if you've been following coverage of the publication of Carter's long-awaited Digital Britain report this afternoon (Guardian covering it here) you'll already be aware of the main points. they are - as reported in the link previous - as follows:
- Illegal filesharing is "tantamount to theft", repeat offenders will have their broadband connection reduced
- Part of the BBC licence fee will be used to fund universal broadband access
- But also a levy will be placed on all fixed phone lines to help pay for universal broadband
- A small part of the licence fee digital switchover surplus will fund regional news pilots between now and 2013
- Talks between BBC and C4 are ongoing
- Martha Lane Fox to become "digital inclusion champion"
point four has big implications. the government has essentially given the green light to top-slicing the BBC's licence fee. not as a one-off to pay for universal broadband (ie digital infrastructure) but for content not provided for by the BBC.
this is government-legislated revenues being used to support content provision by commercial broadcasters. in other words, they are no longer commercial broadcasters. there'll no doubt be much debate as a result, but bottom line...
can open. worms. everywhere...
Agree, opens up all sorts of possibilities, which I think we'll need if we want Channel 4 to keep producing quality drama and so on.
And what about other 'media' that don't/won't make money... for instance, would a government ever feel it was right to support an infrastructure like Twitter if it was under threat of disappearance, yet provided 'valuable social content'?
Posted by: John V Willshire | Wednesday, 24 June 2009 at 07:44