Local media ownership rules to be relaxed

The new minister for communications, technology and broadcasting is thought to be in the process of recommending the relaxation of local media ownership rules in a bid to help struggling newspaper groups.

Lord Carter is expected to approve consolidation in local media markets in his interim Digital Britain report, which is due to be published later this month, according to reports.

The main recommendation in the document is understood to focus on helping newspaper groups that have been hit by the economic downturn, by allowing them to acquire local radio and TV stations as well as increasing their online offerings.

The government hopes the new measures will boost the regional newspaper market, which has been particularly hit by the advertising slowdown, and stop further redundancies.

A number of publishers have claimed that the existing UK ownership rules have slowed them down and in some cases forced them to close titles.

The current rules were designed after a major review six years ago to “strike a balance between ensuring a degree of plurality on the one hand and providing freedom to companies to expand, innovate and invest on the other”.

They aimed to “prevent/limit consolidation within a media market or between markets to decrease the likelihood that any one owner wields too much power”.

Ofcom has so far found no reason to alter the existing rules under the 2003 Communications Act, despite being obliged to review them every three years.

However, in June last year members of the House of Lords communications committee proposed easing ownership restrictions relating to local newspapers and radio.

Newspaper groups have since called for the current rules to be reformed, with the complicated points system dismissed, in order to match the “modern, broader media landscape”.

Ofcom: 020 7981 3040 www.ofcom.org.uk