Darling: Media industry to get £2.5b public fund

The media, telecoms and creative industries are set to gain access to a new £2.5 billion public fund aimed at creating more highly skilled jobs, according to Alistair Darling.

In his budget announcement yesterday, the chancellor said: “There is £2.5 billion for business, to encourage investment in the industries and high-paid high-skilled jobs of the future.”

In addition, Darling unveiled a new £750 million Strategic Investment Fund to provide financial support for businesses in the digital arena and regionally important businesses, which could include local media companies that are struggling in the current economic downturn.

The government has also pledged to pursue “broadband for all”, which was backed by prime minister Gordon Brown last week (see NewsLine), at a speed for two megabits per second, by no later than 2012.

The Budget Report said this will “offer advantages to UK businesses, both those located in areas that will benefit from the network upgrade and those that make use of online channels to engage with their customers”.

This is viewed as critical for the UK’s digital media players to continue growing at the levels of recent years, according to reports.

The report also said the government plans to consult with the BBC Trust on how the money saved from the Digital Switchover Help Scheme, once it ends on completion of the digital TV switchover in 2012, can be drawn on to fund its broadband promise.

“It is vital to ensure the entire country and economy benefits from the digital age. So I am allocating extra funding for digital investment to help to extend the broadband network to almost every community,” Darling said.

“This will allow us to deliver the vision set out in the Digital Britain report – making sure everyone can benefit from this communications revolution and create thousands more skilled jobs.”

Another measure relevant to the media sector in Darling’s budget includes plans for the Local Government Association to publish “a toolkit of actions to help local authorities support creative industries in their areas”.