An enquiry into the funding of the arts and heritage was announced
recently by the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select
Committee. The Committee has stated that it wishes to investigate the
following:

• The impact of recent as well as future spending cuts from central
  and local government on the arts and heritage at national and local
  levels
• The measures that arts organisations can take to work more closely together
• What level of public subsidy for the arts and heritage is necessary
  and sustainable
• Whether the current system and structure of funding distribution is
  the right one
• The impact recent changes to the distribution of National Lottery
  funds will have on arts and heritage organisations
• Whether the policy guidelines for National Lottery funding need to be reviewed
• The impact of recent changes to bodies of the Department for
  Culture, Media and Sport. In particular the abolition of the UK Film
  Council and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
• Whether businesses and philanthropists can play a long-term role in
  funding arts at a national and local level
• Whether there need to be more government incentives to encourage
  private donations.

The Select Committee is interested in responses from people within the
sector by 2 September 2010. For more information, visit the Arts
Council’s website here:

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/inquiry-funding-arts-and-heritage-opens/

In November 2009, after public consultation, Ofcom reported to the Secretary of State (Culture, Media and Sport) on the review of the media ownership rules, as required by statute. One of Ofcom’s recommendations was to significantly liberalise the local cross media ownership rules. Government now intends to implement this liberalisation.

Once this liberalisation is implemented the only prohibition on local cross media ownership will be that one person cannot own in a local radio coverage area:

• a local analogue radio licence; and
• a regional Channel 3 licence whose potential audience includes at least 50% of that radio stations potential audience; and
• one or more local newspapers which have a local market share of 50% or more in the coverage area ( the Remaining Rule).

The Secretary of State (Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport) has now asked Ofcom to look at the feasibility and implications of removing the Remaining Rule. The Secretary of State is required by statute to consult with the Regulator before making any changes to the media ownership rules which Ofcom has not already recommended.

In considering this request, Ofcom has updated the evidence for changes since the November 2009 recommendation. In summary, there are two relevant developments.

Firstly, the evidence shows a significant deterioration in the revenues available for local / regional newspapers between 2008 and 2009, accompanied by continued structural pressure on television and radio as the internet increases its share in a total advertising market that has been under pressure from broader economic circumstances. While there are signs of a recovery in the general advertising market this year, as noted in the original report, these structural challenges are unlikely to ease.

Secondly, Ofcom notes that Government policy in relation to local media has changed significantly since the  original recommendations were published. Government has placed emphasis on local media, in particular making proposals for local television, which have the potential to have a positive impact on both the diversity and plurality of news and information at the local level. Although this remains in development, and is therefore speculative at this stage, it is clearly a relevant development.

The issue that Ofcom highlighted in earlier advice was that a combined ownership of the channel 3 television licence, a local commercial radio station and the main local newspaper(s) may deliver too much control over the local news agenda into the hands of one person or company. Limited plurality of news and opinion in a local area could restrict local debate and accountability. This remains a serious consideration which needs to be weighed against the arguments for further relaxation.

As Ofcom’s report notes, the cornerstone of plurality in this context is the combination of the BBC and the commercial sector. With a BBC service (television at the regional level, radio and web based services more locally) there is a guarantee of a minimum of at least two providers of local news.

It is also important to note that competition policy may be relevant to the extent that competition authorities prevent concentrations in local media through the merger regime. The Secretary of State (Business, Innovation and Skills) also has the right to intervene in cross media mergers where he considers that it raises public interest considerations, including considerations of the need for there to be sufficient plurality.

All three of these factors exist as safeguards in addition to the residual restriction on cross ownership of local commercial media.

Ultimately, whether the remaining rule should be removed is of course a matter of judgement and one which is rightly made by Government and Parliament.

In making this judgement the risk of the concentration of control over local commercial news provision needs to be balanced against the arguments and factors which tend towards removal:

• Local media is facing significant economic pressure which the most recent evidence suggests is becoming more acute removing the remaining rule could allow local media greater options to consolidate to respond to these pressures.
• While only a limited group of consumers (5%) consider the internet their main source of local news, there is a growing diversity of local news available through non-traditional media. There are therefore increasingly alternative sources of plurality.
• As noted, there are protections for plurality which would continue to operate the combination of the BBC and the commercial sector, the public interest test operated by the Secretary of State and the merger regime would all continue to operate in parallel.

