UPDATE: UK Government To Review Local Media Ownership Rules

8th Jun 2010 15:12

(Adds details) By Lilly Vitorovich Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--The U.K.'s new coalition government plans to reform local cross-media ownership rules and ensure rural areas receive superfast broadband, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt confirmed Tuesday. In his first speech on media policy since the coalition government was formed by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties last month, Hunt said he will ask the nation's communications regulator Ofcom to look at the merits of removing all local cross-media ownership rules and options for supporting new local television stations in towns and cities. Hunt has appointed Nicholas Shott, head of U.K. Investment Banking at Lazard, to conduct an independent commercial assessment of local TV over the summer. Following the assessment, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will set out a local media action plan due to be published in the autumn. "I want a modern regulatory environment which will help nurture a new generation of hungry, ambitious and profitable local media companies," Hunt said. In April, Hunt told Dow Jones Newswires that the Conservative Party would relax media cross-ownership rules and strip back Ofcom's powers if elected in the May 6 general election. At the time, Hunt said he wanted the department of Culture, Media and Sport to be the "engine of media policy and not Ofcom." Hunt also confirmed plans Tuesday for three market testing projects to bring superfast broadband to rural areas. The government will open up existing infrastructure to reduce the costs of laying new fiber, saying that they would legislate if necessary. "The action plan I have set out today will help create a broadband infrastructure for our country that meets the needs of all its citizens and businesses, and that will stand comparison with anywhere in the world," he said. Further plans to support the digital economy will be published at an industry event in the summer. U.K. telecom firm BT Group PLC's (BT.A.LN) announced last month that it plans to invest an additional GBP1 billion to extend the roll-out of fiber-optic lines to around two-thirds of U.K. premises by 2015. BT's investment, which would bring its total fiber-optic investment to about GBP2.5 billion, will allow the group to move ahead of rivals in the broadband market. Its major rival in the fiber-optic market is Virgin Media Inc. (VMED), which is rolling out a similar broadband service. Hunt said the government won't be going ahead with pilots for independently funded news consortia. Instead, funding for the pilots will now be used to support the roll-out of superfast broadband. -By Lilly Vitorovich, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-0-207 842 9290; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 08, 2010 10:12 ET (14:12 GMT)