The Government’s plans to relax the media ownership regulations came under increasing threat in the House of Lords yesterday, as support grew for Lord Puttnam’s proposal to impose public interest tests on large media groups wanting to buy Channel Five.
Reports suggest that peers from all parties have vowed to vote down the Communications Bill if the amendment, which would see a public interest test applied to all major cross media acquisitions (see
Puttnam Plan Could End Media Ownership Deadlock), is rejected.
In its current form the Communications Bill will clear the way for large newspaper groups, such as Rupert Murdoch’s News International, to take over Five and non-EU investors to own other major UK broadcasting assets (see Puttnam Threatens To Quash Communications Bill).
These proposals have met with fierce criticism from peers, who are concerned that the relaxation of the media ownership rules will allow Rupert Murdoch to achieve “unprecedented dominance” of the UK broadcasting landscape.
The Guardian claims Lord Puttnam is currently working on a draft of his proposal with Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell’s, officials. However, the Communications Bill is just a week away from report stage in the House of Lords and if the Government has not backed the revised proposal by then, peers are threatening to reject the entire Bill.
Jowell is keen for the Bill to make its way through Parliament before the summer recess in the third week of July. Failing this, the Government will have a final chance to pass the legislation in the early autumn. However, speculation suggests that if this proves unsuccessful, the Bill will effectively be dead.
The Bill’s failure would scupper the proposed merger of Carlton and Granada and prevent the consolidation of the commercial radio industry.