In addition, there are the potential benefits to diversity and plurality that may emerge in the coming years from the Governments policy on local television.

Finally, it is also worth noting that there is probably a reasonably low risk of the kind of consolidation that the remaining rule protects against actually occurring even if the rule was removed. At present the evidence suggests there is very limited interest in this form of consolidation.

The Secretary of State has also asked Ofcom to look at possible regulatory barriers to entry in local media. In summary, Ofcom does not consider that there are significant regulatory barriers to entry to the local media market (within Ofcom’s remit).

This paper is structured into four sections:

• Section 1 Context: in this section we set out why we are undertaking this further analysis of the local cross media ownership rules and what we recommended to the Secretary of State in 2009.
• Section 2 Updating the evidence: in this section we set out the evidence on which our 2009 recommendation was based. We also update our analysis for changes to the local media landscape since our 2009 recommendation.
• Section 3 Advice to the Secretary of State: in this section we set out the factors to be taken into account in considering removal of the Remaining Rule.
• Section 4 Wider regulatory issues: in this section we look at possible regulatory barriers to entry to local media, within our remit.

The full document is available here [PDF].

Source.

This is a practical, do-it-yourself guide for leaders and facilitators wishing to strengthen their work through introducing a rights-based approach to participatory video. Compact and beautifully laid out with illustrations and dynamic links to videos and photostories this toolkit is eminently practical; full of exercises and techniques, facilitator checklists, case-studies, templates, resource lists and copies of key human rights instruments.

The publication of ’Rights-Based Approach to Participatory Video: toolkit’ was supported by funds from the UNDP Global Human Rights Strengthening Programme (GHRSP) through the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) implemented by the UNDP on behalf of the GEF partnership of agencies.

InsightShare’s ‘Introduction to Participatory Video’ courses continue for the 6th consecutive year with the next round scheduled for the 20th – 24th September 2010 and 14th – 17th June 2011.  The new and very popular 2-day ‘Editing for Participatory Video’ course on the weekend is scheduled to immediately follow the introductory course (25th & 26th September 2010 / 18th & 19th June 2011).  Download a course brochure and booking form here.

Finally….why not join the Google Group?
InsightShare have started a Google Group for all those who are interested in exchanging ideas, challenges and learning about participatory video. The page is at: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/insightshare-followers

The Highways Agency is making the digital station’s content available free of charge to community radio stations across England. Community Media Association members with Ofcom licences are able to re-broadcast audio reports for their region, and access Trafficlink’s “Regis” information database as already used by commercial and BBC stations.

Traffic Radio’s regional reports cover six areas across England, and are recorded by Trafficlink broadcasters in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and London.

The service is administered by the Community Media Association. To receive the service, please complete this form, sign and return to the CMA.  Could you also let us know what your nearest BBC/ILR stations are (to set up the Regis profiles) and which Traffic Radio regional report you want to receive.

Once we have your agreements back, we will check eligibility (CMA membership is up to date, full time licensed station etc – sorry re RSLs, we are hopeful that the scheme might be extended to RSLs in the future) – and we will forward details to GTN, who will then issue passwords and logins for Regis and Content Bank.

Community stations outside the new deal are able to receive a comprehensive travel information service from Global Traffic Network’s “Network Drive Light” package – please contact GTN directly about this.

Speech by the Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey, to the Intellect Consumer
Electronics Conference, 8th July 2010

Introduction

Thank you to Intellect for inviting me to speak today.

The early twentieth century US President Woodrow Wilson said “if you
want to make enemies then try to change something”.

Or to quote Lord Fowler from earlier this week digital radio
switchover could cause a ‘major row’.

We must not under estimate the challenge of radio’s transition from
analogue to digital.  The relationship between the radio and listeners
is a personal and emotional one.

That is why I would like to make it clear today that the needs and
concerns of radio listeners will be absolutely central to our approach
to Digital Radio Switchover.

So.

We will not switch over until the vast majority of listeners have
voluntarily adopted digital radio over analogue.

We will not switch over to digital until digital coverage matches FM.

And we will not switch off FM, FM will remain a platform for small
local and community radio for as long as these services want it.

