Commercial radio deregulation consultation: Responses received 1 List of responses This document contains 44 of the 67 responses received to the consultation. Of the responses which have not been published, this is due to the respondents not giving their consent to their representations being published and therefore these have not been included. Some of the respondents who agreed to have their responses published also requested to remain anonymous and therefore their names have been redacted. Personal details such as email addresses and postal addresses have also been redacted. A full list of the respondents can be found in Annex A of the government response document, excluding those who requested anonymity. This document contains the following responses: 1. 8Radio Vision Ltd - pg. 3 23.Future Digital Norfolk Ltd - 2. 103 The Eye - pg. 9 pg. 113 3. The Advisory Committee for 24.Global - pg. 118 Northern Ireland - pg. 10 25.John Rosborough - pg. 143 KMFM 4. Anonymous - pg. 12 26. - pg. 149 Lincs FM Group 5. Anonymous - pg. 19 27. - pg. 150 Marc Webber 6. Anonymous - pg. 21 28. - pg. 157 7. The All-Party Parliamentary 29.Mat King - pg. 165 Group for Commercial 30.Michael Fallon - pg. 166 Radio - pg. 23 31.Nation Broadcasting - pg. 167 New Wave Media 8. Arqiva - pg. 25 32. - pg. 175 Niocast Digital 9. Ash Elford - pg. 41 33. - pg. 186 34.Ofcom Advisory Committee for 10.Bauer Media Group - pg. 42 Wales - pg. 189 11.Communicorp - pg. 59 12.The Community Media 35.Philip Ray - pg. 193 Association (CMA) - pg. 65 36.R Stein - pg. 194 37.Radiocentre - pg. 199 13.Daniel Rose - pg. 81 38.Radio Independents Group 14.David Hine pg. 85 (RIG) - pg. 217 15.David Stack - pg. 86 39.RTÉ - pg. 224 Declan McGrath 16. - pg. 87 40.Shetland Islands Broadcasting Dee Radio Group 17. - pg. 88 Company (SIBC) - pg. 227 18.Denis Naughten TD & Joe 41.Simon Thomson - pg. 234 McHugh TD - pg. 91 42.UK Music - pg. 235 19.Diane Green - pg. 93 43.Voice of the Listener & Viewer 20.Dr Daffyd Williams - pg. 94 (VLV) - pg. 239 21.Dr Paul Groves - pg. 95 44.Wireless Group - pg. 247 22.Folder Media/MuxCo - pg. 107 2 1. 8Radio Vision Ltd Submission from 8Radio Vision Limited 38A, Camden Row, Dublin 8, Ireland May 2017 3 Introduction: 8Radio Vision Ltd operates the Online Radio Station 8Radio.com which has been broadcasting since 2013. It is managed by Simon Maher who previously was Manager and Director of Phantom 105.2FM, the Alternative Music station for Dublin City and County which broadcast from 2006 – 2016. The 8Radio.com format is broader than that of Phantom, in that it is a mixture of Alternative Music and forgotten musical gems across a number of genres. 8Radio.com has held 3 Temporary Radio Licences (RSLs) which have enabled it to broadcast on FM for 30 days each year. The station has used these broadcasts to test its format in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway to a combined population of approximately 2.5million. Online, the station is listened to approximately 50,000 hours a month by approximately 7,000 listeners, mainly based in the UK and Ireland. As part of the stations development, 8Radio.com has been looking at ways to extend its broadcast reach terrestrially and has made submissions to the Broadcasting Authority in Ireland in this regard. The station promoters feel there is a market for small scale broadcasters such as 8Radio.com on both analogue and digital platforms. The development of Digital Radio in Ireland has been very slow, with neither the regulator nor the large commercial radio groups anxious to progress its implementation. The national broadcaster RTE has its own MUX which covers several significant population centres but has not been rolled out to the extent of the FM network. Other MUXes have operated on Trial and Test licences from ComReg (our OFCOM) and one currently operates in Dublin and Cork but is due to cease shortly. As a result, sales of and listership to, DAB remains small in the Republic of Ireland. Radio listenership generally is falling in Ireland and we would feel that a liberalisation is required to stimulate listenership. As a result of the slow progress on implementing DAB in Ireland, 8Radio.com has been exploring other output options and this consultation is of particular interest to us. 4 8Radio.com broadcasts on a semi-commercial basis with no full time staff and generates the revenue needed to fund its operations through advertising and sponsorship, all of which is in compliance with the various Codes and Practices for Advertising. Submission: Q2. We would welcome views on this proposal and whether it should be limited to Irish broadcasters or more widely and if so whether Ministers should need powers to allow licensing to be