New Ofcom chair, HFSS and Happy Festivus from OfcomWatch

Folks, well it’s been another year, this one ending on a generally upbeat note, despite the unwelcome economic conditions:

*  Colette Bowe was announced as the new Chairperson of Ofcom.  Excellent choice.  We’ve met with Ms. Bowe a few times since her consumer panel days and I think she is the best possible candidate for the position.  Per the new requirements, Ms. Bowe will be required to attend a Parliamentary scrutiny hearing.  Although, if I recall correctly those new hearings are really just formalities — her appointment cannot be blocked.

While I am sure she’s got better paid advisors than me, if I could just offer this pearl of wisdom from the sidelines:  Too often Ofcom tends to cheerlead the industries it regulates.  Speeds up / prices down, that sort of thing.  This can be necessary and proper at times, but overall it undercuts Ofcom’s position as a critical regulator.  Even though it is the season of good cheer, I’d like to see some critical news come out of Ofcom more often.

*  Ofcom yesterday released its HFSS policy review.  It’s still early days, but I think the die is cast with respect to Ofcom’s overall approach to junk food advertising:  Basically the regulatory blinders are on — measurement of success or failure will be restricted to the very narrow issue of children’s exposure to HFSS adverts.  Ofcom put it this way:

As with the current review, the focus will be on whether the advertising restrictions are having the anticipated effects, rather than attempting to identify the direct impact of the restrictions on child obesity levels. The reasons for this are that the causes of child obesity are multi-factoral, and the effects of interventions will only become apparent over a protracted period.

I think this means that Ofcom’s Feb 2007 impact assessment — which if I recall correctly specified actual monetary figures for the health gains associated with the advertising restrictions — can be chucked into the rubbish bin.

Does this mean that Ofcom have opened themselves up to judicial review?  Possibly.  I’m not a UK lawyer, but it does seem to me that if that portion of the impact assessment that measured benefits from the regulatory scheme is essentially discarded by the regulator then the statutory basis for the regulations is suspect.  Ofcom could be accused of violating its own guidelines for impact assessment and Section 7 of the Comms Act 2003.  Challenging it, however, would be another matter.  One could imagine that the industry has settled into a quiet acceptance of the regulations.  Any attempt to undo them could backfire and produce stricter regulations via the government.

*  Channel 4 continues its beg-a-thon.  Really, this has been the most distasteful aspect of UK media policy for several years now.  It’s really embarassing to see the vague notion of ‘quality’ be used as a rhetorical device to simply secure regulatory benefits.  Maybe the new year will bring an end to it, one way or another.

*  I probably won’t post much over the holidays, but it should not pass without mention that on 29 December 2008 Ofcom will pass its five year mark.  It will be interesting to see how people sum up Lord Currie’s tenure at Ofcom.  I think overall — Ofcom has been effective…

*  I’ll get a Slingbox Pro over the holidays.  Woohooo!

See you in 2009…