[CMA R] LICENSING DELAY: Ofcom responds

[Diane Reid]

Following a meeting yesterday and earlier representations, in which the CMA
voiced members' concerns about the considerable time taken to process
license applications, Ofcom has issued the following response. Ofcom has
also agreed to write to individual stations still waiting to hear the
results of their application with an update within the next week.

>From Soo Williams, Senior Executive, Radio Licensing, Ofcom to Diane Reid,
Director, Community Media Association

Dear Diane,
Community radio licensing process

You raised with me your members’ disquiet at the length of time it is taking
for Ofcom to complete the first round of community radio licensing.

Ofcom recognises that the period between applications being submitted and a
decision being reached by the Radio Licensing Committee has, in the case of
some applications, been a long one.  We also recognise that this may have
had an impact on the funding arrangements of some applicants.

However, there are a number of factors which, taken together, have
contributed to the time taken to undertake the first round of community
radio licensing.  The first such factor is the method by which applications
were invited.  As your members will be aware, Ofcom decided, following
consultation, to invite applications from all areas of the UK rather than
region by region, as this was considered to be the approach which would be
fairest to all applicants.  The outcome was 194 applications submitted, from
applicants based throughout the UK.

Under any circumstances, it would be time-consuming to assess almost 200
applications with the appropriate degree of rigour.  By contrast, for
example, Ofcom processed fewer than 100 applications for commercial radio
licences during the whole of 2005.  In addition to the simple volume of
applications, however, it should also be borne in mind that the legislation
governing community radio (the Community Radio Order 2004) only became law
in July 2004, and includes a wide range of detailed requirements.  The
consequence of this new, detailed, legislation is that applications for
community radio licences take longer to assess than do applications for
licences for which the statutory requirements are more limited and for which
the licensing procedures have been developed and implemented over a number
of years.  It should also be remembered that Ofcom invited applications, and
published the relevant documentation to assist applicants, within two months
of the passage of the Community Radio Order.

The method by which applications were invited, and the number of
applications received, also had a significant impact on the planning work to
identify suitable frequencies.  Firstly, in order to undertake the required
frequency planning, Ofcom needed to make judgements regarding which
applicants would be competing for frequency resources with each other and
which would not, so that no single applicant would be disadvantaged by being
considered a lower priority on the basis of the area they wished to serve
(the very reason why Ofcom had opted to invite applications from throughout
the UK rather than region-by-region).  Secondly, due to the very large
number of applications received, Ofcom’s engineers have needed to undertake
in the past 14 months an amount of work equivalent to planning well over a
hundred new commercial services (a process which ordinarily would take
several years), often with limited transmission site details upon which to
base their analysis.

Furthermore, as your members will already be aware, the amount of available
spectrum in some areas is extremely limited due to the pattern of existing
usage, and Ofcom has explored all possible options (e.g. mono rather than
stereo transmission) such that as many of those applicants which are
considered sufficiently strong in relation to the statutory criteria to
warrant a licence award can be so licensed.  This process has involved
frequent, helpful and sometimes iterative dialogue with the BBC, which
inevitably has taken some time to undertake.  It should also be borne in
mind that work to enable new community radio licensees to commence
broadcasting is now being undertaken alongside the continuing work to
identify suitable frequencies for applicants that the Radio Licensing
Committee is minded to license.

I hope this letter is helpful in explaining some of the factors which have
contributed to the time it has taken to process the first round of
applications received for community radio licences, and also reassures your
members that these factors include Ofcom’s wish to license as many
applicants as possible whose proposals are considered to warrant a licence
award.

Yours sincerely
Soo Williams

Diane Reid
Director
Community Media Association
Access to the media for people and communities
http://www.commedia.org.uk/
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