Ofcom publishes action plan for next three years

by Joanne Payne, Brand Republic 03-Apr-07, 11:40

LONDON - Media watchdog Ofcom has published its annual plan for 2007/2008 establishing its priorities for the forthcoming year, which focus on growing competition within the industry and spectrum liberalisation.

Ofcom's 15 priorities for 2007/2008 include a clear focus on increasing the opportunity for competition from emerging services and programmers. Ofcom wants to accelerate the spectrum liberalisation that allows the market to decide how the spectrum should be used; in turn Ofcom hopes this will increase competition and innovation within the media.

Ofcom aims to release more spectra to allow new services to develop and enable the development of platforms for the next generation of converged services.

To promote innovation in emerging markets Ofcom proposes to try harder to understand wireless platforms, such as mobile television and wireless broadband, as converging processes. It will also assess new sources of market power that emerge through this convergence and promote competitiveness in such emerging markets.

Participation in key EU negotiations is also a core detail in Ofcom's plans for the next year. It wishes to support the government in concluding negotiations on the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive and contribute to other EU negotiations, such as addressing the legislative proposals following the Commission's Content Online Communication.

Policy work until 2010 will focus on seven key areas: driving forward a market-based approach to spectrum; promoting competition and innovation in converging markets; delivering public outcomes on a variety of platforms; improving industry compliance while empowering citizens and consumers; moving towards more consistent legal and economic frameworks; reducing regulation and minimising administrative burdens; and maximising Ofcom's impact on international policy developments.