The Creation of Ofcom

The Creation of Ofcom PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102939125
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
Ofcom = Office of Communications.

The Creation of Ofcom

The Creation of Ofcom PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102939125
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
Ofcom = Office of Communications.

Ofcom

Ofcom PDF Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102965520
Category : Competition
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
Over the last five years Ofcom has saved some £23 million, however, it is not possible to conclude on the extent to which Ofcom is delivering optimal value for the resources it uses. With its complex remit across the telecommunications sector, it needs a better articulation of the intended outcomes of its activities and how its work achieves those outcomes. Taking into account the expansion of its remit and inflation, Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications sector, costs around 27 per cent less in real terms (around £3 million per year more in cash terms) to run than its predecessors. Ofcom spends over £70 million managing the radio spectrum, which generates income for the Government of about £200 million per year. Analysis by the NAO suggests that there are many positive outcomes in the communications market: for example, prices have fallen and there is better choice and quality. However, there are still areas where improvements could be made. Three of the goods and services most complained about to the consumer helpline Consumer Direct are communications products (mobile phone service agreements, telephone landlines and internet service providers). Most of Ofcom's stakeholders feel that it conducts its consultations well, but 44 per cent of those the NAO surveyed felt that Ofcom does not go on to act in a timely manner. The frequency of appeals against Ofcom's regulatory decisions is an increasing challenge and they have cost Ofcom over £1 million per year since 2007-08.

Ofcom

Ofcom PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215556363
Category : Telecommunication
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
The Committee looked at Ofcom's management of its resources and also the outcomes for citizens and consumers. There is scope for Ofcom to do more to tackle persistent problems such as the volume of silent calls, relatively low levels of switching between telecoms providers, and limited competition in fixed-line telephony. Ofcom has successfully reduced its cost base, despite having taken on a number of additional duties. But, because it has classified some of the benefits of the merger as efficiency savings, it is questionable whether the scale of these is as much as would have been expected, once the merger-specific savings have been taken into account. Ofcom manages its expenditure within an overall cap, which is agreed each year with the Treasury. In most organisations the intended work plan will determine the budget, but in Ofcom it is effectively the other way round. This has the potential to incentivise Ofcom to make decisions based on keeping within the cap - rather than maximising value. This means that value for money - optimising the available resources to achieve intended outcomes - is not always the primary focus. Ofcom needs to do more to demonstrate its focus on value for money and to allow the taxpayers and companies that fund its activities to assess its performance. Ofcom sets out in its annual work plan the activities it plans to undertake, but it does not specify its intended outcomes, explain how its activities will achieve those outcomes, or set out how it will measure success. This makes it impossible to assess whether Ofcom is delivering value for money.

Media Regulation

Media Regulation PDF Author: Peter Lunt
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446292002
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
"An exemplary study of how media regulation works (and, by implication, how it could work better) set within a wider discussion of democratic theory and political values. It will be of interest not only to students and scholars but to people around the world grappling with the same problem: the need to regulate markets, and the difficulty of doing this well." - James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London In Media Regulation, two leading scholars of the media examine the challenges of regulation in the global mediated sphere. This book explores the way that regulation affects the relations between government, the media and communications market, civil society, citizens and consumers. Drawing on theories of governance and the public sphere, the book critically analyzes issues at the heart of today′s media, from the saturation of advertising to burdens on individuals to control their own media literacy. Peter Lunt and Sonia Livingstone incisively lay bare shifts in governance and the new role of the public sphere which implicate self-regulation, the public interest, the role of civil society and the changing risks and opportunities for citizens and consumers. It is essential reading to understand the forces that are reshaping the media landscape.

