[cma-l] Changing Key Commitments - Ofcom Consultation DEADLINE Monday 21st

[Jaqui Devereux]

Dear all

The closing date for responses to Ofcom's Consultation on the Regulation 
of Community Radio Services - considering changes to a station's key 
commitments is Monday 21st July.  There are three questions as below.

Please find below the CMA's draft response, which will also be on our 
website very soon.  We would really like to know if you agree with our 
draft response, if not what you think we need to change.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Jaqui

Q1 Do you agree that a proposed change is likely to be substantial if it 
would change the target community, and/or change
the ‘character of service’ paragraph in the ‘key commitments’, and/or 
alternatively may need to be decided on a case-by-case basis?

The CMA agrees with Ofcom’s view that “character of the licensed 
service” should be taken to mean and include everything
set out in a station’s “key commitments” document.  In our view, 
substantial change to any one part of the key commitments
could be considered to fundamentally alter the character of the service. 
  However, we agree that this should be decided on a
case-by-case basis rather than tightening the interpretation of what 
would be considered “substantial”.  Should Ofcom decide to
operate on a case-by-case basis, the CMA would want there to be 
guidelines and examples in place to guide stations on what
might be considered a substantial change.

We do recognise that there may be cases where, prima facie, the proposed 
change appears substantial but could in practice
not be so.  For example, if the original target community as stated in 
the key commitments document itself changes over time,
this would need to be considered very carefully but might in the end 
mean that the station was still serving its community, albeit with
different characteristics than was the case when the original 
application was accepted.  The CMA would want Ofcom to ensure there
was robust evidence that this was the case.

Q2 Do you agree with each of the five additional criteria that Ofcom 
proposes to apply to any requests for changes to ‘key commitments’?
If not, why not?

The CMA agrees in principle with the five additional criteria to be 
applied.

  •	Community Radio characteristics of service – we fully support 
Ofcom’s view that it should not agree to any proposed change that
would lead to any conflict with the core ethos of community radio as 
laid out in the Community Radio Order.

  •	Time elapsed since the licence commenced - We agree that stations 
should operate for at least one year before Ofcom considers
any change in key commitments.  Where a change to key commitments is 
accepted, we would want the station to meet its revised key
commitments for at least one year before requesting any further changes.

•	Reason for the change - We agree that where a station wants to adjust 
its key commitments in order to better serve its community
it should be able to do so, provided this is properly evidenced 
including support from all parts of the community.  Such reasons might 
include,
among others, changing demographics of the station’s target population, 
changes in premises/transmission sites requiring technical
adjustments and changes in population density.

  •	Impact of the change - We agree that Ofcom should make an assessment 
of the impact of any proposed change and its effect on the
delivery of all aspects of the community radio service.  We think there 
would need to be some guidance on the factors Ofcom would take
into account when assessing impact.

  •	Avoidance of ‘format creep’ – We support Ofcom’s stance on ‘format 
creep’ and agree that sometimes a series of what seem to be
small changes to key commitments may, when put together, amount to a 
substantial change.

Q3 Do you have any further proposals for making the procedure more 
effective and/or appropriate, that you would like to bring to our attention?

The CMA would want any consultation on proposed changes to key 
commitments to be distributed widely (more widely than the Ofcom
email lists) so that all interested parties have the chance to respond, 
particularly members of the station’s initial target community.
There would also need to be safeguards in place to ensure that 
potentially vexatious responses to the consultation were not given
undue weight in Ofcom’s considerations.

Where a station goes forward with its application to change its key 
commitments, i.e. it goes into the public consultation period, the CMA
considers that it is important that the final decision is made by the 
Radio Licensing Committee as a matter of course.




-- 
Jaqui Devereux

Director
Community Media Association

15 Paternoster Row
Sheffield
S1 2BX

+44 114 279 5219


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