Government to scrap local cross-media ownership rules by November
The government today published plans to scrap local cross-media ownership rules by the end of November.
According to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s Structural Reform Plan, Ofcom’s final recommendation on local cross-media ownership will be published at the end of November, following an investigation to be launched by the regulator this month.
The government also aims to license 10 to 20 local TV stations by the end of this parliament in 2015, starting from summer 2012.
However, it has pushed back the date given by labour for universal 2mbps broadband from 2012 to 2015.
Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “The next few years will be an incredibly exciting and busy time for my department and our sectors. In 2012, we host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and deliver the full and final transition from analogue to digital TV across the UK. The work of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will be centre stage.
“On top of this, our brilliant and innovative creative individuals and industries will dazzle and thrill us with groundbreaking and inspiring work. And the means by which we communicate, do business and deliver active citizenship will be well underway, with the dawning of a superfast broadband network – the best in Europe, by 2015.
“But there will be lots of challenges too. We need to help our world-renowned heritage, arts and culture sectors to develop a new funding model with increased philanthropy and the return of national Lottery money to its original clear focus. And we are committed to using the opportunity of London’s games to boost our world-class tourism offer and deliver a legacy of revitalised competitive sport in schools.
“So it is timely and fitting that we publish this blueprint today. Our task is huge, and made all the more daunting by the economic climate in which we will have to implement it, but this plan is achievable and I am absolutely confident we can deliver it.”