Clause 5
Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill
12:45 pm
Edward Vaizey (Shadow Minister (Arts), Culture, Media & Sport; Wantage, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 7, in clause 5, page 4, line 9, after ‘switchover’, insert
‘, which must treat digital retail television services and digital television broadcasting platforms equally in respect of all aspects mentioned, including pricing, brand names, availability and packages and’.
I very much hope that the amendment is appropriately drafted for the remarks that I intend to make in the remaining 10 minutes of the sitting. The amendment is designed to make it absolutely clear that the BBC, or the scheme operator involved in targeted help for switchover, ensures that the advice that it gives to those in receipt of help is platform neutral, as the jargon of digital television has it. As hon. Members will know, one is able to access digital television through a variety of mediums. There is the set-top box, with the brand name freeview; a satellite receiver, mainly through Sky, which I have mentioned before, which also operates a subsidised scheme called freesat; and cable, the dominant operator effectively being NTL-Telewest.
There are at present a number of difficulties with that wealth of choice because freeview, which is the scheme that the BBC promotes, is, as one might expect, the most widely used scheme. It involves no subscription, merely the purchase of a set-top box. Also, pertinently, it has behind it the massive marketing power of the BBC which regularly promotes digital terrestrial television by the brand name freeview, whereas it obviously does not refer to the opportunities to receive a programme through Sky or NTL-Telewest. That obviously gives freeview a massive marketing opportunity.
As the Government have made clear—from the point of view of the taxpayer, this is a sensible point—they intend to make available in the targeted switchover scheme the cheapest possible form of digital television. That will be through a digital set-top box.