Ofcom is going to remove the vast majority of Key Commitments quotas for all community radio stations, following a consultation.
Changes are coming to:
• The types of programming to be broadcast such as the main types of music and speech output.
• The number of hours of original output broadcast each week.
• The number of hours of locally-produced output broadcast each week.
• The languages broadcast on the service.
In return for more flexible on-air content, Ofcom will develop some additional principles for compliance with off-air social gain requirements.
In terms of the music relaxations, Ofcom said the music requirements are not central to the character of a community radio service. In their responce, Radiocentre argued that this proposal could lead to ‘mission drift’ in parts of the community radio sector, with some stations becoming similar to local commercial stations, rather than providing unique services as community radio was established to do.
Ofcom replied saying where specialist music is a particularly important part of a station’s character of service (for example genre-based stations), they will ensure that this is reflected in the station’s character of service requirements.
Speech would be treated the same, and Ofcom would ensure any specialist speech programming which is particularly relevant to a station’s character of service is captured in the new Key Commitments format.
Community radio stations will now have no quotas with regards to original and locally-produced output, meaning more programmes can be shared and produced outside of their service area. Ofcom expects stations will still broadcast local programmes, as without original, locally-relevant content, it is unlikely they could effectively serve their target communities.
Ofcom said: “We want to ensure that licensees have more flexibility to determine how best to serve their community, while ensuring appropriate rules remain in place to protect the overarching character of a service.
“We will now write to all analogue community radio licensees to start the formal licence variation process and propose new draft character of service descriptions.
“These will be based on the character of service description already included in each respective licence, with standardised wording and including any aspects of programming which we consider to be fundamental to the station’s character.”
Twenty-one responses were received to the to the consultation, most of which were in favour of the move.
Ofcom added that it does not expect to see significant changes in the service provided by most community radio stations as a result of these proposals, which are instead about providing greater flexibility for stations in considering how best to deliver a service to their audiences.
They continued: “We believe that the remaining Key Commitments (relating to the character of the service and the off-air Key Commitments) will be sufficient to ensure that the community radio sector remains distinct from commercial radio and continues to deliver for its audiences.”
Read the full document here.
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