[cma-l] Ofcom community radio review

[Cannock Chase Radio]

Hi

After a meeting with OFCOM at Portcullis House a proposal that was put
forward would be a mop up round for anyone to apply after the completion of
region 10. We don't think there will be another 200 stations wishing to
apply or very many in our situation ready to go to air NOW. Another
regional round as we are in region 6 would mean the end of our station and
business as we cannot wait another 4 years for the chance to apply. Why may
I ask has a station such of ours a chance to used as a pilot for what hard
work, Grit and determination can achieve. Ofcom are not aware of what is
happening to grass routes community radio. And yes we are a success but can
only continue to be so with the opportunity to apply for an FM license and
no DAB is not an option this is Cannock Chase so open the doors and let us
in please Ofcom and the CMA

Rob Hughes
Director Cannock Chase Radio
01543 622556
07853 462888
On 15 Jul 2016 4:55 p.m., "CMA-L" <cma-l at commedia.org.uk> wrote:

> Good afternoon
>
> The Community Media Association met with Ofcom this week to discuss its
> forthcoming review of how it works with the community radio sector. The
> CMA, working with Ofcom, will publish a consultation to invite suggestions
> as to how it can improve its service to the community radio sector.
>
> Ofcom will make no changes to how it *currently* licenses or organises
> activity for the present licensing Round. There will be an open public
> consultation to inform how Round 4 might be managed.
>
> Ofcom will shortly undertake a "pre-consultation survey" through the CMA
> to gauge what issues are of most current concern to the sector and which
> subject areas should be addressed in a formal consultation which, it is
> expected, will be announced later in the year (*before* the London and AM
> licence applications have closed) so that Ofcom is ready in 2017 with how
> Round 4 might be planned.
>
> Some of the concerns that the sector has raised with the Community Media
> Association so far are:
>
> a) power increases for stations
> b) fast track licence applications based on merit
> c) Ofcom's resources to service the sector
> d) unlicensed broadcasters
>
>
> Over the next few weeks, Ofcom will work with the CMA to refine the areas
> suggested by the sector into formal questions so as to focus responses to
> the formal consultation. Rather than presenting respondents with a large
> text box marked "Tell us your concerns", Ofcom finds it is much more useful
> to present structured questions to better focus definitive answers. The CMA
> will then put the final set of questions out to the sector via a hosted
> survey and we will then share with Ofcom the responses to the formal
> consultation received.
>
> Quickly addressing the issues listed above, with regard to power increases
> for stations, Ofcom would much prefer stations to consider *better sites*
> for their transmission equipment. Very often an increase in power would not
> increase the area covered but would only serve to improve the signal in the
> current service area.  It was suggested that power could be increased for
> any station that asked for it but this would not be considered to be an
> inefficient use of spectrum which Ofcom is mandated to manage effectively.
>
> Ofcom is open to hear suggestions as to how licence applications could be
> quickly and fairly processed other than by using the current
> region-by-region basis. However, some stations will recall in Round 1 of
> licensing which was open nationally, that some stations received their
> licence award up to 18 months after the Round opened - hence the move to
> region-by-region processing which was considered to be much fairer.
>
> Suggestions as to how Ofcom's processes might be improved have to be
> mindful of the budget and resource constraints under which Ofcom operates.
> Furthermore, respondents to the consultation should be mindful that Ofcom
> can only work within the existing legal framework and any proposals that
> are not supported by existing legislation would not be possible to
> implement for the start of Round 4 licensing.
>
> Lastly with regards to unlicensed broadcasters, it is not Ofcom's policy
> to be lenient on those broadcasters but to take appropriate action against
> illegal broadcasters. Furthermore, it is not usually possible to licence
> community radio on those frequencies occupied by 'pirate' stations as it is
> usual for pirate stations to use frequencies that cause interference to
> other licensed stations - and could therefore never be licensed to
> community broadcasters.
>
> The CMA has invited Ofcom to the Community Media Conference 2016
> <http://bit.ly/2016CMAConf> to be held on Saturday 10th September at
> Birmingham City University and will reply to this invitation in due course.
>
> With best regards
>
> 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
>
> *Book your tickets now for the Community Media Conference
> 2016: http://bit.ly/2016CMAConf <http://bit.ly/2016CMAConf>*
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
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