofcom when I haven’t fully read the underlying document, but when did that stop me?
Anyway, this editorial from mobileshop.com is pretty typical of what I have seen in terms of misdirected coverage of Ofcom’s mobile sector assessment. The typical line: Ofcom want to charge YOU for receiving [...]
By Russ on September 02nd, 2008
Ofcom launch mobile sector assessment
Ofcom launched a big thing last week: the mobile sector assessment.
It looks interesting. Ofcom, as others have noted, have also launched a related blog and interactive summary. The blog and interactive summary were also launched for the PSB review, so it’s good to see Ofcom continue down this path of more informal means of engagement [...]
By Russ on September 01st, 2008
Spin alert! Ofcom hip-up its core activities
I was looking through some old Ofcom Annual Reports for my research and found an interesting difference between last year’s report and the most recent one. Regardez:
Driving, promoting, improving, delivering, reducing and maximising!
The interesting thing about the 2008 descriptions is that — were it not for the word spectrum — they could really describe a [...]