Nevertheless, it is essential that we maintain the momentum towards
digital, and that we start to really pick up the pace and make some
real progress.

That means a digital radio Switchover in 2015 remains a target we
aspire to, but for which a lot more work needs to be done before we
can make it a cast-iron commitment.

Why Digital Radio?

I want to make it clear why I believe that digital radio is both
necessary and beneficial to radio listeners in this country.

Digital radio is a huge opportunity for radio and for radio listeners.

Britain already leads the world in digital radio.  Three of the
leading digital radio manufacturers, Roberts, Pure and Bush, are
hugely successful British companies who are already taking their
success here abroad.

Some of our commercial radio companies are world-beating, with the
potential to become international media companies.

And of course the BBC’s radio content is some of the best in the world.

But most importantly of all, consumers in the UK should not be
limited, in effect, to eight national radio stations across FM and AM.
If I were to suggest today that TV viewers should go back to five
main channels, there would be outrage.  I hope in a few years time,
when we approach switchover, radio listeners will see the benefits of
multi-channel national radio in exactly the same way that television
viewers have seen such benefits.

Perhaps we have already seen a glimpse of this in the public outcry
about the proposed closure of 6 Music.

Digital radio is the opportunity to strengthen, to innovate, and to engage.

Digital radio is already a good consumer proposition.  Twenty-four
percent of radio listening is already on digital and over 11 million
digital radio receivers have been sold.

But it can, and I believe will, be much more.

The FM spectrum is now full and it simply does not have the capacity
to deliver the range of services and functions that digital can.

The Cs

The challenge for us all  is to overcome the remaining barriers and
allow people to make the choice to move to digital radio.

Conveniently, they all begin with a C:

• Content
• Coverage
• Cars

However, there is a fourth C which is even more important:

Consumers

Consumers, not government, through their listening habits and
purchasing decisions will ultimately determine whether a switchover to
digital can happen.  The challenge for the radio industry is to drive
consumer demand by providing great content.  In this I agree with Lord
Fowler’s recent comments that ‘the public have got to be taken with
the process’.

Manufacturers and broadcasters will need to work together to launch
new stations and add value to existing ones, and to develop new
functions which are easy to use and engaging, such as the ability to
record and pause programmes, or to download music and other content as
you hear it.

The BBC is central here, because it currently has more than 50% of all
radio listening.  The furore and subsequent saving of 6 Music shows
that the BBC is already building a fantastic portfolio of digital
radio content, which has already established a passionate following,
myself included.

So we need more 6 Musics. And not just from the BBC but also from the
commercial sector.

But the BBC must not simply provide great digital content.  It must
also lead the way in the promotion of digital, across all its
platforms, as a medium through which to access all radio

But great content and promotion is not enough if your digital radio
can’t receive a signal.  So coverage is crucial.  Coverage of digital,
specifically DAB, has long been understood as a barrier.  However,
action to increase coverage has been far too slow.

There is only so much the commercial sector can do, both in terms of
their own financial resources, and their specific commercial needs.
The key to coverage has always been, and remains, again, the BBC.  The
BBC has already got us to a position where we have 90 per cent
coverage.  But I believe it can do more over the next two years,
especially at a local level, even before we begin negotiations on the
licence fee.

In-car, or for the techies amongst you, “in-vehicle digital
conversion” is a challenge we did not have to address in the Digital
TV Switchover.  However, in radio it is essential.  There has been
some significant progress in this area and we believe the inclusion of
digital radio in the vast majority of new vehicles is a matter of
when, not if.  I intend to meet with the major car manufacturers
shortly and will re-affirm our view that digital radio should be
standard in all cars by the end of 2013. This is of course only half
of the answer.  There are many millions of cars already on the roads
and there needs to be an affordable and easy conversion solution.

I believe we should be clear about the scale and complexity of the
problem.   There are already some excellent in-car convertors on the
market but we should not assume that the market alone will provide the
solution for all motorists or vehicles. However, I am confident that
such a solution is achievable with a joined up and concerted effort.
Fundamentally, it will need integrity and innovation from the
manufacturers, many of which are represented here today.

