[cma-l] [comradio-l] House of Commons debates, 28th February - Community Radio Licences

Mon Mar 3 19:01:16 GMT 2014

It's all very long which is why the reference to the Hansard
source<http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140228/debtext/140228-0002.htm#140228-0002.htm_spnew117>was
cited.

Here's a short link to Hansard if the above hyperlink doesn't work for you:
http://bit.ly/1fCAPHW

Best regards

Bill
-- 
Technical Operations Manager
Community Media Association
http://www.commedia.org.uk/
http://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation

Canstream Internet Radio & Video
http://www.canstream.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/canstream

On 3 March 2014 17:03, Richard Hilton <Richard.Hilton at bitc.org.uk> wrote:

> An interesting and lengthy response. To give it some context are we able
> to post the question that elicited this response?
>
>
>
> Clearly the Milton Keynes group have a very good relationship with their
> MP.  Would be interesting to hear how they manage it and if they have any
> suggestions for other groups.
>
>
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> Richard
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* comradio-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:
> comradio-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] *On Behalf Of *CMA-L
> *Sent:* 03 March 2014 16:44
> *To:* cma-l at commedia.org.uk; comradio-l at commedia.org.uk
> *Subject:* [comradio-l] House of Commons debates, 28th February -
> Community Radio Licences
>
>
>
> *Edward Vaizey (The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture,
> Media and Sport; Wantage, Conservative)*
> +++
>
> We have not yet announced a date for switchover or even made an
> in-principle decision on when we might switch over to digital radio.
> However, we do not want to lose the momentum towards digital radio that has
> been built up by putting in place the infrastructure, encouraging people to
> buy digital radios and encouraging people to convert their cars to digital
> radio, which is becoming ever easier and cheaper to do. That will help a
> station such as MKFM, which is broadcasting on digital radio, as my hon.
> Friend pointed out. Milton Keynes tends to be ahead of the trend and its
> rate of digital radio ownership is ahead of the national average, probably
> beaten only by places such as London.
>
> It is important to stress that digital radio remains an increasingly
> important part of the radio mix. Another important element of the radio
> mix, which we could perhaps say is at the other end of the spectrum, is
> community radio. The framework for community radio was set up in 2004 by
> the last Government. In my view, it has been an astounding success.
> Community radio is run by not-for-profit organisations that provide a
> social gain to the communities they serve. It provides original,
> distinctive and—crucially—local output, and relies on a huge amount of
> effort and support, with stations receiving an average of around 214
> volunteering hours every week. They are supported by the Community Media
> Association, which does a fantastic job of representing the sector and
> providing information and advice to stations and prospective start-ups.
> Community radio has shown that it can deliver wider social objectives,
> connect communities together, and give a real focus for local engagement.
> It does not surprise me that in a community the size of Milton Keynes,
> there should be a great deal of pressure to see the community radio station
> MKFM launch as soon as possible. The value of the sector is not just in its
> listening share or reach, but in the lives it touches and often changes for
> the better.
>
> The recent connect:transmit project is a good example of how community
> radio comes together to support skills and training for young people. It
> was funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and co-ordinated by Radio Regen, a
> charity supporting the community radio sector. It worked with four
> community radio stations: Shmu FM in Aberdeen, BCB in Bradford, Future
> Radio in Norwich, and Preston FM.
>
> I hope that my hon. Friend and the rest of the House will agree that
> community radio has grown and established itself as part of the UK<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK>’s
> diverse and vibrant radio ecology. As has been mentioned, a number of
> community radio stations are reporting problems and struggling to remain
> viable, with some stations reporting a decline in income and difficulties
> in accessing funding. That is supported by Ofcom’s market analysis, which
> shows that community radio stations have consistently operated on very
> small margins. For example, in each of the last four years, the average
> expenditure of the sector has been greater than the average income.
>
> Ofcom’s communications market report of 2013 showed that the percentage
> share of income generated by community radio stations from grants fell from
> 45% in 2008 to 29% in 2012. That figure is likely to fall still further,
> although it is partly offset by a slight increase in the overall value of
> on-air advertising and sponsorship revenue, which increased in 2012 from
> 26% to 29%. It is important to make such points because I want to bring the
> attention of the House to the consultation that we launched a couple of
> weeks ago on 13 February. It is a wide-ranging consultation on the funding
> rules that apply to community radio, because we want to consider how we can
> relax some of the rules and restrictions on how community radio is funded.
> It is a consultation that the community radio community has long called
> for. We think that restrictions are still needed to preserve the
> distinctive characteristics of community radio and ensure that small
> commercial radio stations are not adversely affected. The consultation will
> close on 23 April, and will enable us to assess the extent to which rules
