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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

US proves UK Communications Bill wrong

Triggered by an unprecedent wave of public outcry, the bipartite consensus in the US House of Representatives to strike down the FCC's move towards further media consolidation is being heralded by wise voices in the USA, but it comes in the nick of time to act as a counter-example in the UK. As Jocelyn Hay of VLV notes, legislation is passing through Parliament to allow foreign ownership and consolidation of control of Brirish media:

These changes would allow British media companies, including ITV, to be bought by non-European owners, with the aim of attracting inward investment from the USA. They would also allow Channel 5 Television to be bought by any newspaper company, including News International, which already owns The Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World, and is the major shareholder in the satellite broadcaster, BSkyB.

I gather that the justification is not least to 'follow the American example' where it is claimed the population benefits from the consolidated powerbase investing to maximise their audiences and profits.

So it will come as a shock to the British government to discover, as we were told by former FCC chairman Reed Hundt at Supernova a few weeks ago, that the only people who want more consolidation in the US media are located in Washington DC at the FCC itself. Please keep the action rolling over there in the US; it's not just you who will benefit, on this or the other right-wing-motivated policies of the current FCC.

posted at 4:01 AM (UK) | |