Minutes of Forty First Meeting of the Ofcom Radio Licensing Committee Held on Thursday 22 January 2008

Present

Philip Graf (Chair)
Peter Bury
Martin Campbell
Peter Davies
Pam Giddy
Stewart Purvis
Neil Stock
Joyce Taylor

In Attendance

Other Ofcom colleagues

Item 1: Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 13 December 2007 – RLC 40(07)

1. The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, 13 December 2007, previously circulated to the Committee, were approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

Item 2: Matters Arising

2. [Withheld from published minutes].

Item 3: Local radio multiplex licence award: Gloucestershire – RLC 01(08)

3. The Committee was briefed on the two applications received for the Gloucestershire local radio multiplex licence.

4. After careful consideration, and having regard in particular to the factors set out in section 51(2) of the Broadcasting Act 1996, the Committee awarded the licence to Muxco Gloucestershire Limited.

5. The Committee agreed to colleagues' recommendations set out in paper RLC 01(08) as to the commitments which should be included as conditions of Muxco Gloucestershire Limited’s licence when granted.

6. The Committee noted that a statement explaining the key factors which had led the Committee to its decision to award the licence to Muxco Gloucestershire Limited’s would be prepared by colleagues. It was agreed that the statement would be e-mailed to the Committee for perusal and comment prior to publication. It was also agreed that the authority for publication would be obtained from the Chair.

7. It was noted that the announcement regarding the winning licence application would be made at 5:00pm on 23 January 2008.

Item 4: Community radio licence awards: North Wales and Northwest England (Batch 2) – RLC 02(08)

8. The Committee was asked to make award or non-award decisions in respect of ten applications proposing to serve localities in North-west England and North Wales. A paper summarising the applicants' proposals in relation to the statutory criteria had been prepared by the Radio Team to help the Committee in its deliberations.

9. After a full and careful discussion of each licence application, and having regard in particular to the factors set out in section 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (as modified by the Community Radio Order 2004), the Committee awarded a licence to the each of the following three applicants:

Tudno FM, Llandudno
Point FM, Rhyl
Preston FM

10. Full consideration of the application by Bolton FM was deferred to the next meeting. The Committee indicated that it was minded to award a licence to Rossendale Radio, subject to the identification of a suitable frequency.

11. The Committee decided not to award a community radio licence to each of the following applicants:

Burnley FM
City Community Radio, Preston
Radio Together, St Helen’s
Radio Worm, Warrington
The Source, Lytham St Anne’s

12. The Committee noted that a statement explaining the key factors which had led the Committee to its decision to award the community radio licence would be prepared by colleagues. It was agreed that the statement would be e-mailed to the Committee for perusal and comment prior to publication. It was also agreed that the authority for publication would be obtained from the Chair.

13. It was noted that the announcement regarding the successful applications would be made on Thursday 24th January 2007.

Item 5: Format changes on DAB multiplexes - RLC 3 (08)

14. Neil Stock presented this paper [Withheld from published minutes].

Item 6: Any Other Business

15. [Withheld from published minutes].

16. Neil Stock updated the Committee on the process for the re-advertisement of licences and noted that the holder of the first of these licences was in the process of applying for a new licence under the fast-track process.

Item 7: Date of Next Meeting

17. The next meeting would be held on Tuesday 19 February 2008, Riverside House, Room 11.01, at 9.00am until 12.00pm. Scheduled items on the agenda include further community radio licence awards.