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Introduction

1. Ofcom, in accordance with section 104(1) of the Broadcasting Act 1990, invites applications for a licence to provide an Independent Local Radio (ILR) service on the FM (VHF) waveband covering the city of Belfast and the surrounding area, for a maximum period of twelve years from the commencement of broadcasting.

2. The closing-date for the submission of completed applications will be 5.00 p.m. on Wednesday 8 December 2004. A fee of £5,000 will be payable for each application submitted. This fee will not be refundable in any circumstances.

3. Ofcom welcomes views from the public about the local radio needs of listeners in this area, and the type of programme service required. These should be e-mailed to commercialradio@ofcom.org.uk, or sent to Neil Stock, Head of Radio Planning & Licensing, Ofcom, Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA. Please mark the envelope 'Belfast'.

4. In considering the applications it receives for this licence, Ofcom is required to have regard to the each of the statutory criteria set out in section 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990, as amended (see Section 3 of this Notice for full details). The legislation does not rate these requirements in order of priority, but it may be that Ofcom will regard one or more of these criteria as being particularly important in view of the characteristics of the licence to be awarded and the applications for it. Given the number and type of services already available in the area to be served by this licence, Ofcom is likely to place particular importance on criterion (c) - the extent to which a proposed service would broaden the range of programmes available by way of local (commercial) services in the area, and would cater for tastes and interests different from those already catered for - when it comes to consider the applications it receives for this licence. In respect of criterion (d) - the extent to which there is evidence of local demand or support for a proposed service - Ofcom is likely to attach greater weight to robust and meaningful evidence of demand as demonstrated by findings from research undertaken in the licence area and, if appropriate, detailed analysis of the existing market, than to evidence of local support as demonstrated by letters from potential listeners and/or advertisers. The guidance given above on the application by Ofcom of the statutory criteria to this particular licence award is subject to Ofcom's discretion, as Ofcom cannot restrict in advance the way in which it will exercise its discretion in any particular case. As stated above, Ofcom will always consider each of the four statutory criteria when making a licence award.

The full document is available from the link below

• Advertisement of FM Independent Local Radio Licence for BELFAST [pdf]
  Full print version

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