Related to this will be radios built into mobile phones – or perhaps I
should call them cell phones to fit with my C-based approach.  I will
be talking to mobile phone manufacturers over the next few months to
encourage them to replicate the efforts of the car manufacturers, so
that digital radios are available in new phones from the end of 2013.

Myth Busting

Before I give more details of the Action Plan I would like to take a
few minutes to address some of the common complaints about digital
radio.

First, radio’s digital future will not be delivered by the internet
alone; at least not in the immediate future.  There would be massive
implications for capacity and energy use if all listeners listened to
the radio on the internet.

Instead we believe radio’s future is a mixed ecology, with DAB, which
is mobile, free at the point of access and cost efficient providing
the ‘spine’ of the digital radio offering and the internet providing
the added value.  We have already seen a trend towards the integration
of internet and DAB in radio receivers.  We welcome this not least
because it allows the listener to decide which platform best suits
them.

While on the point of technologies I should say that we believe that
DAB remains the most appropriate digital broadcast platform for the
UK.  A change in technology, to say DAB+, offers little benefit to the
industry or listeners compared to the impact it would have.  The
benefits of DAB+ are primarily a more effective use of spectrum, but
DAB already offers significant capacity for new services and there are
only so many which the market can sustain.  DAB+ offers very little in
terms of data services and functionality which can’t also be achieved
through DAB.  However, we must protect against any future change and
DAB+ must be a feature of future digital radio receivers.

I would like also to tackle the issue of energy consumption.  We have
today published independent research, commissioned jointly with the
Departments of Environment and Business.  This shows that the
difference in energy consumption between digital and analogue radios
is minimal – and certainly not the ten, twenty or even hundred times
that is often quoted.  The research also shows that energy consumption
of digital radios continues to improve.

However, energy consumption of digital radio receivers represents only
half of the story.  There are significant energy savings for the
transmission networks.  At a national level the transmission provider,
Arqiva, believes that transmitting Classic FM via DAB uses less than
7% of the electricity of transmitting the service via FM, while at a
local and regional level the energy savings are around 50%.  We
believe this is a positive story to tell and we will be conducting
more independent research in this area.

Another myth is that, by switching over to digital, we plan to switch
off FM.  We do not.  Let me repeat this – we do not intend to switch
off FM.

FM will be available to local listeners as long as is necessary.
There is a fear that when the majority of listeners listen to digital,
FM will somehow become a ghetto,.  This will not be the case.  Even
today, digital radios allow a relatively seamless transition between
digital and FM.  Integrated station guides should, in future, allow
the listener to switch seamlessly between their favourite stations,
oblivious to whether they are broadcast on digital or FM.

Finally, there is concern about the cost to the consumer of buying new
digital radios.  There are more than 130 million FM radios in the
country, so this is a big issue.  But consumers are already switching
voluntarily, just as they did with television.  The key drivers, as I
have said, are content and cost.  A good basic digital radio now costs
around £35, and I am confident in the next couple of years the cost
will fall.  However, there is clearly a balance to be struck between
delivering the innovations needed to build a strong consumer
proposition and driving down costs.  It is an issue that many of you
here today know better than me.  Initiatives such as the industry’s
radio amnesty will help consumers to switch, and I am looking to
retailers to come up with innovative schemes to help consumers make
the transition as quickly and easily as possible.

Switchover

I would like to finish with another C, although I sense as a running
theme this is starting to wear a little thin.  However, here goes.

Certainty

We recognise that that for businesses, opportunities also mean risks
and that innovation requires investment.  We also acknowledge that
uncertainty is not a great incentive for either risk-taking or
investment.

That is why today we have published the Digital Radio Action Plan.
The Action Plan reaffirms the Government commitment to a Digital Radio
Switchover programme   Key elements of the plan include:

• a detailed assessment of the impact of switching over to digital radio, including the costs weighed against the benefits, how to ensure
• rural areas are not left behind and the need for a proper environmental plan
• agreeing a plan for DAB coverage build-out to match FM
• devising a kitemarking scheme for digital radio devices underpinned by a set of minimum receiver specifications
• developing a strategic marketing and communications plan
• determining the case for a Helpscheme and how it might be implemented

More importantly it sets out for the first time the means under which
a switchover date could be set.

