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The local radio multiplex licence for Derbyshire was awarded on 5th July 2007 to NOWdigital East Midlands Limited.

Derbyshire licence award decision.

In relation to sections 51(2)(a) and (b) of the Broadcasting Act 1996, NOWdigital East Midlands proposes to launch its service by July 2008, using five transmitters. It estimates that this network of transmitters will provide ‘outdoor coverage’ (e.g. to in-car and mobile receivers) to 80.5% of the adult (aged 15+) population of Derbyshire, and the higher strength ‘indoor coverage’ (e.g. to kitchen radios) to 73% of the adult population. However the details of some of these transmitters have not been co-ordinated with other broadcasters through the Reserved Assignments process. If clearance for the proposed transmission parameters cannot be achieved by July 2008, then the service must commence by July 2008 using the transmission parameters set out in the Reserved Assignments List, although this may lead to a lower coverage of the adult population of Derbyshire of between 6% to 9%. NOWdigital East Midlands may implement a further three transmitters in the future to provide coverage of the northwestern part of the licence area. The extent of the coverage proposed was found to be satisfactory as the major population centres of Derbyshire were likely to receive good coverage. The RLC considered NOWdigital East Midlands’ proposed timetables for launching the service to be realistic, especially in light of firm agreements with all the proposed service providers who are all already broadcasting.

With regard to section 51(2)(c), the RLC considered the business plan put forward by NOWdigital East Midlands to be both robust and credible. The RLC considered that NOWdigital East Midlands’ experience as a multiplex operator in Leicester and Nottingham enhanced its ability to establish and maintain its proposed service.

In relation to section 51(2)(d), the RLC noted that NOWdigital East Midlands’ proposed line-up of local digital sound programme services includes simulcasts of five existing local analogue services, together with two digital versions of existing analogue services which are not currently available in the area and one digital-only service. The Committee considered that the proposed multiplex line-up offered a good variety of services, likely to have a appeal to a broad range of listeners in terms of age and musical tastes. Locally-relevant content will be included in all the simulcast services.

In relation to 51(2)(f), NOWdigital East Midlands provided evidence of a strong local demand for the provision of the contemporary services (Peak FM and RAM FM), the services targeting older audiences (Classic Gold and Smooth) as well as for the provision of the XFM service. In terms of the extent to which NOWdigital East Midlands’ would broaden choice of local DAB services for listeners in Derbyshire (section 51(2)(e)), the RLC noted that all of the proposed services would be new to listeners on DAB in the majority of the licensed area which is not currently served by a local radio multiplex service.

The Radio Licensing Committee agreed that the following commitments should be included as conditions of NOWdigital East Midlands’ licence when granted:

• The implementation by July 2008 of the five transmitters and transmission parameters proposed in the technical plan, or of a network of transmitters and transmission parameters offering broadly equivalent coverage. If clearance for the transmission parameters set out in technical plan cannot be achieved by July 2008, the service must commence by July 2008 with the transmission parameters set out in the Reserved Assignments List;
• The provision of all eight local digital sound programme services from the launch of the multiplex service;
• The provision of all the local sound programme services as proposed in the application (and summarised below):

Contemporary chart hits	Ram FM	GCap Media plc
Classic hits	Classic Gold 945	GCap Media Plc
Modern rock	Xfm	GCap Media plc
Adult contemporary	Heart 106	Chrysalis Group plc
Dance and rhythmic hits	Galaxy	Chrysalis Group plc
Easy listening	Smooth Radio	GMG Radio Holdings Limited
Adult contemporary music station	Peak FM	Grand Central Broadcasting Limited
Religious	UCB UK	UCB Limited

This local radio multiplex service will also provide BBC Radio Derby.

The following pages set out the statutory requirements relating to local radio multiplex licensing, and details of the licensing process. Further information about these, and detailed information relating to the applications for the Derbyshire licence, can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/dcr/

Statutory requirements relating to local radio multiplex licensing

In carrying out all of its functions, Ofcom is required to have regard to the general duties set out in section 3 of the Communications Act 2003.

Specific local radio multiplex licence award criteria

In considering the applications it receives for local radio multiplex licences, Ofcom is required to have regard to each of the statutory criteria set out in section 51(2) of the Broadcasting Act 1996. These are as follows:

1. the extent of the coverage area proposed to be achieved by the applicant
2. the timetables proposed by the applicant for achieving the stated coverage (i.e. transmission roll-out) and for the commencement of broadcasting of the digital sound programme services proposed;
3. the ability of the applicant to establish the proposed service and to maintain it throughout the period for which the licence would be in force;
4. the extent to which the digital sound programme services (other than BBC services) proposed to be included in the service would cater for the tastes and interests of persons living in the area or locality for which the service is to be provided and, where it is proposed to cater for any particular tastes and interests of such persons, the extent to which those services would cater for those tastes and interests;
5. the extent to which any such digital sound programme services would broaden the range of programmes available by way of local digital sound programme services to persons living in the area or locality for which it is to be provided and, in particular, the extent to which they would cater for tastes and interests different from those already catered for by local digital sound programme services provided for that area or locality
6. the extent to which there is evidence that, amongst persons living in that area or locality, there is a demand for, or support for, the provision of the proposed service; and
7. whether, in contracting or offering to contract with persons providing digital sound programme services, television licensable content services or digital additional services, the applicant has acted in a manner calculated to ensure fair and effective competition in the provision of those services.

The legislation does not rate these requirements in order of priority, but it may be that Ofcom will regard one or more of the criteria as being particularly important in view of the characteristics of the licence to be awarded and the applications for it.

Process for assessment of applications

The Derbyshire local radio multiplex licence was advertised on 16 January 2007. By the closing-date of 16 April 2007, one application were received, as follows:

NOWdigital East Midlands Ltd

The membership of Ofcom's Radio Licensing Committee (RLC) for this licence award was as follows:

Philip Graf, Ofcom Deputy Chairman (Chair)
Peter Bury, Director of Spectrum Policy
Martin Campbell, Chief Advisor, Radio
Peter Davies, Director of Radio and Convergent Media
Pam Giddy, Content Board member
Neil Stock, Head of Radio
Joyce Taylor, Content Board member

The applications were circulated among all members of the RLC as well as among relevant Ofcom colleagues. Copies of the non-confidential sections of the applications were made available for public scrutiny on the Ofcom website, and public comment on the local radio needs of listeners in the area, and the type of service required, was invited on the day after the applications were received. The RLC took all replies into account when reaching its decision.

Each applicant was then invited to respond, within a two-week period, to written questions of clarification and/or amplification on aspects of their proposals. The non-confidential questions and responses were subsequently made available for public scrutiny on the Ofcom website.

A paper which summarised the issues of relevance for each application under each of the statutory criteria was presented to the RLC at its 5 July 2007 meeting. The information included in this paper was drawn both from the applications and the subsequent responses to questions of clarification and/or amplification.

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