Influential Labour peer, Lord Puttnam, is believed to have warned the Government that he intends to lead a rebellion of peers opposed to the liberalisation of the cross-media ownership regulations.
It is understood that in a speech during the second reading of the Communications Bill in the House of Lords, Puttnam said the Bill contained “fatal flaws” that could lead to the destruction of the broadcasting ecology in Britain.
According to a report in today’s Guardian, Puttnam said that he would oppose “in every respect” proposals that would allow Channel Five to be taken over by large newspaper groups such as Rupert Murdoch’s News International.
He suggested that if News International acquired a significant stake in Channel Five, the Murdoch empire would achieve unprecedented dominance of the UK broadcasting landscape.
He reportedly outlined a scenario under which ITV’s public service obligations would be eased to allow it to compete with a “super-soaraway Five”. He warned that this could lead to a parallel increase in Channel 4’s public service burden, which could in turn bring about the weakening of the BBC.
Puttnam, who chaired the Joint Scrutiny Committee on the draft version of the Bill, also claimed that the Government was not guaranteeing the new super-regulator, Ofcom, sufficient funds to be effective. He said: “Either this house will require the Government to think again. Or the law of unintended consequences will bear down, and never again will any secretary of state be able to celebrate Britain as the home of the best free broadcast media in the world.”
Earlier this month he warned the Government that up to 60 Labour peers could rebel against the proposals for Channel Five unless an “imaginative concession” is made (see Puttnam Warns Of Defeat Over Channel Five Ownership).
However, the Government appears unwilling to budge on the issue of foreign ownership and Minister of State for E-Commerce and Competitiveness, Stephen Timms, recently expressed his confidence that the proposals will be included in the Communications Bill, when it becomes law later this year (see Government Unwilling To Budge On Foreign Ownership).
