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12|06|06

Minutes of the Fortieth Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board held at Riverside House on 12 June 2006

Present

Philip Graf Chairman
Sue Balsom Member
Pam Giddy Member
Matthew MacIver Member
Kip Meek Chief Policy Partner (Ofcom)
Adam Singer Member
Tim Suter Partner, Content and Standards (Ofcom)
Kath Worrall Member

Apologies

Floella Benjamin Member
Kevin Carey Member
Sara Nathan Deputy Chairman

In Attendance

Graham Howell Secretary to the Corporation
Lisa Harmshaw Assistant Secretary to the Corporation
Other Ofcom Colleagues

Minutes of the Meeting held on 15 & 16 May 2006 (Content Board Minutes 39(06)) and Matters Arising

1. The minutes of the Content Board meeting held on 15 & 16 May 2006 were AGREED, subject to one small amendment.

2. There were no matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting.

Content and Standards Group Report

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

4. The Chair of the Fairness Committee thanked those members who had recently sat on the panels for fairness and privacy complaints.

Rolling Forward Plan of Content Board Agendas – CB 73(06)

5. 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 25 April and 9 May 2006

6. Members RECEIVED a report on the Ofcom Board meetings held on 25 April and 9 May 2006, the contents of which were NOTED.

Members’ Interests

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

Standards Report

8. 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.

Radio Licensing Committee Meeting of 11 May 2006

9. Members were UPDATED on the Radio Licensing Committee meeting held on 11 May 2006.

External Communications

10. 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.

Television Access Services in 2007 – CB 74(06)

11. The Content Board RECEIVED a paper on the annual review for identifying which channels should provide access services in 2007. Members were INFORMED of the significant rise in targets that would apply to many broadcasters from 2007.

12. Members NOTED the outcome of the mid year review which would increase the number of channels with access services from 76 in 2006 to 91 in 2007 and NOTED that a statement would be published on the Ofcom website after key stakeholders had been briefed.

Communications Across the Nations & Regions of the UK: policy issues – CB 75(06)

13. The Content Board RECEIVED an update on the future direction of this project and were INFORMED that the team were now undertaking stakeholder workshops across the nations and regions, roundtable sessions with key Government Stakeholders and discussions with the National Advisory Committees and Consumer Panel on policy implications.

14. Members were ADVISED that three events had been held so far (one in Scotland and two in Northern Ireland) all of which had been successful. Members NOTED the key points raised from these events which included concerns around broadband availability and speed in rural areas, attitudes to new technology, granularity of data, mobile phone availability in rural areas and the growing incidence of people not taking up landline services. Further, colleagues also fed back on the issue of divergence as the gap widens between those who have the latest technology and the ability to use it and those who have no inclination to change or progress forward with new technologies – it was FELT that this posed potential issues for social inclusion.

15. As a result of the feedback, Members raised the following points:

The issue of engagement with those who have power and influence in Scotland was raised and one Member FELT that it would have been useful to have involved the Scottish Parliament in Stakeholder Workshop held in Scotland. In response, colleagues fed back that they had met with the Scottish Executive, who had been very responsive and supportive of Ofcom’s interventions on broadband and the Scottish Enterprise the day before the workshop was held. Involving the Scottish Parliament in future events was NOTED.
One Member fed back that they had RECEIVED a very positive response to the report from the Welsh Assembly.
Members FELT that the issues highlighted as a result of the media literacy audits should be show clearly within this piece of work due to the overlap and linkages. This was NOTED.

Report on the ‘Future of Current Affairs’ – CB 76(06)

16. The Content Board RECIEVED a report on the audit of current affairs output on the network from public service broadcasters, audit of current affairs output in the Nations and Regions and qualitative research into viewers attitudes towards current affairs programming. Members were INFORMED that this work had been undertaken as part of Ofcom’s statutory duty to assess the effectiveness of public service delivery and was presented at a stakeholder event back in March 2006.

17. Members DISCUSSED the key points raised from both the audits and stakeholder event and made the following comments: [withheld from published minutes]

18. As a result of the comments made, Members FELT that the report required further work before it as published and REQUESTED that the amended report be brought back to the Content Board before publication.

TWF Review: update – CB 81(06)

19. The Content Board RECEIVED a presentation update on the review of the Television Without Frontiers (TWF) Directive, the contents of which were NOTED. Members were ADVISED that the next 6 months would be a critical time for the review as negotiations in Europe continued.

Community Radio Licensing

20. Due to lack of time this item was postponed to a future meeting.

Food Advertising & Children (TV): update

21. The Content Board RECEIVED a verbal update on the consultation which was NOTED.

22. [withheld from published minutes].

23. [withheld from published minutes].

Television Production Sector Review: update on ‘Rights’ & ‘Non Rights’ Issues

24. The Content Board RECEIVED an update on the ongoing ‘Rights’ and ‘Non Rights’ issues related to the Television Production Sector Review, the contents of which were NOTED.

25. Members were INFORMED that ‘Non Rights’ was DISCUSSED at the last Board meeting and that an exploratory discussion with DCMS is planned to discuss the definition of qualifying independent producer.

26. Members were also INFORMED that an agreement with the BBC and Channel 4 had been reached before the 30 May deadline for ‘Rights’ issues and that subject to final drafting an agreement with ITV had also been reached. Members were also INFORMED that an agreement with Channel 5 was still some way off, and that further work was required on this.

27. Members were INFORMED that one final statement on the consultation would be issued after the summer covering both ‘Rights’ and ‘Non Rights’ issues.

Any Other Business

28. The Chair thanked those members whose term on the Content Board had now come to an end, for their contribution.

Date of Next Meeting

29. It was NOTED that the meeting planned for Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 July had been cancelled, to allow the current Content Board member recruitment programme to conclude and inductions to begin. The September meeting will go ahead as planned.

13 June 2006