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13|03|06

Minutes Of The Thirty-Seventh Meeting Of The Ofcom Content Board Held At The Riverside House, London On 13 & 14 March 2006

Present

Philip Graf Chairman
Sara Nathan Deputy Chairman (minute 5 onwards)
Sue Balsom Member (minute 1 to 4 only)
Floella Benjamin Member
Kevin Carey Member
Pam Giddy Member
Kip Meek Chief Policy Partner (Ofcom) (minute 5 onwards)
Adam Singer Member
Tim Suter Partner, Content and Standards (Ofcom)
Kath Worrall Member

Apologies

Matthew MacIver Member

In Attendance

Graham Howell Secretary to the Corporation (minute 5 onwards)
Lisa Harmshaw Assistant Secretary to the Corporation
Other Ofcom Colleagues

Consumer Policy: introduction to the work of the Team & the Ofcom Consumer Strategy Policy consultation document – CB 25(06)

1. The Content Board RECEIVED a presentation on the work of the Ofcom Consumer Policy Team and the current consumer strategy policy consultation which is due to close on 19 April 2006, the contents of which were NOTED.

2. Content Board members thanked the Executive for the plain English summary of the consultation document, which they felt was well put together.

Competition Investigations: introduction to the work of the Team

3. The Content Board RECEIVED a presentation on the work of the Ofcom Competition Investigations Team, the contents of which were NOTED.

Illegal Broadcasting & ‘Operation Crystal’

4. The Content Board RECEIVED a presentation on the work of the Field Operations Team in tackling illegal broadcasting, which included feedback from ‘Operation Crystal’ which was undertaken in October 2005 to tackle the problem within the London area, the contents of which were NOTED.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 & 7 February 2006 (Content Board Minutes 36(06)) and Matters Arising

5. The minutes of the Content Board meeting held on 6 & 7 February 2006 were AGREED, with no amendments.

6. There were no matters arising.

Content and Standards Group Report

7. Members were UPDATED in relation to current Content and Standards people and policy issues.

Rolling Forward Plan of Content Board Agendas – CB 26(06)

8. Members NOTED the schedule given to them which set out the rolling forward plan of the Content Board agenda to the end of December 2006.

Ofcom Board Meetings of 20 December 2005, 24 January 2006 & 7 & 21 February 2006

9. Members RECEIVED a report on the Ofcom Board meetings held on 20 December 2005, 24 January 2006 and 7 and 21 February 2006, the contents of which were NOTED.

10. Two members REQUESTED a copy of the papers and FAQ’s presented to the Board on 21 February 2006 regarding digital switchover.

Members’ Interests

11. No interests were declared for inclusion in the register of interests.

Media Literacy: launch of supplementary reports (Minority Ethnic Groups & Disabled People) – CB 27(06)

12. The Content Board RECEIVED the Media Literacy Supplementary reports on minority ethnic groups, older people and disabled people, the latter of which was tabled. It was NOTED that the purpose of the reports was to provide a factual account of the research that had been undertaken. Members NOTED that the policy options for media literacy would be DISCUSSED at the May Content Board meeting.

13. In addition Members RECEIVED a presentation on the key findings within all three reports, together with the implications and next steps.

14. Following discussion, Members made the following comments:

Disabled people – it was asked whether the sample included those with cognitive learning and development disabilities. It was responded that the sample did include some people with these types of impairment but numbers were not sufficient to report on separately. It was ACKNOWLEDGED that this would be CONSIDERED in future research.
Minority ethnic groups – with regards to the overall “TV news” trust index, it was asked whether this included foreign news channels. It was confirmed that only UK based TV news was CONSIDERED for this index measure, with foreign news channels being reported on as separate entities.
Minority ethnic groups – it was REQUESTED that the text in section 9 of the report be highlighted earlier within the document. This was AGREED.
Minority ethnic groups – it was felt that the report provided a prime opportunity to access communities and it was asked how the report would be used to do this. It was confirmed that dialogue had already started and that the stakeholder events would also assist with this as well as issuing media releases. Pam Giddy and Floella Benjamin REQUESTED to be involved in this process.

15. Members were interested in the implications for Ofcom and DISCUSSED how much Ofcom could make a difference, particularly with ‘easy to use technology’. Ofcom’s duty to promote ease of use under the Communications Act was ACKNOWLEDGED, as was the need to work closely with stakeholders in developing such technology. It was AGREED that a member of the Technology Team should be invited to attend the discussion on policy options in May.

