Ofcom set to review regional Channel 3 license holder arrangements
Media regulator Ofcom is to carry out a review of ITV’s networking set arrangements between the 15 regional holders of Channel 3 licenses.
The purpose of the review is to ensure that the regional license holders as a whole, acts as a nationwide service with the ability to compete with other television broadcast services in the UK.
The review will be carried out by Ofcom which is obligated to do so on occasion under the Communications Act 2003 and ensure that the licensees are able to meet their objective of providing a competitive, regionalised Channel 3 service.
The consultation will review issues previously raised by licensees and will use these to develop criteria to determine the relevance of the arrangements for the provision of a networked Channel 3 service with a focus placed upon the Network Programme Budget and cost sharing arrangements.
Views from interested parties are being sought on the options of allocating network costs between licensees as well as information on the impact that the options could have on the regional licensees business plans, in order to determine which changes maybe possible.
Ofcom has also said that it recognises that ‘considerable tensions’ are evident within the current operating system and that any change made to costs made to one licensee could negatively affect on another making it difficult for a consensus to be reached for change between the licensees and has said that it believes the time would be right to remove statutory burden for annual reviews such as this to be carried out.
Interested parties are asked to express their views on the matters raised by the review to Ofcom as part of the review by 5 October.