Talk:Ofcom

For what it's worth, the Communications Act 2003 [1] (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/30021--b.htm#1) uses the all-caps form OFCOM, but the organisation's own website uses the mixed-case Ofcom, which also seems to be the style preferred by the Guardian [2] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/page/0,5817,184819,00.html) and other media outlets. Should we have a consistent style? If so, which? --rbrwr 16:52, 22 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Better to move it to its full name Office of Communications.

No, Ofcom (whether capped or not) is the most familiar form. I will put that in the article and make it a redirect, though. --rbrwrˆ

Analogue -> Digital shift

According to the Guardian ([3] (http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1304613,00.html)), Ofcom has decided to outlaw analogue broadcasts by 2012. As an American, I simply can't understand this at all. I mean, as a good lefty I certainly feel that things here in America are often a little under-regulated; from my point of view I think our government sometimes lets companies get away with too much. But this seems to take the opposite phenomenon -- overregulation -- to a ridiculous and unintelligible extreme. Isn't the UK a free country? Why shouldn't broadcasters be allowed to have parallel analogue and digital streams if they want to? It would be like the USDA (our food safety body here) not only banning the sale of rotten meat (which is dangerous) but also banning the sale of chuck steaks (because they really aren't as good as sirloin). User:Doops 04:19, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I believe the idea is that the electromagnetic spectrum belongs to society as a whole, and so society as a whole (or its representatives in Parliament, or their delegates at Ofcom) should get to choose how it's used. If someone sells sirloin steaks they aren't causing a nuisance to anyone else; if someone decides to broadcast, say, radio signals in the middle of the bands of the spectrum which are used for TV, they're causing a public nuisance. Marnanel 04:47, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

True; I understand that that's the rationale under which the airwaves are heavily regulated (in Britain or in America or anywhere). There's only a limited amount of spectrum out there. But is it so limited that there's no room for even one analogue channel? And, frankly, it seems to me a little specious to suggest that Ofcom represents "society as a whole" here any more than society as a whole itself does -- that is to say, if society as a whole continues to buy analogue TVs (rather than digital ones), then surely they're voting with their pocketbooks? Doops 05:08, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Look at the map available here [4] (http://www.wolfbane.com/articles/uka1map2.htm) - this is the UK UHF TV broadcasting transmitter network. Each of those transmitters is broadcasting (or rebroadcasting - red dots) 4 (often 5) stations on different UHF channels (see here [5] (http://www.wolfbane.com/uktv.htm)). Where I live, I can receive broadcasts from *3* different masts, using a reasonably good (standard) UHF aerial. As I am sure you can guess, this has limited the number of channels that one transmitter can broadcast (to prevent clashing). HM Government (and the broadcasters themselves) want to move television broadcasts over to a digital system, which allows more than one station to broadcast on one UHF channel (5-6?). However, there is not enough room on the UK TV broadcasting spectrum to broadcast a good (reception, not programming!) quality digital service to the majority of British homes without switching off analogue broadcasts; the digital terrestrial system broadcast at present is almost impossible to receive in most rural areas and is not that great in cities. Freeing up the present analogue channels for digital broadcasts would allow a greater number of channels to be broadcast to a greater number of British homes, thus making the Government even more money in broadcast licence fees (which I suspect is the real reason for their encouragement of digital takeup... :-D). I hope this long and waffly scribble answers your question! -- Marknew 09:30, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I still think that mandating an aesthetic judgement is not quite the same thing as referreeing among various broadcasters and keeping them honest. But as long as the government has decided that it's in the business of keeping me entertained (which still seems a little creepy), why not go all the way and mandate digital cable TV? (Do you have cable in the UK? In America it's nearly ubiquitous; sometimes I feel like the only person without it.) That's of even higher quality and would solve the bandwidth issue altogether. Of course, like the analogue-digital switch, it would leave some people out in the cold who didn't feel like upgrading. Doops 16:03, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

There is cable (at about 8% penetration, IIRC), and all of it is digital, and has been for a while. There's satellite (? 20%), and that's digital, and has been for a while. Terrestrial broadcasts are the only one of the three ways you can get television that aren't entirely digital - there's no need for the government to mandate it (and the Radio Authority, or whatever it's called, wouldn't really have the basis for the claim, given that it doesn't use ether RFs), as it's already been made by companies because it was considered economically viable.

James F. (talk)

P.S.: "Of even higher quality"? No, digital satellite, digital cable, and digital terrestrial are all PAL/SDTV digital, and all at the same quality, IIRC.

James F. (talk) 07:44, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The date for digital TV switchover has NOT yet been set and is still just a discussion point. However, it is something the Government want to do (perhaps so they can sell some of the analog spectrum), and so Ofcom are tasked with managing the switchover.

--Frankie Roberto 01:16, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Returning to this discussion after a long hiatus, I just noticed that I never really stated the question inherent in my earlier musings: after the switch, what happens to all the old legacy televisions? They just stop working, right? Isn't that kind of sad? Today, if you really want to, you can try to watch the modern, up-to-date broadcasts on a crummy little black&white TV from the 50s; I think it will be a loss when all you can get is static. Doops 03:47, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I think you'd still be able to use them with an external Freeview box, at least until HDTV becomes universal. On the other hand, If you try to watch today's terrestrial broadcasts on a 1950s TV you might have some problems, as they were designed for 405-line VHF transmissions, not 625-line UHF. Your 1950s TV has seen nothing but static since January 1985. --rbrwr^±

BBC/Fox issue

Is it me or have I missed something? The Fox/BBC paragraph is a very good example of OFCOM in action, but it seems to just sit out of context in this article. Is it supposed to be something to do with Consultation - the section title? Why is just this one case study given? Surely there have been others? I wonder whether this item, as excitingly juicy as it is, might be in here for reasons other than simply informing the reader about OFCOM - and, perhaps, with more direct quotations than are strictly necessary. I wouldn't want to see it removed, but maybe framed with some explanation, or balanced with some other examples. Naturenet 22:41, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

It doesn't really belong under "consultations": it was a programme complaint under existing standards, not a consultation about future policy. It's also intersting that the original addition (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Ofcom&diff=4424254&oldid=4397796) of this paragraph is the only contribution (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Contributions&target=Vixen) of the user who added it. I agree that there seems to be an agenda at work here, and more work needs to be done. Programme complaints (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/prog_cb/) would be the obvious place to look for balancing examples, though there are other regulatory actions to be explored. --rbrwr^± 23:17, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I added a section with a brief intro. it needs reworking.

ITV

The footer states this is related to ITV, which is incorrect.

- Jax

In what way is it incorrect? Ofcom is the regulator of ITV, as successor to the ITC and the BSC. --rbrwr^± 20:10, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)