16. Members NOTED the publication dates for the supplementary reports, the proposal to develop a series of policy debates later in the year, and the plan to hold a number of stakeholder events for all the report sectors.

Sport on Television: listed events & the sale of rights – CB 28(06)

17. The Content Board AGREED to defer this discussion until the April 2006 Content Board meeting, as it was of particular interest to one Member who was unable to attend today’s meeting.

Cross Promotion: consultation responses – CB 30(06)

18. Members were BRIEFED on the recent consultation on the cross promotion rules, which closed at the end of February 2006.

19. It was NOTED that broadcasters had made representations about the benefits (to them and viewers) of being able to cross promotion, to other broadcaster’s channels, programmes which were co-produced with other broadcasters

20. In addition to the consultation responses, members were also UPDATED on the recent discussions within the Content and Standards Policy Group on the meaning of ‘broadcast related services’ and the possibility of using ‘programme related material’ to allow a channel to inform viewers that another, unrelated, channel is showing the same programme (subject to certain criteria).

21. Members NOTED the key points from the consultation and that the statement would be brought to the Content Board in April for consideration, before being put to the main Ofcom Board at the end of April.

Convergent Media – update on internet regulation

22. The Content Board RECEIVED a presentation which was given by an Executive Member of the Content Board at the recent FT Media Conference.

23. The presentation focused on whether it was realistic to regulate internet content, the rationale behind regulation and included an example of a content management model which drew similarities to that used for regulating broadcasting content.

24. Members CONSIDERED the points raised including the impact of content, protecting users from harmful / offensive material, barriers to regulation and the differences between broadcast and internet regulation.

25. It was NOTED that the Content Board would return to this subject later in the year as the project on convergent media progressed.

Classic Gold Breeze (Southend): format change request – CB 36(06)

26. Members RECEIVED a format change request from Classic Gold Breeze [Withheld from published minutes].

27. Members NOTED that the Radio Licensing Committee had DISCUSSED the request at their last meeting on 9 March and reached a provisional decision pending the discussion at this Content Board. Under normal circumstances the Content Board would consider the request in the first instance, however due to timings of meetings on this occasion this had not been possible.

28. [Withheld from published minutes].

29. In all other respects the Content Board AGREED with the provisional decision reached by the Radio Licensing Committee and delegated to the executive members of the Content Board responsibility for notifying the Radio Licensing Committee of the Content Board’s decision. [Withheld from published minutes].

Change of Format for Star (Stroud): post consultation – CB 37(06)

30. Members RECEIVED the consultation responses to the Star (Stroud) format change request to co-locate the operating aspects of the Stroud service with a sister station in Cheltenham and allow the majority of non-news output to be shared.

31. Members NOTED that the Radio Licensing Committee had DISCUSSED the request at their last meeting on 9 March and reached a provisional decision pending this Content Board. Under normal circumstances the Content Board would consider the request in the first instance, however due to timings of meetings on this occasion this had not been possible.

32. Members DISCUSSED the request [Withheld from published minutes].

33. The Content Board ACKNOWLEDGED the economics involved in running a small station and REQUESTED that a paper be brought to the Content Board for information to enable better understanding of the issues. It was NOTED that the Radio Licensing Committee had CONSIDERED these issues previously and that a paper would be put together.

Standards Report & the implementation of the first six months of the Broadcasting Code – CB 38(06)

34. The Content Board RECEIVED an update on programmes which had been attracting complaints, as well as an update on the status of current Fairness and Content Sanctions cases.

35. It was asked whether the number of fairness cases being brought was rising. It was AGREED that trends would be reported back to the next meeting.

36. In addition to the update, Members RECEIVED a presentation on the implementation of the first six months of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code and were played clips of both radio and television programming to highlight the types of issues which had arisen since implementation.

Radio Licensing Committee 9 February 2006

37. Members were UPDATED on the Radio Licensing Committee meeting held on 9 February 2006.

External Communications

38. Members RECEIVED a written summary relating to Ofcom’s recent activities and forthcoming announcements. Members were REQUESTED to contact the Communications Office if they had any queries.

Any Other Business

39. There was no other business for discussion.

Date of Next Meeting

40. It was NOTED that the next meeting would be held on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 April 2006 in Riverside House.