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26|06|07

Minutes of the Fifty First Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board Held at Riverside House, London on Tuesday 26 June 2007

Present

Philip Graf Chairman
Adam Singer Deputy Chairman
Richard Ayre Member
Sue Balsom Member
Chris Banatvala Member
Millie Banerjee Member
Pam Giddy Member
Anthony Lilley Member
Paul Moore Member
Joyce Taylor Member
Kath Worrall Member and Chair Fairness Committee

In Attendance

Other Ofcom Colleagues

Apologies

Tim Suter Member
Peter Davies Director of Radio & Multimedia
Graham Howell Secretary to the Corporation

Content and Standards Group Report

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

ITV public service obligations: regional news quota

2. Members were INFORMED that ITV had made changes to its schedule of regional news that were not sufficient to meet the weekly average quota required. Members were asked what Ofcom’s response should be to ITV’s proposal (Annex 1) for a reduction to its regional news quota (from 5.5 to 4.5 hours per week) going forward and what, if any, action to take with respect to ITV’s under-delivery against the quota in 2006.

3. Members discussed the paper and made the following points:

[withheld from published minutes]
That comparison with BBC regions was relevant in this case. Members RECOMMENDED that this issue be taken into account.

4. Members APPROVED the following recommendations:

That the quota be maintained at the current level, although with an adjustment in the licence from 5.5 hours to 5 hours 20 minutes per week to reflect recent changes to the system for returning data to Ofcom which meant that ITV now had in practice to deliver more output to register the same minutage.
That Ofcom accept the 2006 shortfall in this instance but convey to ITV that Ofcom expected the quota to be met in from by September 2007.

ITV Contract with ITN for supply of network news

5. Members were INFORMED that ITV had recently announced a renewal of the contract with ITN for the supply of network news programmes and Members were asked to endorse the contract as section 280 of the Communications Act imposed a duty on Ofcom to ensure that the finanical resources available to the appointed news providers were adequare. Members AGREED that ITN had adequate resources and therefore to endorsed the contract.

Review of Standards & Statutory Sanctions Procedures: Proposals

6. Members RECEIVED a paper detailing the proposals for changes to the standards & statutory sanctions procedures. Colleagues explained that Content and Standards intended to issue a consultation document in July 2007 with proposed changes to the existing procedures for handling cases of statutory sanctions against broadcasters. These were the procedures that applied once a licence or code breach had been recorded and Ofcom was considering whether to impose a statutory sanction and, if so, at what level.

7. The aim of the review was to make the procedures more flexible and effective by (a) introducing a new "fast track" procedure; (b) reducing the number of times broadcasters could make representations to Ofcom in normal cases from 3 to 2; and (c) setting out formally for the first time in these procedures how Ofcom could issue a direction under the licence (the rough equivalent of a "stop now" order).

8. Colleagues INFORMED Members that the next stage of the review would be to consult on Ofcom's complaints handling procedures for standards cases. Both of these reviews were running alongside the Ofcom wide review of its Enforcement procedures.

9. Members discussed the proposals and made the following main points:

That the different procedures should be converged together to achieve some consistency across Ofcom when dealing with cases which involved sanctions. However colleagues pointed out that the different investigation procedures could only be converged to a certain extent. Members agreed it would be helpful to set out the comparisons of all the procedures and where Ofcom could achieve consistency it should and where it couldn’t clear reasons should be set out why this was the case.
That the emphasis for reviewing the existing procedures should be placed on it being in the public interest to do so as opposed to it being a question of internal resources.

10. Members AGREED to the review and APPROVED the proposed draft outline procedures for statutory sanctions and the timetable for carrying out the consultation and publishing the revised procedures.

11. Following the consultation, the Ofcom Board would be asked to approve the Statement introducing the new outline procedures likely to be in the autumn of 2007. Approval of the final Statement by the Ofcom Board was required because the Committee is a sub-committee of the Board.

Media Literacy: Sign-off of Draft Business Plan

12. Members were UPDATED on the Media Literacy Business Plan for the promotion of Media Literacy over the next 3 years. The business plan was based on the activity described in the Media Literacy: Landscape and Priorities paper presented and discussed at the May Content Board meeting.

13. Members were INFORMED that once the business plan had been finalised the team intended to discuss planned activities with DCMS and brief key internal stakeholders. In September the team would publish a statement which would set out Ofcom’s priorities for the promotion of media literacy over the next three years. The team sought feedback on the proposed strategy and planned resource allocation for public facing campaigns.

14. Members discussed the proposals and made the following main points:

That the team’s discussions with DfES had been constructive and that further efforts should be made to stimulate interest in Media Literacy across Government. DFES was becoming interested in the PSB Review and this was an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the cross-cutting initiatives that may present themselves.
That the research element of Media Literacy was vital – as was keeping abreast of international developments. Countries such as New Zealand and South Africa had more developed Media Literacy programmes than the UK.
That the Key Skills Programme could be used to help embed Media Literacy initiatives into skills training.
That the plan should acknowledge the critical role of technology in people’s everyday lives – as consumers and citizens.
Whether Ofcom could partner with voluntary organisations to carry out research.
The importance of adopting an approach that provided tools to the widest possible audience.
That people living in rural areas should also be included as a priority group. The team agreed to provide further information on this issue.

