[cma-l] Ofcom Research: The future of small scale radio

[CMA-L]

Excerpt from Executive Summary:

There are around 500 local non-BBC stations licensed in the UK,
broadcasting on FM or AM. Around 150 of these could be classified as
national, “large local” or regional stations, serving populations in
excess of 250,000 and covering county-sized areas or large towns or
cities. The remaining 350 or so stations can be described as small
local stations. They fall into two main categories, according to the
way they are licensed.

• Around 140 of them are commercial stations, whose primary aim is to
make profits for their shareholders, which they do by selling
advertising. They are governed by licence conditions which require
them to provide a certain amount of local programming. They also use
this local programming to differentiate themselves from their
commercial competitors that cover larger areas. Many of these stations
have been broadcasting for a number of years.

• The remaining 200 or so are community stations. This is a relatively
new type of station and almost all have been broadcasting for less
than five years. These must be not for profit and must be funded by a
diversity of funding sources: there is a limit of 50% on the
proportion of their funding that can come from on-air advertising and
sponsorship, and many receive funding in the form of grants from
public and other bodies. They have included in their licences
conditions which require them to provide “social gain” in the form of
community information, accessibility for audiences and accountability
to their local community. Some serve communities defined purely by
geography; others serve more targeted local communities of interest,
such as specific ethnic groups.

Both of these types of small-scale station have been under financial
pressure due to declining advertising revenues and more recently,
declining public funding. The Government is currently developing a
Digital Radio Action Plan which is considering how national and large
local stations might migrate to digital-only broadcasting at some
point in the future. Small-scale radio stations, both commercial and
community, would remain on FM. The Government is also planning to
introduce a new Communications Bill in the next few years which could
seek to change the way that small-scale radio is regulated.

The purpose of this research is to provide an understanding of how
much listeners value each type of small-scale radio in terms of the
benefits they provide and to seek their opinions on the possible
changes in the licensing and regulatory models currently applied to
such services.

PDF download: http://is.gd/08ogcX

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