Terrestrial licences are issued for the 15 regional ITV companies and GMTV, which together comprise Channel 3. Licensees make specific commitments as to the services that they will provide, which reflect the promises they made in their original licence application. These commitments may be varied with approval from the ITC and any such variation is published. All licences and variations are public documents.
Channel 4 is also subject to an ITC licence and at the end of the year the ITC was in the process of consulting on significant variations to this licence following the Government's decision to phase out the Channel 4 Funding Formula. Terrestrial licences are also issued for the Public Teletext Service on Channels 3 and 4, and Commercial Additional Services (these are used for subscription-based data and text services or for specific closed user groups).
The Channel 5 licence was granted to Channel 5 Broadcasting in April 1996. The requirements of the licence on retuning in advance of transmission were met and the Channel 5 service officially commenced on Easter Sunday 1997. A licence to carry additional services on Channel 5 was granted to Sky Five Text Ltd in October.
Licences for a new form of local television, Restricted Services, were introduced during the course of the year as a result of the bringing into force of part of the Broadcasting Act 1996. These RSLs are available for either a 56-day duration for the broadcast of a specific event, or for a longer two-year period, renewable subject to competition, for services aimed at a particular location. The first set of 31 applications for RSLs was received at the end of September and by the end of the year preliminary awards had been made to 10 applicants.
At the end of January applications were submitted to the ITC for licences to operate each of the five commercial digital terrestrial multiplexes. Two applicants, British Digital Broadcasting plc (BDB) and Digital Television Network Ltd (DTN) applied for three licences to operate multiplexes B, C and D. Exercising its competition powers, the ITC determined that BSkyB could not remain both a shareholder and a major programme supplier to BDB and BSkyB subsequently sold its shareholding to its erstwhile partners in BDB, Granada and Carlton. The ITC decided that BDB's proposals were most likely to promote the development of digital television broadcasting. Three licences were granted to BDB in December.
Digital 3 and 4 Ltd, the sole applicant for the multiplex to run digital programme services on behalf of the Channel 3 companies and Channel 4, was also granted a multiplex licence at the end of December. One application was submitted for the licence to operate multiplex A, from S4C Digital Networks Ltd (SDN). Although the licence was awarded to SDN (in July), by the end of the year the licence had still to be formally granted.
Both BDB and Digital 3 and 4 Ltd intend to commence broadcasting digital terrestrial services towards the end of 1998. Licences for digital programme and additional services will be issued effectively on request although the licensees must contract with the multiplex operators to get a place on the new digital terrestrial platform.
Considerable consolidation of ownership of regional ITV companies occurred in 1997. The Scottish Media Group acquired Grampian, the licence holder for the north of Scotland, in July. The take-over of Yorkshire-Tyne Tees by Granada was also finalised in August. United News and Media took over HTV, the licensee for Wales and the West of England in October. By the end of the year, only Ulster Television, Border and Channel Television retained their independent status. All of these consolidations were well within the 15 per cent audience share limits set by the Broadcasting Act 1996, although the ITC does have power to ensure that the distinctive regional nature of each of the ITV companies remain undiluted.
The development of new local delivery franchises for areas in the UK continued during 1997. In line with its established policy, the ITC advertises areas for which there is at least one potential credible applicant, as guided by interest expressed to it. Invitations to apply for licences for five new areas were issued during the year, and eight licences were awarded, including six for areas for which applications had been invited during 1996. Applications received during 1997 for other areas were under consideration at the close of the year.
Some four million homes are potentially covered by local delivery franchises so far awarded or advertised by the ITC.
With an estimated 15.6 million homes already covered by cable franchises before the start of the local delivery programme, there remain approximately 3.4 million homes in the UK outside areas now licensed or advertised. The local delivery franchising programme will continue to respond to expressions of interest but, although delivery by Microwave Video Distribution System may improve the prospect of serving more rural communities, it may be that the limits of economic distribution are being approached.
In addition, eight other licences were revoked during the course of the year either at the request of the licence holder or for non-payment of the annual licence fee. However, 44 new Satellite Television Service licences and 12 Licensable Programme Service licences were issued during 1997. At the end of the year, there was a total of 173 satellite and 90 licensable programme service licensees.
Cable and Satellite Licence Definitions xxx
|
|
 |