Category: Regulation

UK Digital Switch-over to Cost UK£1 billion

The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five have had a series of meetings to discuss the UK’s switch-over to digital broadcasting. High on the agenda has been the total cost of the operation, from promoting the switch-over to public to popping round to old peoples’ houses to install a free set top box.

So far the estimate is about UK£1 billion (€1.5 billion), but like a hen party in a Indian restaurant, there’s still quite a lot of squabbling left over who needs to pay for what.

The three commercial broadcasters are quite keen on the government and BBC picking up the majority of the bill. Indeed, ITV hopes that most of its expenses will be offset by a reduction in the cost of the broadcast license that it pays for currently.

New broadcast licenses will be issued by Ofcom in September, and switch-over will feature prominently in them.

Many of the forthcoming costs are likely to go down – digital receivers are becoming more popular and are falling in price, so the installed base will rise rapidly on its own. By 2012 many of the households currently refusing to switch to digital may well have adopted digital television themselves as they become more accustomed to it.

Ofcom’s Digital Switch Over Report

Ofcom’s Renumbering Plans

Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has published their plan for renumbering Greater London’s telephone system.

Under Section 56 of the Communications Act, Ofcom is required to publish a National Telephone Numbering Plan and review it when required. Telephone numbers have been revised three times over the last fifteen years, and usually the public’s response is one of groans and howls, followed by trips to the printers to get all the stationery redone, and the tiny tapping on phones and PDAs to input the new codes.

There’ll be none of that this time – Ofcom is assuring residential and business customers that they will not need to change their numbers. The major change is the release of the 020 3 code for new numbers in Greater London, though 020 7 and 020 8 will stay the same.

A campaign to inform the public will begin in Q3 2004, and it is expected that the new numbers will start appearing next summer.

Ofcom’s plan

Curfews for Gamers in LA

Looks like those teenage Everquest players have been getting out of hand – after a report found that 86% of people arrested in cybercafes were juveniles, the city of Los Angeles has cracked down hard with a curfew.

New city ordinance, to come into effect in two months, bans kids under 18 from the city’s 30 or so cybercafes after 10pm on weekdays – and they won’t be allowed in between 8.30am and 1pm either.

Los Angeles is also looking to regulate the growing cybercafe business, and now requires premises with five PCs or more to have a police license, and video cameras for security.

The new legislation is the result of a review instigated after a brawl in a cybercafe last year. Two groups of kids got out of hand after a particularly energetic bout of Counter Strike. Evidently, the post-match recriminations went a bit further than just typing “omfg i pwned u!!!!! i r0x0r!!!111!” to their victims.

Dennis Zine – the councillor responsible for the law

UK Analogue Radio Switch-Off Date Announced This Year

UK Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has said that she will be reviewing digital radio adoption with the view to switching off the analogue service. The date for the switch-off is expected to come later this year. The statement came in the foreword to new report published by the Digital Radio Development Bureau.

The analogue TV signal is due to be switched off in 2010, but the government is yet to give any indication of the date that it expects to switch off the analogue radio signal.

Digital radios have enjoyed a strong growth in the UK, with sales up 444% this year – 600,000 have been sold this year already, and prices are set to fall to around £50 for some sets, with the development of new chips.

Many listeners are also enjoying radio through their internet connections, and indeed some sources estimate that, rather than a dying past-time, radio listening is set to grow by 10% over the next five years.

The Independent on the analogue radio switch off

Siemens to Buy BBC Technology

Siemens Business Services (SBS) has been announced as the BBC’s single preferred bidder for its Technology division. There are a few hurdles yet to go – the deal is still subject to approval by BBC governors, the Secretary of State for Culture, media and Sport and needs to be cleared by the European Commission under EC Merger Regulations.

Once approved, the contract will run for ten years and is worth up to UK£2 billion (€3 billion).

The BBC is hoping that SBS will provide skills and expertise to reach its goals over those ten years, as well as substantial cost savings, estimated to be at least UK£20 – 30 million (€30 – €45 million). The corporation has been considering selling off its technology division for at least the last ten years, and, having finally done so represents a further slimming down of the corporation. The last big sell off of this type was a few years ago when the BBC disposed of properties to Land Securities Trillium – this of course gave rise to the Legend of the £50 Lightbulb Replacement Fee.

With a staff of 1400 and turnover of UK£230 million (€344 million), BBC Technology has a number of high-profile customers outside the corporation, including BSkyB, DirectTV, ESPN and Hutchinson 3G.

BBC Technology

Siemens Business Services

UN: We Can Beat Spam in Two Years

The United Nations has decided to tackle spam – and it thinks it can do it within two years by standardising legislation around the world. The International Telecommunications Union is hosting a meeting on spam in Geneva bringing together regulators from 60 countries, the Council of Europe and the World Trade Organisation.

Hopefully their anti-spam strategy will be to get them all in one room and crack their heads together until they agree to do something for a change. Yes, I have had a lot of spam today, thanks for asking.

“(We have) an epidemic on our hands that we need to learn how to control,” Robert Horton, the acting chief of the Australian communications authority, told reporters: “International cooperation is the ultimate goal.”

The UN intends to provide examples of anti-spam legislation for countries to adopt, to make prosecution and cross-border co-operation easier. How this will be regarded in countries that make a profit from sending spam is yet to be seen.

“If we don’t work together,” said Robert Shaw, Internet strategy expert with the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union (ITU), “we may see millions of people abandoning the Net entirely, out of frustration and disgust.”

You’ve got that right, Bob. I’ll be back in two years to see if the UN’s strategy worked.