On this point I should be clear.  We agree that 2015 is an appropriate
target date; a point at which all parts of the supply-chain can focus
on.  If, and it is a big if, the consumer is ready we will support a
2015 switchover date.

But as I have already said it is the consumer, through their listening
habits and purchasing decisions, who will ultimately determine the
case for switchover.  Therefore, the target date is secondary to the
criteria.  We will only consider implementing a Digital Radio
Switchover once at least 50% of all listening is already on digital,
or to put it another way when analogue listening is in the minority.
The decision will also be dependent on significant improvements to DAB
coverage at a national and local level.

I would like to leave you with a final thought.  This afternoon I
chaired my first Ministerial Group meeting for Digital Switchover of
Television.  A key element of the success of the TV Switchover
programme to date has been to co-ordinate and focus the efforts of
broadcasters, transmission providers, manufacturers, consumers and
Government.  This will again be essential in the lead up to a Digital
Radio Switchover. Therefore, I hope that today represents just the
beginning of the dialogue with you all.

Thank you.

Source: http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/ministers_speeches/7226.aspx

Ofcom has published its Annual Report 2009/10 covering the financial year to 31 March 2010.

The document may be found here:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/files/2010/07/annrep0910.pdf

Location: http://schmap.it/xYzvd7

Jaqui Devereux from the CMA will attend. Live reports and a summary with photos to follow from this site:

http://communityradioseminar.blogspot.com/

The hashtag #crw will be used for the Community  Radio Wales event tomorrow on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/communityradiow

Ofcom has announced the award of seven new community radio licences to:

Betar Bangla (Stratford, east London)
Betar Bangla will provide a radio service for the Bengali community of
Tower Hamlets and the east end of London. The station is committed to
providing people of British-Bengali heritage in east London
opportunities to engage with the station through training and
broadcasting. Betar Bangla will offer a platform for output in Bengali
and Sylheti.

Generation Radio (Clapham Park, south west London)
Generation Radio aims to bring together the diverse community that
makes up the Clapham Park area by helping to inform, promote and
highlight local initiatives. The station will offer a local radio
service to residents and opportunities to volunteer with the service.

Training opportunities will include broadcasting training, as well as
accredited courses and workshops.

Greenwich Kasapah (Greenwich, south east London)
Greenwich Kasapah will be an innovative and primarily speech-based
community radio service targeting the African communities in and
around Greenwich. The service will promote dialogue, local
participation and community cohesion. The station will offer training
in media and ICT as well as outreach to schools, youth groups and
community organisations to encourage development of media and
communications skills.

Saturday 3rd July at the Innovation Forum, Salford University.

The cost for CMA member delegates is £30 (including VAT), for non-members £82.25.

All details including agenda for the day and for the AGM can be found on:

http://conference.commedia.org.uk

We look forward to seeing you in Salford,

Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport
8 June 2010
The Hospital Club, London

Thank you for coming today. And thanks too to Will and The Hospital
Club for hosting this event, and for all the great work they are doing
to celebrate, support and nurture some of our most exciting creative
talent.

Thank you to the people who played a great role to implement media
policy, Jaqui Devereux, Roger Parry, Claire Enders and also to
the team at DCMS for their professionalism in coping with the change
of government.

I wanted to set out this government’s plans for the media sector in my
first month as culture secretary and my priorities in different areas.
Paternity leave very nearly made that impossible, so I am most
grateful to my wife for having our baby two weeks early to ensure I
didn’t miss the deadline.

I consider my responsibility for media policy to be one of the most
sacred I have. This is because the way our media operates – indeed its
very existence as a voice wholly independent of government – is
totally fundamental to our existence as a free society.

Karl Popper rightly thought that the key to both freedom and progress
is the existence of open debate between plural and diverse voices. He
would no doubt have agreed with Thomas Paine who said that “those who
expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the
fatigue of supporting it”.

If we are to promote the plurality of voices that all of us agree
matters so much, I want to argue today that our regulatory structure
has been left long out of date by changes in technology. We need a
radical rethink – and in the process perhaps be prepared for some of
the fatigue Thomas Paine was talking about.

A strong media landscape

But my starting point is actually a positive and not a negative one.

We have an extraordinarily strong and diverse media landscape in this
country, combined with a remarkable wealth of talent in our creative
industries.

