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Select Committee · Culture, Media and Sport Committee

Pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Media Bill

Status: Closed Opened: 19 Apr 2023 Closed: 5 Feb 2024 30 recommendations 5 conclusions 2 reports

The DCMS Committee is inviting views on a draft Bill aimed at modernising broadcasting legislation to help public service broadcasters meet the challenges created by the growth of on-demand services and new technology. The Government’s draft Media Bill , published last month, would broaden how broadcasters can meet their public service obligations and bring some …

Clear

Reports

2 reports
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Thirteenth Report - Draft Media Bill: Final Report HC 1807 22 Sep 2023 21 —
Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radio Measures HC 1287 21 Jul 2023 14 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

2 items
1 Recommendation Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radi… Accepted in Part

Provide Ofcom with clearer guidance on enforcing local radio's news obligations.

Local news and information is what makes many people turn to local radio and we agree that the Government should prioritise this area. However, we are concerned that Ofcom regards its responsibilities as unclear, especially given that the Government committed six years ago to providing greater clarity. We recommend the …

Government response. The government made technical changes to the Bill and updated Explanatory Notes to clarify local news obligations on the face of the Bill, but decided not to publish further separate guidance at this stage.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
14 Recommendation Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radi… Accepted in Part

Require Ofcom to consider resource implications when recommending radio service designation thresholds.

The absence of a full impact assessment of the radio provisions makes it difficult to ascertain how burdensome the preferred route provisions will be. However, the evidence we heard suggests that there will be far fewer routes required than platforms are anticipating. Nonetheless we recognise that platforms will not only …

Government response. The government partially accepted the recommendation, stating it does not anticipate disproportionate burden but has amended the Bill to require that a station’s request for a particular route must be reasonable, providing additional assurances to platforms.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Oral evidence sessions

4 sessions
Date Witnesses
4 Jul 2023 Colin Browne · Voice of the Listener and Viewer, Kate Biggs · Ofcom, Kate Davies · Ofcom, Robert Specterman-Green · Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Rt Hon Sir John Whittingdale MP · Department for Culture, Media and Sport View ↗
27 Jun 2023 Alistair Law · Sky, Anna Hatfield · Amazon, Benjamin King · Netflix, Lewis Walmesley-Browne · techUK, Richard Stern · TuneIn, Rosie Johnston-Luff · Google View ↗
20 Jun 2023 Clare Sumner CBE · BBC, Elin Morris · S4C, John Morrison · MG Alba, Martin Steers · UK Community Radio Network, Matt Payton · Radiocentre, Paul Oldfield · BBC View ↗
6 Jun 2023 Khalid Hayat · Channel 4, Magnus Brooke · ITV, Mitchell Simmons · Paramount View ↗

Correspondence

1 letter
DateDirectionTitle
21 Nov 2023 To cttee Letter from Kate Biggs, Director of Public Policy, Ofcom, relating to Ofcom’s r…