167/01

The Radio Authority has today (30 November) published the details of its assessment of the local digital multiplex licence award for Peterborough. The Authority awarded the licence to Now Digital Ltd. on 8 November 2001.

A copy of the full assessment is attached.

The Radio Authority is responsible for licensing and regulating Independent Radio in accordance with the statutory requirements of the Broadcasting Acts 1990 and 1996. It plans frequencies, awards licences, regulates programming and advertising, and plays an active role in the discussion and formulation of policies which affect the Independent Radio industry and its listeners.

The local digital radio multiplex service licence for Peterborough was awarded to the sole applicant, Now Digital Ltd., on 8 November 2001. The licence will run for twelve years from the date the service commences broadcasting. The licence was advertised on 15 June 2001, with a closing date for applications of 11 September.

1. Coverage area and timetable

Now Digital proposes to commence its service by September 2002, subject to frequency clearance. Transmitters at Huntingdon (Hinchingbrooke Hospital), Stamford (Little Casterton) and Peterborough itself will be used at launch, providing ‘outdoor coverage’ of up to 85.4% of the adult (aged 15+) population of the ‘primary protected area’ (PPA), according to the applicant’s own estimate. Now Digital will consider implementing a further two transmission sites at Holbeach and St Neots later in the licence period, subject to their economic viability.

2. Ability to establish and maintain the service

Now Digital is wholly owned by one of the largest commercial radio companies in the UK, GWR Group plc, which is also the major shareholder in Digital One, operator of the national commercial digital multiplex. The Authority considered the view that Now Digital had the ability to establish and maintain the service proposed in the application.

3. Catering for tastes and interests of people in the area

The commercial programme services proposed by the applicant are as follows:

Contemporary hit radio Hereward FM (provider: Hereward Radio Ltd.)

Gold Classic Gold (provider: Classic Gold Digital Ltd.)

Dance Vibe FM (provider: Eastern Counties Radio Ltd.)

Local

(City of Peterborough) Lite FM (provider: GP Broadcasting Ltd.)*

Adult contemporary Passion (provider: Passion for the Planet Ltd.)

Country Provider: to be confirmed

* subject to confirmation

Now Digital anticipates that five of these proposed programme services will commence broadcasting when the multiplex launches. The country music service will commence broadcasting once a contract has been secured with an appropriate provider of the format. A seventh commercial service will commence within two years of launch, the format of which has yet to be decided. Local content will principally be provided by the simulcast local analogue services, Hereward FM, Classic Gold, Lite FM and Vibe FM. It is also proposed that Hereward FM will make a local news and information service available to each of the digital-only services from launch. It is anticipated that further specifically local programming will be introduced on each of the non-simulcast channels once digital listening accounts for one-third of all radio listening. Members considered that the programming proposals offered a range of services that would be of broad appeal.

4. Broadening the range of local digital programme services

As there are no local digital programme services available in the Peterborough area, and as this was the sole application, this criterion was effectively satisfied by default.

5. Local support

As with previous Now Digital applications, a quantitative research survey was conducted to demonstrate the level of public support for the proposed programme services. Now Digital also sought to generate support for the package of programme services proposed, and to generate interest in digital radio generally, by means of a public presentation and a series of one-to-one meetings with local opinion formers and advertisers. Now Digital received endorsements from a number of local businesses and organisations.

6. Fair and effective competition

The Authority has no reason to believe that the applicant has not acted in a manner calculated to ensure fair and effective competition when contracting or offering to contract with potential or proposed service providers. In accordance with the licence conditions pursuant to the Broadcasting Act 1996, the Authority will keep matters of fair and effective competition and undue discrimination under regular review.

Copies of the non-confidential section of the application were made available for public inspection in the reference section of Peterborough Central Library and at the Authority’s offices in London. A notice was issued on 11 September 2001 inviting public comments on the application. Under the terms of section 51(2) of the Broadcasting Act 1996, when considering whether, or to whom, to award a local digital radio multiplex licence, the Authority must have regard to the following specific matters:

1. the extent of the coverage area as proposed by the applicant;
2. the timetable relating to achievement of the proposed coverage area and the start of broadcast services;
3. the ability of the applicant to establish the proposed service and to maintain it throughout the period for which the licence will be in force;
4. the extent to which the digital programme services proposed to be included in the service would cater for the tastes and interests of persons living in the area and, where it is proposed to cater for particular tastes and interests, the extent to which those services would in fact cater for those tastes and interests;
5. the extent to which any proposed digital sound programme services would broaden the range of programmes available by way of local digital programme services in that area and, in particular, the extent to which they would cater for tastes and interests different from those already catered for by local digital programme services already provided in that area;
6. the extent to which the application is supported by persons living in the area; and
7. whether, in contracting or offering to contract with persons providing digital programme services or digital additional services, the applicant has acted in a manner calculated to ensure fair and effective competition in the provision of such services.

The Authority is also required to take account of any representations made in respect of the application.