Clause 241 - Meaning of ''radio licensable content services''

Part of Communications Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 3:00 pm on 16 January 2003.

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Photo of Andrew Lansley Andrew Lansley Conservative, South Cambridgeshire 3:00, 16 January 2003

I do not want to hold up proceedings, but some of what I was planning to say about clause 226 is technically part of the subject covered by clause 241. Clause 226 covered the meaning of television licensable content service, and we are dealing now with radio licensable content service. Under clause 241, the meaning of radio licensable content service is qualified by reference to

''its availability for reception by members of the public'',

which is defined under clause 347. We will, in effect, debate such matters again, although we do not have the benefit of amendments being tabled to the clause, so I want to put down a marker.

The Minister will recall that, during the discussions of the Joint Committee, substantial effort was directed at the scope of the licensed sector for television and radio, on the basis that we must try to define or specify the boundary between broadcasting and the internet, without the intention of seeking to regulate the internet. If members of the Committee have not read paragraphs 286 to 298 of the Joint Committee's report, I hope that they will take the trouble to do so. The issues involved are well set out there.

As for not seeking to regulate the internet, I am not saying that certain aspects of it should not be subject to scrutiny. The principle of the argument is that what is illegal offline should be illegal online. In recent years, much legislation has gone through the House to try to achieve those objectives. Through a process of self-regulation, the internet has evolved beyond that which is generally illegal. In any case, the internet is international, and therefore difficult to regulate on a purely national basis. Its use by individuals is based on the fact that internet material is, in effect, pulled off the system by them, rather than pushed to them in the manner of broadcasting.

Can we find a description that defines more accurately the distinction between people drawing down material from the internet at their discretion and material pushed towards the public simultaneously by way of broadcasting? To help the discussion, I draw attention to the Joint Committee's report and evidence taken from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The example I give is that of ''Big Brother'', which could be seen on Channel 4, seen more extensively on E4, and seen online live—a fact to which my hon. Friend the Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford referred. In the Secretary of State's view, the material on Channel 4 would be subject to all the broadcast regulatory applications, so it would be subject fully to public service obligations. Transmission on E4 would be licensable content subject to tier 1 regulation, and the material on the internet would not be subject to regulation because it would not be a licensable content service.

There is a problem with the definitions. Clause 347 is headed ''Meaning of 'available for reception by members of the public''' However, services will not be regarded as available for reception by members of the public if three conditions are met. The third of those conditions is:

''that the individual selections . . . do not include any that are limited to electing to be one of the recipients of material . . . offered for reception on the basis''

that it has been

''selected by the provider . . . for broadcasting or distribution simultaneously, or virtually so''.

In the case of ''Big Brother'', the material presented on the internet was specifically designed to be received simultaneously by members of the public. It could hardly be otherwise.