With Scotland’s referendum on independence coming in 2014, many are asking what the future of Scottish media could look like. Philip Schlesinger, Chair of Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for Scotland, examines Ofcom’s recently released Communications Market Report on Scotland, noting that certain critical aspects of the television, broadband and mobile sectors unique to Scotland are setting the region apart from the […]
Some have argued that over-the-top applications are undermining the capacity of network operators to invest and are free riding. Brian Williamson of Plum Consulting discusses their latest findings, which show that growth of internet based over-the-top applications is a key driver of investment in ubiquitous higher speed higher capacity access networks, and far from free riding creates the demand conditions […]
A voice from one of the UK’s commercial stakeholders, Matt Powell, editor for the consumer broadband comparison site Broadband Genie, argues that government plans for broadband investment are not future-proof enough and points to local initiatives and small firms as useful alternatives. Throughout the world, telecommunications is undergoing a major period of change as we transition from outdated telephone wires […]
The consultation on Ofcom’s Draft Annual Plan 2013/14 ended on Friday 22 February. LSE’s Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt of the University of Leicester point out that despite a stated focus on “participation” and the “citizen interest” the plan needs much more clarity and specifics on these two priorities.
Ofcom’s draft Annual Plan 2013/14 contains a welcome emphasis on […]
Amidst significant progress made by consumer advocacy groups in promoting citizen interest, Consumer Focus’ Saskia Walzel presents several opportunities for deeper stakeholder involvement in media policymaking.
The so called “consumer landscape” is changing fast; Consumer Direct is now the Citizens Advice consumer service, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to be merged with the Competition Commission, and Trading Standards […]
If the UK’s government-led superfast fibre networks are rolled out on schedule, the country should have the fastest broadband connection in Europe by 2015. But what does this mean for the regular consumer? LSE’s Maria Paula Brito argues that even with the right technology in place, mass adoption is not going to be instant.
A recent study by the Broadband […]
Will media convergence require a much more far reaching shakeup of media regulation than the government’s Communications Review is countenancing? The House of Lords Select Committee on Communications has begun its investigation into the public policy implications of media convergence. Coincidentally I was giving evidence the same day that my pamphlet ‘The End of Press Freedom’ was published by […]
In China there there are vast amounts of people online, the Government has control but social media is changing politics. That’s the consensus view but in this article, LSE’s Bingchun Meng tackles what she sees as some of the misunderstandings about the state of China Media.
Recently the Open Society Foundation published an extensive report on the state of digital media […]
Julia Kukiewicz of Choose.net points out that a focus on broadband speeds might make for a decent speech but it doesn’t add up to a credible Government technology policy, and argues that the question of “rural” broadband is actually a quality of service issue with mass appeal.
Jeremy Hunt has a need for speed and he’s speeding away from one […]
Lucy Hopkins, Head of Sustainability and Consumer Futures at Consumer Focus, talks about new research into the challenges and risks of the digital age.
Imagine a world where a company can refuse you a loan because your friends on Facebook have a bad credit rating. When you get worse deals than others when buying online because a company has tracked […]
