[comtv-l] EDM 1815

[CMA-L]

--- Forwarded message ---
>From Dan Cass <daniel.cass at gmail.com>

Dear colleagues

Good news and bad news. The good news is that Austin Mitchell's early
day motion for local television has now been put down:

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=39025&SESSION=899

The bad news is it currently only has five signatures (admittedly this
is only day one).  However let's be ambitious and set a target of at
least 100 MP signatories by the summer recess!

Unfortunately we only have a week or so to recruit signatures because
experience suggests MPs need to be prompted at least a  couple of
times and tend to be slow to react to emails. However, we are hoping
that most of those MPs who signed EDM1013 would be willing to sign
this.

Please can everyone spend as much time as they can spare lobbying?
Having put this down in some ways it will damage the cause if we don't
quickly get a large number of MPs signed up. There's nothing we can do
over the summer when MPs are away. However, I do believe a decent
number of signatures will help make sure Ofcom and government (and
opposition) don't ignore us over the summer...

Further information is available on the ULTV website:

http://www.unitedforlocatv.com

Please contact your local MP today using this easy-to-use website and
ask them to support EDM 1815:

http://www.writetothem.com/

Thanks

Dan Cass
United for Local TV
http://www.unitedforlocaltv.com

\\

LOCAL TELEVISION
06.07.2009

Mitchell, Austin

That this House notes the statement in the Digital Britain report that
the Government wishes "to see local TV thrive"; believes that truly
local television would make a significant contribution to public
service broadcasting and democratic engagement in local communities;
acknowledges Ofcom's view that broadband provision complements
traditional public service broadcasting platforms; further notes
Ofcom's statement "that the potential for broadcasting spectrum to
support local television should be kept open"; recognises the UK's
commitment, as a signatory to the Council of Europe Declaration on
Community Media, to the principle of allocating a sufficient number of
frequencies to community media, both radio and television; and looks
to the Government to implement the provisions in the Communications
Act 2003 to ensure that a viable local television network is
established ensuring all citizens have access to a dedicated channel
on both Freeview and cable, providing local news, local discussion,
community programming and local advertising.