15. The team explained that, once the Media Literacy business plan was finalised, it would seek approval from the Executive Committee for additional resources as outlined in the paper.

16. The team would provide regular updates to the Content Board and would welcome the involvement of Members in initiatives.

17. Members congratulated the team on all its hard work in putting together the Media Literacy business plan. Members agreed to forward further views to colleagues.

18. The Content Board APPROVED the priorities, activity and schedule outlined in the business plan for the priorities for the promotion of Media Literacy.

Nations Conference

19. Members were INFORMED that the Nations Conference would take place on 29 June in Cardiff. The conference would be addressing PSB in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It would be the first time Ofcom would consider the specific challenges that face the television industries in each of these Nations in such a single, high level forum. The conference would provide an opportunity to debate the future of PSB in the Nations post switchover.

20. Members asked that the Content Board be updated on any Nations issues every quarter so it was kept aware of issues when they arise.

Advertising Co-regulation update: ASA Annual Report

21. The Chairman and the Director General from the ASA were welcomed to the Content Board meeting. Members were UPDATED on ASA’s activities during 2006 and a paper outlining its operational work was tabled at the meeting.

22. The ASA Chairman highlighted the following points:

That complaints statistics in broadcast advertising had fallen by a third in comparison to the previous year. There was a decrease of 41% of complaints about broadcast adverts on the grounds of offensiveness. As an outcome of investigations which took place during the year, 93 advertisements were changed or withdrawn following an ‘upheld’ conclusion.
Within non-broadcast advertising the ASA was seeking to make the rules similar, as convergence between the two was desirable.
Advertisements on television and in magazines proved the most problematic of areas.
That public policy concerns led to new restrictions on advertising for alcohol, food and gambling. However there had been calls for even more restrictive rules be put in place in respect of food advertising, e.g. no adverts on television before 9pm. Ofcom food advertising rules were operative from 1 July 2007 and the gambling rules were effective from September 2007.
That the co-regulation arrangements between Ofcom, ASA and BCAP in advertising had proved successful and resulted in developing common interests between the three organisations. The aim being to establish a one-stop shop for all advertising complaints.
That the present system of pre-clearance review was misunderstood and there was no appeal mechanism currently in place. The ASA needed to consider what the desired outcome would be to help develop a better relationship to help ensure misunderstandings did not arise in the future.
Alongside the introduction of the new rules relating to food, gambling and alcohol advertising ASA had been reviewing the existing advertising Codes. This exercise would be the beginning of a more wide-ranging review of all the advertising Codes, beginning this year. It is expected that the new, revised Codes will be published in 2009.

23. Members thanked the retiring Chairman for all his work with Ofcom during his time at ASA. Members invited the new Chairman of ASA to the Content Board meeting in September to provide an update on any issues.

Standards Report

24. 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.

Members’ Interests

25. There were no new declarations for the Register.

Minutes of 22 May 2007 and Matters Arising

26. The minutes of the Content Board meeting held on 22 May 2007 were AGREED, with no amendments.

27. There were no matters arising from the minutes.

Rolling Forward Plan of Content Board Agendas

28. Members NOTED the Rolling Forward Plan of Content Board Agendas.

Ofcom Board Meetings of 27 April, 1 May and 16 May 2007

29. Members RECEIVED a report on the current Ofcom issues and NOTED the minutes of Ofcom Board meetings held on 27 April, 1 May and 16 May 2007.

Report back from Radio Licensing Committee

30. Members RECEIVED a report on the recent and future meetings of the Radio Licensing Committee. Members NOTED that the last XFM licence for South Wales had been awarded. The first local radio multiplex licence had been awarded to NOWdigital Ltd and 5 community licences had been awarded in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The first national radio multiplex licence would be awarded at the next meeting on 5 July.

31. Members were updated on the Future of Radio Dinner which recently took place at the Radio Centre. A number of key issues were discussed which included: ownership regulation; switchover; format and community radio.

Papers for information

32. Members NOTED the following papers for information:

Matters for External Communication.
Television Access Services in 2008.

Minutes for Noting

33. Members NOTED the minutes of the following meetings:

National Advisory Committee – Northern Ireland – 30 April 2007
Consumer Panel – 16 May 2007

Celebrity Big Brother – de-brief

34. Members were updated on the recent Celebrity Big Brother adjudication and decision. Members congratulated the Content and Standards Team for all their work.

Any Other Business

35. There was no other business.

Date of Next meeting

35. The next meeting of the Content Board is planned for Monday 16 July 2007 at Riverside House, London.