> can be relaxed to give community radio more scope to raise funding, and to
> help the sector’s long-term sustainability.
>
> Although there are challenges to community radio, I am encouraged by high
> levels of demand for community radio licences across many parts of the
> country. I fully understand my hon. Friend’s desire for his constituency
> radio station, MKFM, to establish itself as a local community radio
> station. The regulatory framework was set out in the Community Radio Order
> 2004, and lists the powers under which Ofcom can license community radio
> stations. That gets to the nub of what my hon. Friend wishes to discuss.
>
> Detailed implementation of licensing is the responsibility of Ofcom, and
> in developing its approach to licensing and regulating the sector—including
> the current licensing round, which is the subject of concern to my hon.
> Friend and MKFM—Ofcom has consulted a range of stakeholders, including the
> Community Media Association. Ofcom has decided to invite applications for
> licences on a region-by-region basis, to co-ordinate the approach in a fair
> and consistent way, and to give prospective applicants time to develop
> strong and sustainable proposals. Within that framework, the licensing
> process is applicant-led, and the applicant identifies where they wish to
> set up their station. Ofcom does not decide the locations or target
> communities to be served by stations, but it does advise on areas where
> there are already existing stations, or where sufficient frequencies may
> not be available.
>
> The decisions are complicated and need to take account of the various
> requirements in the legislation. Ofcom has to consider four things. First,
> it has to assess the application and establish whether the frequency is
> available. Secondly, it needs to look at the different proposals, which may
> have different objectives, and there may be many proposals for particular
> areas which need to be co-ordinated. Thirdly, it needs to assess the plans
> to see whether the proposed service meets the characteristics set out by
> the legislation in terms of social gain and the likelihood that the plans
> are likely to be viable. Finally, it needs to assess the impact on local
> commercial radio and, if necessary place, restrictions on the amount of
> commercial revenue that the community radio station may generate.
>
> The difficulty at the moment, which affects MKFM, is the high level of
> demand and competing applications. This is frustrating for stations that
> are on air already and want to acquire a community radio licence to
> strengthen their community engagement and grow their listenership. They
> want to move more quickly. The suggestion made by my hon. Friend is that we
> should adopt a demand-led process which might lead to some applicants in
> some areas getting on air sooner, but it would lead to a piecemeal approach
> that would slow progress overall as decisions were made in an
> unco-ordinated way.
>
> The way in which Ofcom manages the process overall strikes the right
> balance between the operational challenges of managing the complexities
> associated with licensing and its stated aim to license a community radio
> station for every community that wants one. In fact, since the legislation
> was passed, 276 community radio licences have been awarded.
>
> The current timetable was announced in April 2011 and invited applications
> on a region-by-region basis, starting with Wales and the south-west, then
> Northern Ireland in March 2012 and then four English regions, one every six
> months. Licences for each region are then awarded in batches on a rolling
> basis, allowing the complex spectrum planning and frequency planning to be
> managed together. If the number of applications received for any region is
> high, consideration of all applications can take longer than anticipated,
> as was
>
> the case in autumn 2013, so that Ofcom had little choice but to revise its
> timetable for inviting community radio applications in its current round.
>
> In mid-October, for example, Ofcom received 38 applications from locations
> in west and south Yorkshire, Humberside and the north-west of England. That
> was far more than it had anticipated, and therefore in fairness to all
> potential applicants from other regions, Ofcom revised its timetable in
> order to give itself time to process those applications before moving on to
> other regions. That is the cause of the frustration that MKFM is
> experiencing. I do not want to dampen its enthusiasm and I shall take on
> board some of the points that my hon. Friend made. I am not ready to
> fast-track licences for people who are prepared to pay more, because that
> would still involve a lack of co-ordination. At the moment, the process is
> fair with a very low licence fee for anyone who wants to run a community
> radio station, although I want to look at whether we can speed the process
> up.
>
> I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this issue to my attention, and I
> suggest that I discuss this with Ofcom to see if we can find a way to move
> the process forward. I also wish to invite him and MKFM to a meeting in my
> Department, should they wish to take advantage of that offer. He has
> brought several suggestions to my attention, although I do not think that
> moving Milton Keynes out of the south-east is either in my gift or would be
> a practical way of taking forward MKFM’s application. I hope to discuss
> that further with him when we meet.
>
> Hansard source<http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140228/debtext/140228-0002.htm#140228-0002.htm_spnew117>:
> (Citation: HC Deb, 28 February 2014, c597)
>
> \\
>
> Community Media Association
> --
> http://www.commedia.org.uk/
> http://twitter.com/community_media
> https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
>
> Canstream Internet Radio & Video
> http://www.canstream.co.uk/
> https://twitter.com/canstream
>
>
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