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The ITC published its response at the beginning of September to the Government's consultation document on "Television: the Digital Future" which considers how and when analogue broadcasting could end. The ITC argues that if viewers' expectations are to be met and social exclusion is to be avoided, digital television needs to maintain both the near-universal availability of analogue transmissions, ( i.e., to over 99% of homes) and the greatly-valued regional services. Digital terrestrial television is the only platform which can satisfy these criteria, provided that, at the point of analogue switch-off,...

The Annual Report of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) was published on 13 August. The Report proposes a fresh approach to the control of pornography in the UK, largely in the light of the failure to stem the burgeoning black market in violently pornographic videos. The Report suggests that licensed sex shops should be freer to sell explicit videos, provided they do not include violence or any paedophile element. In general, the Report argues that the current obscenity laws do not work, foster a demand that cannot be met legally and force police and magistrates to act as "surrogate...

The Data Protection Bill 1998 received Royal Assent at the end of July. The new Act implements Council Directive 95/46/EEC ([1995] OJ L281/31) on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. The Act creates a Data Protection Commissioner with enhanced privacy protection powers and broadens the scope of the existing legislation so that it now covers for the first time information relating to living individuals held in manual files. The new Act also strengthens the individual's right of access to information held about them. It...

The UK Government has issued a Green Paper setting out options for the future regulatory structure for communications (including broadcasting and telecommunications) as convergence takes place. In part this is a response to a recent report of a Parliamentary Committee which strongly criticised current regulatory arrangements as far too complicated; no less than 14 different statutory and self-regulatory bodies exist for media and telecommunications. It also considered that the regulatory structures and law had failed to keep pace with technological development. The Committee recommended that a...

The UK telecommunications regulator, the Office of Telecommunications (OFTEL), has published a consultative document on ensuring that the prices broadcasters and others are required to pay for access to digital television receivers to provide television and interactive services are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory. It seeks views on three related issues: - whether all or part of the investment in the subsidy of consumer equipment should be regarded as investment in network infrastructure which it would be legitimate to take into account in setting access charges for thirdparty users. -...