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In September 2001, the British Culture Secretary approved three new BBC digital channels; however, she asked for a further proposal for a new youth channel to be revised and re-submitted because it did not have a distinctive character and similar services are offered by private broadcasters (see IRIS 2001-9: 10). The new youth channel, BBC3, has now been approved subject to stringent conditions. Ministerial consent is required for new services under the Agreement with the Secretary of State which defines the powers of the BBC. The channel will be funded by the licence fee rather than by advertising...

The UK Government has published a draft Communications Bill to reform fundamentally the regulation of broadcasting and telecommunications and to liberalise ownership rules (see IRIS 2002-6: 9). As part of the consultation process, the Bill has been examined by two Parliamentary Committees drawn from both Houses of Parliament. The first report was that of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. The Committee considered that most of the Bill's provisions are unlikely to cause problems in respect of human rights; however some will require revision to provide adequate safeguards. Most seriously, the...

The UK Government has published further information to supplement its draft Communications Bill, which is currently the subject of detailed consultation (see IRIS 2002-6: 9). The first document concerns the controversial question of the extent to which the new single communications regulatory body, the Office of Communications (OFCOM), will be able to regulate the BBC. The Government sets out proposed amendments to the BBC Agreement with the Secretary of State, currently the basis for its regulation. It is proposed that the amended agreement will bring the BBC within the "first tier" of regulation...

The UK Government has published a draft Bill to implement the proposals set out at the end of 2000 in its Communications White Paper (see IRIS 2001-1: 8). Consultation on the Bill runs until 2 August 2002; a joint committee of the two Houses of Parliament will also be scrutinising the Bill during this period and will report by 7 August. It is expected that the Bill will be introduced into the following Parliamentary session and will become law by late 2003. The major changes proposed in the Bill are as follows. A new single regulatory body will be established, the Office of Communications (OFCOM),...

The recent United Kingdom Budget contained two specific measures of relevance for the audiovisual industries. One introduces a new tax relief for the costs of intellectual property (amongst other intangible assets), which is being introduced from 1 April. The Treasury announced this on 26 March, prior to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's [the functional equivalent for a British Minister of Finance] Budget speech: "new relief for the cost of intangible assets (including intellectual property and goodwill) will encourage business to take advantage of new opportunities in the knowledge-based economy....