Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 6
Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radio Measures
Published 21 Jul 2023
Paragraph 33
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Media Bill All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The future risks to radio are not confined to voice-activated devices. Platforms can make it very hard for car drivers to find radio, simply by self-preferencing their own or others’ content and leaving listeners to swipe through later pages to find their choice. Connected car manufacturers and the providers of in-car systems could choose not to offer broadcast radio at all and can control which apps are available. As a result, we are concerned that the Government may have overestimated the extent to which listeners are easily able to find their preferred stations in in-car systems. Noting the Government’s current position that in-car infotainment systems should not be included within the scope of the Bill, we recommend that the Government and Ofcom should proactively keep this issue under close review. Noting the Government’s current position that in-car infotainment systems should not be included within the scope of the Bill, we recommend that the Government and Ofcom should proactively keep this issue under close review.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radio Measures (HC 1287), paragraph 33, 21 July 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 17 November 2023.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's reports and says it has amended the Bill in response to a number of recommendations, while declining others, including changing the prominence descriptor from "appropriate" to "significant".
- On genres, the Government does not agree that reverting to a list of specific genre requirements is compatible with modernising the remit, but has amended the Bill to refer to an "appropriate range of genres". It accepts the second recommendation, on Ofcom recommending new content categories.
- On prominence, it has "decided not to change from 'appropriate' to 'significant'", citing flexibility across different user interfaces and operability concerns.
- On listed events, it has amended the Bill to allow Ofcom to draw up a list of 'relevant services' to close the streaming loophole. On digital rights, it is "considering this issue" and plans to set out more detail "in due course".
- On video-on-demand, it accepts the recommendation to lay a list of services before Parliament no fewer than 5 sitting days before designation, but continues with its tiered approach.