Note of the Forty-Second Meeting of the Ofcom Board, held at Ofcom, Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London, on 9 November 2004

Introduction

1. The Chairman welcomed Members to the forty-second meeting of the Ofcom Board. David Edmonds and Sara Nathan had sent apologies but all other Members were present. Graham Howell (Secretary to the Corporation) and Jenny Leyland (Assistant Corporation Secretary) were present throughout the meeting. The following colleagues attended for part of the meeting: Tony Stoller (External Relations Director); Trevor Barnes (Director, Broadcasting & Spectrum Law); Greg Bensberg (Senior Advisor (Broadcasting)); Jim Egan (Head of Strategy Development); Polly Weitzman (Director of Competition Law); Peter Ingram (Chief Technology Officer); Philip Rutnam (Partner, Competition & Strategic Resources); Robin Foster (Partner, Strategy Development); Khalid Hayat (Business Strategy Development Manager); Claire Davenport (Manager, Strategy Development); Peter Davies (Head of Market Intelligence & Reporting); Eva Koekelbergh (Development Officer, Radio Spectrum Planning & Licensing); Gwen Morgan (Legal Advisor, Competition & Regulation Lawyers); Dominic Morris (Director, Chief Executive’s Office); Martin Hart (Policy Manager, Content & Standards); and Chris Banatvala (Head of Standards).

Previous minutes and matters arising

2. The minutes of the meeting held on 2 November were agreed as a true record. (The Notes of the meeting have been published on the Ofcom website.) Matters arising were noted.

Chief Executive’s report

3. Stephen Carter updated the Board on developments since the last meeting.

Digital Replacement Licences: Response to consultation

4. The Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to replace the current analogue broadcasting licences with digital broadcasting licences by 29 December 2004. The Board was briefed on issues raised by respondents to the consultation on digital replacement licences (DRLs). The Board will be asked to approve the final version of the licences to be offered and the Policy Statement to accompany the offer of the licences at its next meeting on 23 November.

Public Service Television Broadcasting (PSTB) Review Update

5. The Board was briefed on the programme of work for Phase 3 of the PSTB Review. This included work being done internally and with external input to gain a better understanding of the technical and practical issues around the proposal for a Public Service Publisher (PSP). A hypothetical tender document had been issued for a PSP as a supplement to the PSB Phase 2 consultation document and comments had been invited. In addition a number of different parties had been invited to submit responses to the tender document and to present their ideas at a seminar to be held on 2 December.

Digital Radio Review

6. The Board will be asked to consider a draft consultation document on the Radio Review (covering digital and analogue radio) at its meeting on 23 November. Guidance was sought at this meeting on the approach to be taken in the Review to two particular issues.

Management Issues

7. The Board noted an information paper which set out Ofcom’s role in its dealings with the BBC in regulatory matters.

Content and Sanctions Issues Update

8. The Board was briefed on current Content and Standards complaints issues. It was agreed that the Board would find it helpful to include this update as a regular item on its agenda. (A similar report is made to the Content Board.)

Information Papers/Minutes

9. The Board noted the following:
(i) The Ofcom International Bulletin for October 2004.
(ii) Consumer Panel Minutes of a meeting held on 19 October 2004
(iii) Finance Committee minutes of a meeting held on 21 October 2004.

Date of the next meeting

10. The next meeting will be held on 23 November 2004 at Riverside House.

15 November 2004