For decades, our broadcasting sector has benefitted from a
well-established public service tradition, backed by an essential
commitment from politicians on all sides to the principles of
editorial and operational independence.

By mixing broadcasters with public service traditions with hungry and
innovative private sector players – public funding mechanisms
alongside commercial financing models – a broadcasting landscape of
real quality and maturity has emerged.

Partly driven by this, the growth of the creative industries has far
outstripped that of the wider economy – averaging around 5% per year
in the ten years to 2007 – while employment in these industries has
continued to increase by an impressive 1.5% during the downturn.

Indeed, key areas of the sector have held up very strongly despite the
recession.

Like film, where UK box office takings reached a record-breaking £944
million last year, and UK films grossed $2 billion at the box office
worldwide;

Or independent TV production, which remains a bigger industry in the
UK than anywhere in Europe or the Americas;

Or the video games industry, which now generates around £2 billion in
global sales;

Or the music industry, where the international success of artists such
as Lily Allen and Florence Welch meant that 1 in 10 albums sold in
North America last year were by British acts.

And there is one thing that binds nearly all of these together,
something of quite simply extraordinary significance for Britain’s
economic future:

Nearly all of these industries involve the creation of digital content.

Why does this matter? Just as the Silk Road and Pax Britannica opened
up trade in physical property, so the internet opens up trade in
digital property.

So for the country that is probably the second best in the world at
creating that digital property, this is a remarkable opportunity.

Missed opportunity

If we grasp it. And I am afraid it is an “if” and not a “when.”

Because in many ways we seem to have stood still while other countries
with far less to gain march ahead and steal our lunch.

A combination of recession and rapid technological advance has brought
what should be great British industries to their knees – whether
commercial TV, national newspapers or local commercial radio and
newspapers.

In an age of localism we have virtually no local TV stations in our
major cities, and Channel M in Manchester – one of the very few – has
recently been forced to shed most of its employees.

We are now ranked 33rd in the world when it comes to broadband speed,
with an average that is nearly 5 times slower than South Korea’s.

Some of our biggest creative companies – including the world’s largest
advertising agency WPP – have chosen to relocate abroad.

We’re in danger of allowing ourselves to be once again defined by the
old truism – that we provide the creativity and the rest of the world
makes the money.

Rather than accepting this as inevitable, we ask why it was we
developed such creative strengths in the first place.

The answer is because at critical moments we have faced up to
technological change and not run away from it.

In broadcasting, for example, it wasn’t by reducing choice it was by
increasing it. We licensed ITV in 1955, Channel 4 in 1982, Five in
1997 and unleashed the cable and satellite revolution in the 1990s.

We provided choice and innovation. And a well-funded BBC safeguarded
quality and high standards.

As I have mentioned our national broadcaster, let me just say this:

The BBC is a great national institution; quite rightly the envy of the world.

Of course there are things we want it to do differently and better,
but we recognise that core to its success has been its independence
from political control. Nothing that this government does will
compromise either the independence of the BBC or the quality of its
output.

But core to the success of British broadcasting overall has been not
just a strong BBC, but also strong competition to the BBC. We need to
make sure that continues as well.

Enough theory and principles.

Let me now focus on two specific areas where I want to take immediate
action to improve the competitiveness and health of our media
landscape.

Rapid roll-out of superfast broadband

First of all broadband.

Wherever I go in the country, businesses tell me that access to fast,
reliable broadband is increasingly essential to their competitive
success.

Other countries are already moving ahead with rolling out next
generation, superfast broadband based on fibre optics rather than
copper.

The USA, France, Germany and Australia have all announced
comprehensive national initiatives with ambitious headline targets.

Singapore wants universal access to superfast broadband by 2012, by
which time Korea plans to have provided one million homes with 1
gigabit per second connections – a speed which can download a two hour
film in just 12 seconds.

But in this country, the legacy was – in the same timescale – a
commitment to a paltry 2 Mbps universal connection. Necessary, of
course, but pitifully unambitious compared to a Korean goal 500 times
faster.

It is a scandal that nearly 3 million households in this country still
cannot access 2 Mbps broadband speeds, and less than 1% of the country
is able to access the internet using modern fibre optic technology –
compared to an OECD average of around 10%.

