Government To Face Opposition Over Media Ownership

The Government is set to ignore calls from a parliamentary committee to reverse its decision to allow the foreign ownership of UK media interests, according to reports in today’s press.

The proposals, which were outlined in the Government’s draft Communications Bill in May (see Draft Communications Bill Relaxes Cross Media Rules), would allow US media companies such as Disney, Viacom, AOL Time Warner and Rupert Murdoch’s News International to buy British TV and radio assets.

However, reports in today’s broadsheet newspapers claim that the committee, led by Lord Putnam, will recommend, when it meets on Wednesday, that the Government abandons its plans unless the US opens its markets in return. Such a ban would effectively end the chances of Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB buying Channel 5.

The Government does not appear willing to compromise on this issue and earlier in the month Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, said that the decision to open the UK media market to non-European investment was “right for the industry, the public and the country as a whole” (see Jowell Declares Britain Is Open For Business).

She dismissed concerns that the deregulation of the ownership rules would threaten the quality of British broadcasting and emphasised that Ofcom’s powers would be used to protect programming content.

DCMS: 020 7211 6200 www.culture.gov.uk

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