[cma-l] Ofcom Licensing Procedure

Fri Mar 27 13:01:23 GMT 2015

I replied off-forum to Jamie's original message, but I thought maybe the advice from our 12-year experience might be useful to others:
As you will have seen, Ofcom has already awarded four licences out of the sixteen published Applicants.These would have been the most complete applications which required the least work and were in locations where spectrum was relatively simple to clear.There is also an element of looking at potential overspill or "mush zones" between existing broadcasters and incoming transmitters.Ofcom will now be working on another tranche of Applicants and is likely to release more Licences around the third week in April.If there are parts of your Application which need clarification you will receive a phone call or an e-mail asking for more information.If you are successful you will receive a phone call a couple of days before the official news release telling you that in confidence.If your Application is unsuccessful you are unlikely to know until after the last batch of licences is released and Ofcom maintains that it is not required to give you any reason for rejection. There is a view is that this is unacceptable and should be challenged.You can enquire as to progress at any time but it is unlikely that you will receive any positive information.If there are two Applicants for a given area and there is only one frequency that Ofcom considers is suitable then the better Application will get it provided it fills all the requirements. The appraisal of Applications  goes on continuously but the Licence Award Panel usually meets once a month to agree the Licence Awards.Once you have the award letter you then have to confirm your transmission arrangements and Ofcom then carries out its frequency clearance procedures which it says can take 4 to 6 months but can often take considerably less time.You then get the "Post RTPG" letter confirming your frequency and detailing any coverage or timing conditions. You can tyhen commence installing your transmission system.When this is complete it can be commissioned by your Installer if it is so enabled as we are, or Ofcom will need 20 working days to do this but does not charge for this service providing the first visit is successful.You can then launch with full programme output immediately if you wish - or have a preferred minimum of two weeks and a statutory maximum of four weeks of promotional "Test Transmissions" prior to launch, for which you will need to have a free Test Licence.Your 5-year CR Licence starts on the day you launch.
By all means correct any of my points if you wish.
Ian

Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2015 10:04:25 +0000
From: alan.coote at 5digital.co.uk
To: cma at nnbc.co.uk; cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Ofcom

We were asked after licence award about the scope of our Key Commitments. Ofcom (kindly) pointed out they were a little ambitious and a slight alteration would be more manageable. 
It is worth taking a hard look at your commitments to see if they can be simplified. Wholesale changes aren’t likely to cut it, but my experience is that Ofcom understand the time between writing your submission and going on air, which can be 2 1/2 years, means things will inevitably have changed.   
Alan CooteLet’s Talk Business
From:  Terry Doyle <cma at nnbc.co.uk>
Reply-To:  <cma at nnbc.co.uk>, "cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk" <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Date:  Friday, 27 March 2015 08:00
To:  "cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk" <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Subject:  Re: [cma-l] Ofcom

Hi,
We were awarded a licence last week...
If you're successful...You will get a call from the community radio team letting you know. You cannot act on the information until Ofcom officially announce the award. 
In our case, we were told on Wednesday and Ofcom published information the following day.
Good luck, hope it turns out well for you.
Terry NNBC

On 26 March 2015, Coastal Radio <info at coastalradio.co.uk> wrote:
Hi, We have applied for the Community Radio License for East Anglia, Fingers crossed!

Anyway. Does anyone know what happens with regards to finding out. Do they discuss it with you first? Or just release a press release and let you know at the same time? 
-- 
Regards,
The Coastal Radio Team.
www.CoastalRadio.co.uk

_______________________________________________

Reply - cma-l at commedia.org.uk

The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - http://www.commedia.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/
_______________________________________________

Mailing list guidelines: http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
_______________________________________________

To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:
http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l

_______________________________________________

Reply - cma-l at commedia.org.uk

The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - http://www.commedia.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/
_______________________________________________

Mailing list guidelines: http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
_______________________________________________

To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:
http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l

_______________________________________________

Reply - cma-l at commedia.org.uk

The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - http://www.commedia.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media
http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation
Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/
_______________________________________________

Mailing list guidelines: http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/
_______________________________________________

To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:
http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20150327/9dbfc86a/attachment.html>