Some people ask why we need these speeds when the iPlayer can manage
on less than one Mbps.

They are missing the point.

Superfast broadband is not simply about doing the same things faster.
It’s about doing totally new things – creating a platform on which a
whole generation of new businesses can thrive.

The Federation of Small Businesses has estimated that a superfast
network could add £18 billion to GDP and create 60,000 jobs. NESTA
thinks it could be ten times that – 600,000 new jobs.

We may not know the precise number but no one is any doubt about the
economic impact. A country that is so good at creating digital content
has an enormous amount to gain from developing the infrastructure over
which it can be distributed, bought and sold.

But it isn’t only about business. Next generation broadband will open
up new opportunities to improve public services such as education and
healthcare.

The biggest driver of high speed broadband in Korea, where I was in
January, is children getting help with their homework. Telemedicine is
next – and already patients undergo heart surgery on the remote island
of Guam supervised remotely by surgeons in Hawaii.

Of course there are significant costs involved, and wherever possible
the market should lead the way, which is why we warmly welcome BT’s
announcement to invest a further £1 billion in upgrading its network
to reach two-thirds of the population is very welcome.

Virgin Media’s extension of superfast broadband – including its trials
of a 200Mbps service in Coventry – is another positive step.

But I have always recognised that there has to be a role for
government as well as the market.

Both in driving up demand for broadband by putting as many services as
possible online.

And also – an objective I share with Caroline Spelman and her
department – government must ensure we do not open up a new digital
divide between the urban areas most attractive to infrastructure
providers and rural communities where superfast broadband may never be
viable.

So today I am announcing a first series of actions that will lead to
the UK having a broadband infrastructure that meets the needs of all
its citizens and businesses, and that will stand comparison with
anywhere in the world.

First of all, as mentioned, the government supports the commitment to
ensure a universal service level of 2Mbps as the very minimum that
should be available. We will use a proportion of the underspend on
digital switchover to fund this.

Promoting a digitally-enabled Britain is one of the core purposes of
the BBC, and this will bring services like the iPlayer within the
reach of many more people.

Here I would also like to pay tribute to the excellent work that
Martha Lane Fox has done as the UK’s Digital Inclusion Champion and
through the Race Online campaign.

Ed Vaizey and I are looking forward to working with her to extend the
benefits of internet access to the 12.5 million people who are
currently not benefitting from the digital revolution.

Secondly, I am announcing 3 market testing projects that will bring
superfast broadband to rural and hard-to-reach areas.

These are projects that will not only benefit those living in these
areas, but that will provide us with vital information about how we
can best target government intervention and make next generation
broadband viable in even the most challenging areas.

Broadband Delivery UK – the organisation which will be the delivery
vehicle for these policies and accountable to me – will hold an
industry event on 15th July to provide further details, and to
describe how the procurement of these testing projects will be
achieved.

Access to infrastructure

But thirdly I also want to address the biggest cost involved in
rolling out new fibre optic networks: digging up the roads.

Cut these costs and, straight away, investing in superfast broadband
becomes a substantially more attractive proposition.

That’s why I want companies to be able to take advantage of the
infrastructure that already exists – the ducts and poles of telecoms
companies, the sewers and other utility networks.

We said in our Coalition Agreement that we will require BT and other
infrastructure providers to allow the use of their assets to deliver
superfast broadband.

So I wholeheartedly welcome Ofcom’s proposals to open up access to
BT’s ducts and telegraph poles to promote further investment – and the
positive and constructive attitude BT has shown to this development.

But I would like to go further. If legislation is necessary to require
other infrastructure providers to open up their assets as well, then –
as announced in the Queen’s speech – I am ready to bring it to the
House as soon as parliamentary time can be found.

I know there have been some interesting pilots, whether by Geo in
London, Fibrecity in Bournemouth and Dundee, or Virgin in Berkshire.

I want to hear from you what you have learnt from these and what the
government can do to further stimulate private sector investment in
next generation networks.

So we will be publishing a paper setting out our latest thinking on
this at our industry event on 15th July.

On the basis of this, I will be inviting businesses interested in
investing in superfast broadband to tell us how infrastructure sharing
would impact on their plans. And we will then ask infrastructure
owners to tell me how we can best work together to make this happen.

