Ofcom’s latest Online Nation report explores how adults and children in the UK experience life online; from the sites and apps used every day, to how people feel about what they do and what they encounter online. Adults now spend an average of four and a half hours online a day – up by 10 […]
Research commissioned by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has found nearly nine in 10 (88 per cent) people agree there is a potential child protection risk if anime content is not age-rated appropriately and consistently, with parents who are unfamiliar with anime frequently assuming it is inherently “child-friendly”. The mixed-methods study combined ten […]
The race to bring satellite calls and texts to ordinary smartphones has begun, after UK comms regulator Ofcom announced its final decisions about how the technology can be rolled out. Mobile operators are now joining with satellite companies to deliver ‘direct-to-device services’ to everyday smartphones up and down the UK. This involves satellites hundreds of […]
Ofcom has imposed a financial penalty of £375,000 on religious channel, The Word Network, for breaching broadcasting rules on multiple occasions. Having received viewer complaints – and in one case following routine monitoring – the media regulator launched investigations into the following programmes: Stem Cell Activators, broadcast on July 24th 2023; Various episodes of Peter […]
Ofcom has fined Virgin Media £23.8 million (€27.1m), after it disconnected telecare customers during its programme to migrate customers to digital landlines. Virgin Media notified Ofcom about a number of incidents related to the migration of telecare customers in November and December 2023. As a result, the media regulator launched an investigation to establish whether […]
Ofcom has published its annual report on the BBC, assessing the corporation’s performance in meeting the needs of viewers and listeners during the period April 2024 to March 2025. The report also includes the findings of Ofcom’s second ‘Periodic Review’ of the BBC. Drawing on extensive audience research, industry data and stakeholder information, the report […]
Disabled people remain significantly under-represented across TV and radio and data on class representation remains poor, according to an Ofcom study on the make-up of the broadcasting industry workforce. The media regulator’s ninth annual equity, diversity and inclusion in broadcasting report shows that disabled people continue to be significantly underrepresented across the industry, accounting for […]
Ofcom is publishing two updates as part of its ongoing work to implement the Media Act. The Media Act imposes new standards requirements on streaming services (known as on-demand programme services, or ODPS) which people in the UK watch across a range of platforms and devices. Well-known ODPS services include Disney+, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer […]
Regulators, spectrum authorities, industry experts and academics covering the full spectrum of the Wi-Fi ecosystem have highlighted the real-world impacts of regulatory decisions at the DSA Global Summit 2025. Hosted by the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSA) between November 17-19, the event – which is co-located with the Wi-Fi World Congress 2025 in Dubai, UAE – […]
MOAs announced in its review of Public Service Media, Ofcom is seeking views on areas where broadcast regulation might be reformed or streamlined to support growth and innovation across the sector. The majority of the existing broadcasting legislative and regulatory framework was designed for a world of linear, scheduled programming. While the media regulator is […]