[cma-l] Election lobbying - please do your bit locally!

[Alan Coote]

Jaqui et al,

I totally agree, there would be next to no chance of top slicing 1% from the
license fee and thank you for your team's considered judgement. Let's hope
this rather wishful idea will be consigned to the bin.  


However, I feel that one very significant area the CMA should help is to
HELP COMMUNITY RADIO HELP ITSELF. To achieve this there are three things on
which I feel the CMA must concentrate its efforts.

1) Campaign for the proportionately restrictive regulations (read over
regulation) to be relaxed i.e. ownership and the 50% rule.

2) Campaign for an increase in transmitter power on FM for those stations in
geographically challenging areas. Now that many areas of the country will
not be able to accommodate new community radio services this make the case
even stronger.

3) Join with the smaller commercial station who are also without planned
access to digital to develop a medium / long term plan for DRM+

Regards


Alan

Alan Coote
Managing Director 
The Bay Radio
Office 01202 580200
Studio 01202 571028
Mobile 07801 518858

Email alan.coote at thebayradio.com
Web www.thebayradio.com      


 

          



-----Original Message-----
From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Jaqui Devereux
Sent: 23 April 2010 10:50 AM
To: 'CMA-L'
Subject: [cma-l] Election lobbying - please do your bit locally!

Dear all

Further to the election message put out yesterday by the CMA Council, we 
urge you to send it on, suitably amended to include your organisational 
details etc, also get it out to your local newspapers and anyone else 
you can think of!

A copy of the statement and of the letter we suggested earlier you could 
use as a template are both on our website:

www.commedia.org.uk

Thanks and happy campaigning!

Jaqui

Also, the Council did consider in depth whether the campaign should 
focus on one (or two or three!) per cent of the licence fee.  Their 
response is below:


In response to the discussion which took place on the CMA mailing list 
regarding the various options involving the television licence fee, the 
council spent considerable time deliberating on this issue and 
considering the feasibility of a campaign around these funds.

Whilst not being adverse to the idea the council came to a number of 
conclusions,

1)  It was felt the probability of successfully campaigning for these 
funds was small, it was decided that the time of CMA staff would be 
better applied to the continued campaigning for an increase in the 
community radio fund, and the eventual aim of a community media fund

2)  It is important the community media sector continues to be 
recognised for its community development outcomes, it was felt that 
successfully campaigning for part of the television licence fund whilst 
bringing much needed funds to the sector, could also potentially dilute 
this focus.

3)  We are not the only body showing an interest in these monies.  The 
commercial radio sector, Sky and other television channels are waiting 
(as are we!) for the chance to take advantage of any change in policy on 
distributing the licence fee to non-BBC organisations.  Council feel 
that if lobbying on the licence fee was successful that there would be 
little chance a substantial amount of this would be made available to 
the community media sector.  It is probable that the larger 
organisations with more political power would take a large chunk of any 
settlement.

The CMA will continue to push for more government departments to add to 
the community media pot and increase the fund substantially as well as 
becoming available to more than just licensed stations.

-- 
Jaqui Devereux

Director
Community Media Association

15 Paternoster Row
Sheffield
S1 2BX

+44 114 279 5219

See our 2010 photo blog:

http://photo365.commedia.org.uk/

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