Rt. Hon John Whittingdale MP OBE –Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

It is rare for someone to be appointed to any Cabinet Ministerial post with such a wealth of knowledge as John Whittingdale. Despite some of the more lurid headlines, he is not necessarily a BBC basher. But he is a good choice as Charter Renewal hoves into view.

He has been MP for Maldon, Essex, since 1992. He was political secretary to Margaret Thatcher for her last three years in power and has been vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee since 2010.

Before his appointment to the Cabinet, he was Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary and Shadow Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport in successive Shadow Cabinets between 2001-2005. He was then appointed Chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Select Committee, a position he left at the end of the last Parliament.

In terms of our sector, he is a friend and understands the issues – particularly about the BBC’s dominant market share. John has attended recent commercial radio events, including Parliamentary receptions and the Arqiva Awards in 2014. To summarise his position on our key issues:

 Regulation

At the Ofcom CMS Select Committee session in 2013, he said: “the radio sector is still subject to very detailed, intrusive regulation. It is facing increasing competition and the whole world is changing with the advent of Spotify and iRadio” and queried whether it was time for primary legislation to alter this imbalance. In the same session he said: “the examination of the competition (in the Global GMG case) was far too narrow and it did not take account of the fact that radio is just one of a whole number of different places where advertising is competing.”

 Digital

On DAB, he is with the wider political consensus of listener-led criteria. At the 2013 TechUK Conference he identified switchover as a huge challenge and still a long way off, saying: “commercial companies who are under great financial pressure would love not to have to meet the cost of dual broadcasting…but as a political decision, there’s still a little way to go.”

 Intellectual property

As a non-executive director of an internet music catalogue Whittingdale has an interest in ensuring artists’ rights are protected. In 2011 he spoke at the PRS for Music conference, praising the industry’s engagement with the Hargreaves Review into Intellectual Property and stressed that the creative sector is vital to the future growth of the wider UK economy.

 BBC

His criticism of the BBC has been overblown since his appointment, but has caused nervousness at the BBC. The most recent CMS Committee report – on the Future of the BBC – advocated the BBC Trust be abolished and BBC regulation handed to Ofcom, but it also maintained support for the licence-fee funding model (at least in the short term).

Whittingdale appears to support a BBC which does less and focuses more on public service content priorities, with market impact tests to be triggered by any allegations of “crowding out” by commercial competitors. He said at the commercial radio evidence session of the BBC Future review: “it cannot be a good thing that one organisation (BBC Radio) holds 55% of the market”.