Out-Law News 2 min. read

Government to enrol Ofcom help in ensuring cross-media ownership plurality


The Government will ask Ofcom to investigate ways to ensure cross-media ownership plurality, the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) has confirmed.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will ask the UK's media regulator to report on whether it is "practical or advisable to set absolute limits on news market share," according to a report by the Guardian.

Current restrictions on media ownership are laid out under the Communications Act. The Act prevents newspaper proprietors from owning 20% of ITV if their newspapers already command more than 20% of total circulation.

Under the Enterprise Act Ofcom has a duty to flag up concerns about media plurality, whilst the Broadcasting Act also makes the regulator responsible for ensuring licence owners of broadcast media are "fit and proper".

Hunt is expected to confirm that he will ask for Ofcom's help to agree "a new framework for media plurality in a cross-media world" on Wednesday, the Guardian said. A DCMS spokesperson said that Hunt is due to ask for Ofcom's assistance in a speech at the Royal Television Society festival on Wednesday evening.

"We first need to better understand how we should measure plurality across platforms," Hunt is expected to say in his speech, according to the Guardian.

"I intend to ask Ofcom to examine what the options are for measuring media plurality in our digital age, and recommend the best approach," Hunt will say, according to the paper.

Ofcom said it had been asked to submit evidence as part of the ongoing Leveson Inquiry and that it "welcomes the opportunity to assist" in doing so, a spokesperson told Out-Law.com.

The Leveson Inquiry was announced earlier this summer and primarily focuses on the culture, practices and ethics of the press. The Inquiry team, led by Lord Justice Leveson, is also responsible for making recommendations "for a more effective policy and regulatory regime which supports ... the plurality of the media, and its independence" as well as advise on "how future concerns about ... cross-media ownership should be dealt with".

The Leveson Inquiry was set up by the Government following allegations of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World (NotW) newspaper. The NotW's ultimate owner – News Corporation – withdrew its bid to takeover British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) in the wake of the phone hacking allegations. Ofcom had expressed concerns about the effect the takeover would have on the balance of UK media ownership.

News Corporation owns The Sun, The Times and Sunday Times newspapers as well as an existing 39.1% stake in BSkyB.

News Corporation, whose founder, chairman and chief executive is media mogul Rupert Murdoch, finally scrapped its bid to buy the remaining 60.9% of BSkyB shares it does not currently own in July following a protracted period of negotiations on how to address Ofcom's concerns. Amidst the public and political furore of the phone hacking allegations against the NotW, News Corporation said it had "become clear" that the takeover was "too difficult to progress in this climate".

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