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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
4 Recommendation Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radi… Acknowledged

Include Media Bill with radio provisions in next parliamentary legislative programme.

The radio industry has legitimate concerns about the potential for larger platforms to control access to stations and drive audiences elsewhere. While listening to radio still makes up the majority of audio consumed over smart speakers, and smart speakers only account for 14 percent of total radio listening, the balance …

Government response. The government welcomes the Committee's view and agrees on the importance of supporting UK radio and updating the regulatory framework through the Media Bill's provisions. However, the response does not explicitly commit to including the Bill in the legislative programme …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
9 Conclusion Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radi… Acknowledged

Government prefers Ofcom to define "significant" users for radio selection services.

We acknowledge the Government’s preference to avoid putting in primary legislation a number specifying what a “significant” number of users is and what “used by” means. In order to adapt to reflect changes in technology and audience habits, we believe that these terms may be best judged by Ofcom under …

Government response. The Government welcomes the Committee’s feedback and recognises that there may be situations where de-designation of a service is required, and the Bill has been amended to include a specific process for an RSS to apply for de-designation.
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…