NEWS: ADVERTISEMENT BY OFCOM OF SECOND NATIONAL DAB RADIO MULTIPLEX COULD LEAD GCAP MEDIA PLC TO SEEK JUDICIAL

REVIEW by GRANT GODDARD

www.grantgoddard.co.uk January 2006

Ofcoms announcement, four days before Christmas, that it will go ahead with the advertisement of a second national DAB digital radio multiplex has put the regulator on a collision course with the UKs largest radio group, GCap Media plc, that vehemently opposes the idea. Ofcoms 51-page document is noteworthy for the large number of deleted paragraphs that have been redacted for confidentiality reasons following GCaps public declaration that it is prepared to take the regulator to a Judicial Review over the issue. Ofcom said it had considered all the responses received to its proposals during the one-month consultation period that ended in November, but has nevertheless decided to forge ahead with the advertisement of the new digital licence. Digital One (licensee of the existing national multiplex, in which GCap Media is the largest shareholder) had argued that Ofcom was failing to take account of the adverse effect that its proposals would have on other local and regional multiplex operators. However, Ofcom responded that it does not consider that it has a duty to protect the interests of operators of existing local or regional multiplex or of the existing national commercial multiplex. Instead, Ofcom argued that its aim is to ensure that a wide range of radio services is available nationally that can provide breadth of choice and diversity for listeners, and that are accessible in ways that meet listeners expectations and preferences. Ofcom concluded that the award of a second national commercial multiplex will introduce competition in the provision of national multiplex services which will encourage further investment in the DAB platform which it believed will lead to greater choice for service providers, advertisers and listeners. Ofcoms advertisement of the new licence will await the meeting of the Regional Radio Conference in May/June and the transfer of existing users of the spectrum to alternate frequencies. If GCap goes ahead and insists on a Judicial Review of the Ofcom decision, the proceedings could involve former Radio Authority officers (some of whom transferred to Ofcom, notably former chief executive Tony Stoller) having to testify exactly what was promised to the winner of the first national digital multiplex. The Radio Authoritys press release of 23 June 1998, which had announced that only one application had been received from Digital One, clearly referred to the first and only national digital multiplex licence in its headline and its opening paragraph. Whether that phrase meant only in the 1998 timeframe, or only in perpetuity, is at the heart of GCaps case.

[First published in 'The Radio Magazine' as 'Ofcom To Advertise Second National Digital Multiplex', #717, 4 January 2006]

Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk
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