Our goal is simple: within this parliament we want Britain to have the
best superfast broadband network in Europe.

A new vision for local media

The second priority area for action that I want to focus on today is
local media.

As many people here will know, I have long believed that the lack of
high quality local TV is one of the biggest gaps in British
broadcasting.

Why? Because, ironically, in an age of globalism people feel the need
for stronger not weaker connections to the communities in which they
live.

And this government is committed to strengthening those ties by giving
local communities far greater control over their own destinies.

That is why Eric Pickles’ department has opened up all items of local
government expenditure over £500 to full transparency.

And why we support more elected mayors and elected police commissioners.

But for this to happen we need strong local media to nurture a sense
of local identity and hold locally-elected politicians to account.

It happens elsewhere.

New York has 6 local TV stations – compared to London which has not one.

Birmingham Alabama, an example some of you may have heard me use
before, has 8 local TV stations – despite being a quarter the size of
our Birmingham that, again, doesn’t even have one.

Paris, Lyon and Marseilles have local TV. Why not Glasgow, Sheffield
and Bristol?

Unfortunately even as politicians have paid lip service to localism,
our broadcasting ecology has pursued the polar opposite model – with a
large proportion of news beamed shamelessly from the centre.
Making the vision a reality

The six million dollar question, of course, is not about the
desirability of local TV but its viability.

The local advertising market in the UK is quite different from that in
the US, and this probably represents the greatest single challenge for
making local TV work on a sustainable basis.

At the same time, technology has massively lowered the costs of
broadcasting. It is now possible to set up a news studio for as little
as £250,000.

And consumer research has shown consistently high levels of public
support for local news stories.

So how do we intend to progress this ambition?

Firstly, by recognising that plans for Independently Funded News
Consortia were misguided.

They had the positive benefit of stimulating new and imaginative
thinking amongst local media companies for which I am grateful – and I
want to carry on talking to those who submitted bids about your ideas.

But, fundamentally, they were about subsidising the existing regional
news system in a way that would have blocked the emergence of new and
vibrant local media models fit for the digital age.

They risked turning a whole generation of media companies into subsidy
junkies, focusing all their efforts not on attracting viewers but on
persuading ministers and regulators to give them more cash.

That’s why I am today announcing that the savings from the  IFNC
pilots will be used instead to support the market testing plans for
the roll-out of superfast broadband mentioned earlier.

Secondly, I can announce that I will be accepting Ofcom’s
recommendations on reforming local cross-media ownership rules –
meaning that those rules will be significantly relaxed to allow local
newspapers to own local commercial radio stations and set up local TV
stations as well as benefit from greater economies of scale.

But in addition I have asked Ofcom to go further and look whether we
should remove all cross-media ownership rules at a local level.

Consumers are hopping freely from platform to platform. Media
companies need to be able to follow their customers – and a sensible
regulatory environment would allow them to do just that whilst
ensuring concerns about local monopolies were sensibly addressed.

I will therefore update these rules and bring secondary legislation to
the House to enact these changes this summer.

Thirdly, I want to ensure that, as government, we are doing everything
we can to make new local media models viable in this country.

Local broadcasting can be supported by a number of potential sources
of revenue – whether advertising, sponsorship, product placement, the
sub-letting of spare capacity or carriage fees.

But I want to settle once and for all what needs to change to make
local broadcasting economically viable in the UK.

So today I am announcing that I have asked Nicholas Shott, Head of UK
Investment Banking at Lazard, to look at the potential for
commercially viable local television stations within the local media
landscape right across the nations and regions of the UK.

And I have asked Nick to look at how a modernised, updated regulatory
environment could help nurture a new generation of hungry, ambitious
and profitable local media companies.

Based on his findings, I will be publishing a full, local media action
plan in the autumn.

Conclusion

I began by saying that I have great faith and confidence in the
strength of our digital and creative industries.

We are at a technological turning point of huge significance.

And because we are used to producing products of global quality and
global appeal, the opportunity for us is greater than for many others.
Not just to strengthen economic capital, but social and political
capital as well.

Shakespeare said: “There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken
at the flood, leads on to fortune.”

I want us to grasp that fortune and not be overwhelmed by the flood.

http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/ministers_speeches/7132.aspx