The ITU estimates that 85% of all email is now spam, compared to “just” 35% last year, and that anti-spam protection now costs computer users US$25 billion (€20.2 billion) a year. Roughly enough to feed everyone on the planet.

ITU

Ofcom’s Broadband Ambitions, Appoints Telecoms Adjudicator

The UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has outlined its next steps and long term aspirations for the development of broadband.

Ofcom believes that their initial focus on rollout and coverage has paid off, with 512kbps services now common place and around 15% of the population taking advantage of broadband.

The regulator now wants to define and focus on a phase two: “the new generation of broadband services likely to emerge as competition increases between providers.”Ofcom are still as keen as ever to promote local loop unbundling, and have been successful at goading BT into faster action to improve third-party access to exchanges – they they note that the pace in the UK does not match those in other countries: “If there is sufficient progress in reducing costs and improving operational processes, local loop unbundling in the UK has the potential to deliver the same kind of growth and innovation emerging in, for example, France and Japan, where tens of thousands of local loops are unbundled each month.” Although Ofcom’s first attempts at promoting LLU failed, they are pleased that BT is finally getting the message, and is reducing costs.

By promoting greater competition in access networks, Ofcom believes that they can increase adoption of VoIP services in the next 3 to 5 years, with the majority of households benefiting from video-quality broadband by the end of the decade.

To assist in the further progress of LLU and broadband rollout, Ofcom are keen to promote the establishment of a Telecommunications Adjudicator, an independent post designed to resolve working-level implementation disputes. Indeed, they have today named Peter Black as the man for the job – a former senior executive at BT, Thus and NTL, Black is an experienced telecommunications exec.

The post is supported by BT, AOL, C&W, Video Networks, Wanadoo and others. Ofcom chief executive Stephen Carter said in a Statement: “We welcome the fact that 12 of the most significant companies have signed up to the independent Adjudicator scheme; and we hope this drives growth in the future.”

Ofcom’s aspirations

Crown Castle Sell UK Broadcasting Business to National Grid

National Grid Transco have had their eyes on Crown Castle’s UK broadcasting and mast operation for some time – and they are about to hand over $2.035 billion (€1.67 billion) for it. The deal is still subject to approvals, but is expected to be finalised on or before September 30th.

Crown Castle’s reason for the sale is that the need US$1.3 billion (€1.06 billion) of the money to pay off a credit facility from CC Operating Company.

“The sale of our UK subsidiary is expected to provide us with significant financial and operational flexibility to pursue opportunities in the larger and faster growing US market,” stated John P. Kelly, CEO of Crown Castle. “While our UK operations have been a solid contributor to our business, we believe there is substantially greater growth potential for our US business given the lower penetration of wireless services and the earlier stage of 3G deployments in the US market. This transaction also substantially improves our balance sheet, which we believe will provide flexibility to capitalize on this growth.”

“As a result of this transaction, we will significantly reduce our net debt, exposure to currency fluctuations and floating interest rate exposure,” said W. Benjamin Moreland, the company’s CFO, in a statement.

The other US$740 million (€608 million) will be invested in new business opportunities in the US and to pay off some other debts.

Crown Castle

National Grid Transco

The BBC’s Digital Future

With the BBC’s Royal Charter up for renewal in 2006, the corporation has outlined its vision for the future in a new paper “Building Public Value: Renewing the BBC for the Digital World”. Apart from the two ‘the’s and that ‘for’, you can tell every word in the title was chosen in a focus group for maximum effect.

Top of the list are the BBC’s suggestions for regulation – much like BT, the corporation sees that it is better to regulate yourself than have regulation thrust upon you. Obviously, BBC management has been under criticism by the government for recent editorial decisions, and so the corporation is suggesting a reformed board of governors, independent of the BBC and open to scrutiny.

Programmes and BBC services will have to pass a ‘public value test’ before they are approved, and will be tested on quality, impact, value for money and reach. If a programme fails the value test, then the governors will hold the managers responsible to account.

The BBC is also planning to make the complaints process easier and faster, with a more open attitude and active right to reply.

As the UK government is keen to free up the analogue spectrum, the BBC is pushing access to digital services, aiming for a switchover by 2012. The corporation wants to involve the public more in the process, and indeed greater openness and public participation is a common theme throughout the entire document.

Local news, services and properties are also high on the agenda as the BBC is often criticised, often unfairly, of being too London-centric. To combat this, staff are being moved out of London and ultra-local news services are planned for up to 60 British cities.

Finally, the BBC is looking towards more successes with interactive projects – meaning more events like the Big Read, and the launch of a digital curriculum for schools coupled with enhanced learning facilities on BBC Online.

BBC

Microsoft Asks for Hearing Delay

Microsoft have asked the European Union, by way of a 100 page appeal, to delay a Commission ruling regarding its distribution of Windows Media Player.

If the stay request is granted, it may well delay the the EU court’s final verdict by several years – during which time Microsoft will be able to continue distributing Windows Media Player in its usual manner. Obviously this renders the EU ruling against Microsoft completely useless.

The ruling was intended to force MS to share interface information with competitors so that they could integrate their own media players with Windows, and to provide a version of Windows which does not have Media Player pre-installed.

Brussels also fined the company €497 million (US$602 million), but this will make little impact on a company with at least €50 billion (US$60 billion) in cash reserves.

Since the appeal may take up to five years, which is effectively forever in digital media terms, Microsoft will be able to expand the installed base still further without sharing information with competing software manufacturers, or providing a choice of media player to those who don’t want WM9 – or WM11 as it may well be by the time the ruling comes into effect. Microsoft originally had (from March 24 this year) 90 days to offer Windows without Media Player, and 120 days to begin sharing information.

Europa