UK media regulator Ofcom has announced the appointment of four new non-executive directors to the Board of public service broadcaster Channel 4. The new appointees will each join the Board for a term of three years commencing as soon as is practicable. Dawn Airey Airey’s career includes roles as Chair and CEO of Channel 5, […]

More UK broadband and mobile customers are shopping around and signing up to better deals – and saving themselves millions of pounds – following rule changes implemented by regulator Ofcom. In 2020, around two thirds (62 per cent) of broadband customers who were nearing the end of their contract either signed up to a new […]

BBC Three is set to return to TV screens for the first time in six years, after UK media regulator Ofcom approved its relaunch as a broadcast television channel. The new broadcast channel will launch in early February 2022 and will be available on Freeview, Sky, Virgin and Freesat with EPG numbers to be confirmed […]

Paul Dacre, the government’s preferred candidate, has ruled himself out of reapplying for the Ofcom chair in a process widely seen as being re-run specifically to get him elected. It was no secret Dacre, long time editor of right-leaning Daily Mail and major BBC critic, was ministers’ preferred pick. Indeed the ‘independent’ interview panel they […]

UK media regulator Ofcom has set out the next steps in its work to ensure that the regulatory framework for media plurality in the UK remains fit for the modern news landscape. It has also published a report to the Secretary of State following its review of the current media ownership rules. Media plurality supports […]

Ofcom has published the latest league tables on the complaints it receives about the UK’s major home phone, broadband, mobile and pay-TV firms. The quarterly report reveals the number of complaints made to Ofcom between April and June this year, when the UK’s lockdown restrictions began to ease. Complaints in this quarter fell across the […]

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (Ocpa) stepped in to make ministers replace interview panellists that were “not sufficiently independent”. The Guardian reports the watchdog stepped in when the government was looking for new chairs of the BBC and British Film Institute (BFI). A Freedom of Information Act response showed that ministers were […]

TV channels and radio stations aimed at minority ethnic communities are highly valued by viewers and listeners, according to a new study published by UK broadcast regulator Ofcom, although certain content gives audiences cause for concern. According to Ofcom, the report is the first of its kind. It spoke to more than 160 people from […]

UK broadcast regulator Ofcom has agreed to local TV channel operator That’s TV’s request to consolidate the studios/main production bases for some of its channels. The licensee had requested Ofcom’s written consent for That’s TV to reduce the number of studios/main production bases from seven to five, which would serve all 20 of the local […]

Paul Dacre will be offered another chance to become chair Ofcom, ministers have confirmed, according to The Guardian. Ministers have wanted to appoint the former Daily Mail editor since the vacancy emerged. Having appointed a sympathetic selection panel Dacre was unexpectedly rejected as even this panel deemed him “not appointable” following interview. This even though […]