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09|06|08

Minutes of Forty Fourth Meeting of the Radio Licensing Committee Held on Tuesday 22 April 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 Tuesday 18 March 2008 – RLC 43(08)

1. The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 18 March 2008, previously circulated to the Committee, were APPROVED as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

Item 2: Matters Arising

2. There were no matters arising to report.

Item 3: Local radio multiplex licence award: Surrey & Northern Sussex – RLC 14(08)

3. The Committee was briefed on the application received for the Surrey and Northern Sussex 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 Surrey and North Sussex Limited.

5. The Committee AGREED to colleagues' recommendations set out in paper RLC 14(08) as to the commitments which should be included as conditions of MuxCo Surrey and North Sussex 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 Surrey and North Sussex Limited 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 Tuesday 22 April 2008.

Item 4: Smooth Radio (London & North-West) request to change formats – RLC 15(08)

8. The Committee received a paper regarding a request to allow a change of Format to Smooth FM in London and Smooth FM in the North-West and AGREED the recommendation from the Content Board that both stations’ requests should be rejected.

Item 5: Launch of the second national radio multiplex service

9. Peter Davies verbally updated the Committee in relation to the launch of the second national radio multiplex service. The Committee NOTED the update.

Item 6: Community radio licence awards: West Midlands, East Midlands & Lincolnshire (Batch 2) – RLC 16(08)

10. The Committee was asked to consider four applications for services proposing to serve localities in the West Midlands, East Midlands and Lincolnshire region. 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

11. Following on from the initial discussion of the applications at the Committee meeting on 18 March 2008 (paragraph 12 of RLC Minutes 43(08) refers) the Committee was advised that a suitable FM frequency had now been identified for Takeover Radio in Sutton-in-Ashfield. The Committee therefore AGREED to award a licence to this applicant.

12. Four applications from the West Midlands, East Midlands and Lincolnshire region were presented for consideration by the Committee for the first time. 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 applicants:

Amber Sound (Ripley, Amber Valley, Derbyshire)
Erewash Sound (Ikeston, Derbyshire)
Tulip Radio (Spalding, South Holland, Lincs)

13. The Committee decided not to award a community radio licence to the following applicant:

South Holland Radio (Whaplode, South Holland, Lincs)

14. 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.

15. It was NOTED that the announcement regarding the successful applications would be made on 24 April 2008.

Item 7: Regulation of community radio services – RLC 17(08)

16. The Committee received a paper on how Ofcom’s processes for the regulation of community radio should differ from that used for commercial radio. These proposals included a potential regime for ensuring the delivery of stations’ “key commitments” and a proposal to consult on the process for considering requests to change “key commitments”.

17. Following discussion of the paper, the Committee NOTED its approval of the proposal to consult on the consideration of changes to “key commitments”.

18. The Committee NOTED that if the Content Sanctions Committee was to also have responsibility for considering community radio cases this would require an amendment to the terms of reference for the Content Sanctions Committee (which would in turn require Ofcom Board approval). The Committee considered whether a different process could be instigated for such cases as the demands of the current process may be disproportionate for smaller community stations. The Committee NOTED that colleagues were currently discussing this issue within the Content and Standards Group.

19. The Committee NOTED the internal process for considering a format change for a commercial station and AGREED with the proposal that if a community radio station was to request a change to its “key commitments” it would not be considered by the Content Board prior to it coming to the Radio Licensing Committee. It was NOTED that this would require sign off by the Content Board before it could be implemented.

Item 8: Community Radio Fund Panel: update

20. Kevin Carey, Chair of the Community Radio Fund Panel, updated the Committee on the activities of the Community Radio Fund Panel.

21. The Committee NOTED that the Panel had allocated all of its funding last year, much of which was to assist stations in funding core positions to enable their longer term viability or to raise funds for business development.

22. The Chair thanked Kevin Carey for the update, and also thanked [Withheld from published minutes] and [Withheld from published minutes] from the Radio Team for all their hard work in supporting the Panel.

Item 9: Restricted Service Licences Annual Report – RLC 19(08)

23. The Committee noted a paper on restricted service licences issued in 2007.

Item 10: Any Other Business

24. The Committee asked the Secretariat to review the remaining 2008 meeting dates.

Item 9: Date of Next Meeting

25. The next meeting would be held on Wednesday 21 May 2008, Riverside House, Room 11.01, at 9.00am until 11.30am.