The House of Lords has called on Ofcom to ensure sufficient spectrum is available to support a sustainable DTT platform before it moves to Administered Incentivised Pricing (AIP).
In its latest report on media convergence the Select Committee on Communications says the regulator should further consider the risks and benefits involved with AIP, which is slated to be introduced for DTT in 2020.
Ofcom has launched a consultation into whether it should levy charges for spectrum used by digital broadcasters. Charges for some spectrum users could be introduced as early as 2014.
“Securing the future of DTT is of paramount importance and it must be a key policy goal that all citizens can access public service content on the DTT platform. If this were not to be the case, then a key element of PSB – universality – would be undermined,” said the report. “It also occurs to us that it may well be the case that what might be termed the second digital switchover is endured with far less equanimity by the public than was broadly the case the first time around.”
The committee underlined its concern that spectrum charging might impact directly on public service broadcasters.