extended to other countries? In answer to the question asked in the consultation, we believe that broadcasters from outside of the UK should be able to apply for and be granted DAB content licences subject to an acceptance of the rules as set out. We think that the addition of services such as that provided by 8Radio.com and others would add positively to the DAB proposition in the UK. The very welcome development of DAB Minimuxes provides an excellent opportunity for this content to be made available to a broad audience. Q8. We would be grateful for views on which of the options set out above would best secure the provision of national and local news/core information by commercial radio in the longer term after a switchover? Are there other options - e.g. guaranteed carriage for stations providing local news content - that might be more effective? The nature of a specialist music service like that of 8Radio.com means that it is not well suited to the provision of a News service generally, much less a News Service tailored to local areas where it might be broadcast. The station does feature music news of interest to those interested in our particular musical niche but we feel that local News content would best be provided by local operators on the MUX. 5 If there are queries on any of the above or further clarification is required then please do not hesitate to contact us. We feel that this consultation is a progressive one and look forward to seeing its conclusions. Kind regards, Simon Maher Managing Director 8Radio.com 6 Further Notes: About 8Radio.com The 8Radio philosophy is simple – we play the music we like. Everything from 80s synth pop to brand new Irish and international gems to 70s post-punk. If the song is good, we will play it on 8Radio.com. 8Radio.com is operated by 8Radio Vision Ltd, registered in Dublin in 2012. It is managed by Simon Maher who was previously a founder presenter and General Manager of Phantom 105.2 from its early days as a pirate station through to its days as a fully licenced operation. Following his departure from Phantom in 2011, Simon began working on putting together a group of like-minded individuals with a love of music and radio. “I had been asking people what they listen and so many people tell me they have deserted traditional radio altogether which is a great shame. People still love music though so they have replaced their terrestrial radio listening with online radio/spotify/deezer and their own playlists which are by their nature a bit less structured than traditional radio. So, when we started putting the music for 8Radio together, we have gone for a much more random selection of high quality tunes. Think Tom Waits followed by Lucius followed by The Blades at lunchtime!” In 2013 the 8Radio.com group was formed and a formal structure for 8Radio.com was born. Apart from its online presence, which is 8Radio.com’s main broadcast platform, 8Radio has applied for, and been granted, temporary FM licences to broadcast to the cities of Dublin, Galway, Cork and Limerick at weekends. 7 8Radio.com has targeted 8000 app downloads as well as 10000 Facebook likes and 7000 Twitter followers by the end of 2017. The operating company for 8Radio.com, 8Radio Vision Ltd has made submissions to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland setting out it’s views on the future of Alternative Music Radio in a changing radio environment and looks forward to the publication of the BAI’s plans after the completion of their Strategic Review. 8Radio.com believes strongly that there is a market for an Alternative Music service in Ireland operating on a business model which matches it’s niche appeal while providing a high-quality valuable outlet for music that would not normally be available on daytime terrestrial radio in this country. www.8Radio.com facebook.com/8RadioIreland twitter.com/8RadioIreland instagram.com/8RadioIreland 8 2. 103 The Eye FAO Commercial Radio Deregulation Consultation 4 May 2017 at 14:57 Good afternoon Media Team ­ I'm the Managing Director of 103 The Eye, the community radio station broadcasting to the Vale of Belvoir and Melton Mowbray in North­East Leicestershire / South Nottinghamshire and I'm responding to Q13­14 about the length of analogue licences between renewals and Q20 as to whether the same rules should apply to community radio as to commercial radio. Q13­14 103 The Eye started broadcasting on 1 November 2005 as the first community station to go on the air when they were licensed by OFCOM and we are now on our third five­year licence. We are always the first station having to renew when each five year term is due to expire and by doing so we pave the way for other stations to renew as well.