The organisation that’s campaigning to keep Freeview TV and aerial-based radio services on-air until at least 2040 has seen its membership-base swell to 30.
Broadcast 2040+ says its increasing the pressure on the government to maintain the services, which it says are relied on by the most vulnerable in society, including families struggling with the rising cost of living, older people, and those in rural areas.
Kerry Booth, Chief Executive of The Rural Services Network said: “The Government should be committed to protecting every community across the UK. By failing to safeguard these vital services, it currently risks detrimentally harming those who live in rural areas who need the ongoing certainty that they will be able to access free TV and radio services as they may never be able to ensure availability of, or afford, expensive broadband connections in order to access alternatives.”
The coalition also includes organizations like the Digital Poverty Alliance, Campaign to End Loneliness, Local TV Network, World DAB, and Together TV.
The campaign aims to protect the accessibility and unity provided by terrestrial TV and radio, urging Ofcom to defend their future at the World Radiocommunication Conference in November 2023.
In a speech to the RTS in December, BBC director-general Tim Davie described an internet-only BBC at the heart of an internet-driven UK Media Market that would focus around a simple, single brand in the UK and abroad. Davie later told the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee that he was attempting to start a conversation and no date had been set.
