[cma-l] Stations under investigation by Ofcom - update

Tue Apr 28 12:53:36 BST 2015

Just for info I also recently protested to Ofcom about their severe change to debt chasing procedures regarding licences. They will now immediately start the in-breach investigation process for any licence holder that has not paid their broadcasting/wrt licenes within 30 days of invoice, rather than issue further payement reminders after the 30 days.

I was concerned at the effect particularly if, say, a Direct Debit request faled because of a change of bank details. Ofcom says it shouldn't be a problem because: "if payment is not received by the payment deadline we will launch an investigation into the matter in accordance with our General procedures for investigating breaches of broadcast licences ... We will write to the relevant broadcaster with our Preliminary View that the licence condition relating to payment of licence fees has been breached. The licensee will then have an opportunity to make representations to Ofcom before we reach a final decision as to whether a breach of the licence has occurred. Therefore, if, for example a licensee provided evidence that a direct debit payment failed due to a bank error, we would be unlikely to record a breach."

Just a heads-up for next time you get an Ofcom invoice!

Alex
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bob Tyler 
  To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 10:14 AM
  Subject: Re: [cma-l] Stations under investigation by Ofcom - update

  Ofcom changed a lot of the rules without any consultation. The response within 10 workings days is very unfair, especially when a business/organisation has to seek advice or hold an extraordinary meeting to agree a response.

  The Acts do not state 10 working days and anyone receiving a Preliminary View should apply for a 60 day extension. 

  Check everything against the Broadcasting Code and the conditions applied to the Broadcast Licence, they often cut and paste the wrong sections.

  Asking the right questions and challenging subjective assumptions, can end up with the finding being stuck in the ‘too difficult’ file for months.

    On 27 Apr 2015, at 12:17, Bill Best <bill.best at commedia.org.uk> wrote:

    The Community Media Association has been in regular contact with the Radio Licensing Team at Ofcom with regard to the 53 stations that were reported to be under investigation in November last year.

    Ofcom's procedures for investigating breaches of standards for radio are published online below:

    http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/guidance/complaints-sanctions/standards/

    Ofcom aims to usually complete those cases that it takes forward for investigation within 50 working days. However much of the focus of the Radio Team at Ofcom this year has understandably been on the Community Radio (Amendment) Order 2015 which has somewhat delayed progress on this issue. Furthermore Ofcom has held back the results of all cases to ensure a consistency of approach.

    The Radio Licensing Team advised that there is a meeting on Tuesday 28th April of Senior Management to review all pending cases and then they expect to release the information later in the week.

    Stations will be informed by letter and email over a 2-3 day period.

    At this stage, Ofcom cannot advise how many stations will not have any further action taken as this has yet to be finalised by the Senior Management Team which meets tomorrow.

    Stations will either be advised that no further action will be taken or they will be sent a copy of Ofcom's preliminary view. The preliminary view is a preview of what Ofcom intends to publish in the Broadcast Bulletin. Stations receiving a preliminary view will have up to 10 days to respond to it after which Ofcom will either amend the preliminary view in response to the station's feedback or publish the original unchanged. The next Broadcast Bulletin is likely to be issued in early May.

    The Community Media Association expects all stations to be contacted by Ofcom by the end of this week.

    Any further queries on this matter can be directed either to the CMA office or to the Radio Licensing Team at Ofcom.

    With best regards

    Bill Best
    -- 

    Operations Manager
    Community Media Association
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