Ofcom's Strategic Review of Telecommunications

Ofcom's Strategic Review of Telecommunications PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Trade and Industry Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215024664
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Ofcoms Strategic Review of Telecommunications : Thirteenth Report of Session 2004-05

From the "Democratic Deficit" to a "Democratic Surplus"

From the Author: Athanasios Psygkas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019063278X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
Challenging the conventional narrative that the European Union suffers from a "democratic deficit," Athanasios Psygkas argues that EU mandates have enhanced the democratic accountability of national regulatory agencies. This is because EU law has created entry points for stakeholder participation in the operation of national regulators; these avenues for public participation were formerly either not open or not institutionalized to this degree. By focusing on how the EU formally adopted procedural mandates to advance the substantive goal of creating an internal market in electronic communications, Psygkas demonstrates that EU requirements have had significant implications for the nature of administrative governance in the member states. Drawing on theoretical arguments in favor of decentralization traditionally applied to substantive policy-making, this book provides insight into regulatory processes to show how the decentralized EU structure may transform national regulatory authorities into individual loci of experimentation that might in turn develop innovative results. It thus contributes to debates about federalism, governance and public policy, as well as about deliberative and participatory democracy in the United States and Europe. This book informs current understandings of regulatory agency operations and institutional design by drawing on an original dataset of public consultations and interviews with agency officials, industry and consumer group representatives in Paris, Athens, Brussels, and London. The on-the-ground original research provides a strong foundation for the directions the case law could take and small- and larger-scale institutional reforms that balance the goals of democracy, accountability, and efficiency.

Public service content

Public service content PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215037251
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
In March 2006, the Government published its White Paper on the BBC ("A public service for all: the BBC in the digital age", Cm. 6763 (ISBN 9780101676328)) which set out the framework for the BBC's role as a public service broadcaster over the next ten years. Given the concerns that have been raised over the future sustainability of the current public service broadcasting system, the Committee's report examines a range of issues including: the prospects for maintaining plurality in public service broadcasting in the digital age; the practicality of continuing to impose public service obligations on commercial broadcasters; the viability of existing funding models for ITV, Channel 4 and Five; and the case for public funding of broadcasters in addition to the BBC. Amongst its findings, although the Committee notes its overall confidence in the viability of most types of public service content, it recognises that some content is already coming under pressure and that this is likely to increase over time. The report argues that the BBC should not be left as the only supplier of public service content in any area of programming, as the maintenance of plurality is an important public policy objective. Public funding, using licence fee income or general taxation, should be made available to all broadcasters on a contestable basis, to bring the benefits of competition to the provision of public service content that the market might not otherwise provide, such as UK­produced children's programming or regional programming.

Creating Preschool Television

Creating Preschool Television PDF Author: J. Steemers
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230274609
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Small children are regularly captivated by programmes made especially for them – ranging from classics like Sesame Street to more recent arrivals such as Blues Clues and Teletubbies . This book examines the industry interests behind preschool television, and how commercial, creative and curricular priorities shape and inform what is produced.

Envisioning Media Power

Envisioning Media Power PDF Author: Brett Christophers
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739133101
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
Envisioning Media Power develops an original geographical perspective on the nature and exercise of power in the international television economy. It uses theories of political economy as the basis for a comparative empirical examination of the UK and New Zealand television markets, while closely considering these markets' respective relationships with the US market and its globally-influential media corporations. In fleshing out this geographical perspective, the book critically addresses the power to produce, reproduce, and extract profit from territorialized media markets. To understand such powers, the book examines processes of creation and dissemination of industry knowledge, structures of industry governance, and the locational characteristics of television's operational economy. Through its rigorous and creative combination of conceptual insights with empirical substance, Envisioning Media Power both illuminates the fabric of television's international space economy, and ultimately offers a unique theoretic argument - suggesting that power, knowledge and geography are inseparable not only from one another, but from the process of accumulation of media capital.

Local Radio, Going Global

Local Radio, Going Global PDF Author: Guy Starkey
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230347991
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
An examination of the development of local radio broadcasting and the trend for locally-owned, locally-originated and locally-accountable commercial radio stations to fall into the hands of national and international media groups. Starkey traces the early development of local radio through to present-day digital environments.