Broadband
etc. – transmitted over airwaves, copper or fi bre
wires to a personal computer, telephone, televi-
sion or electrical appliance. Some of the most
substantial advances in the use of broadband
are occurring in 3G (third generation) mobile
handsets. A 2005 report by Ofcom, the UK
broadcasting regulator, predicted that over 99
per cent of British homes would have access to
a broadband connection by the end of that year.
See digitization.
Broadcast and narrowcast codes See codes.
Broadcasting See topic guide under broad-
casting.
Broadcasting Act (UK), 1980 Receiving its Royal
Assent on 13 November 1980, the Act extended
the life of the Independent Broadcasting Author-
ity (IBA) until the end of 1996 (see next entry);
defined the Authority’s responsibility for the
new channel four; set out special measures
for the Fourth Channel in Wales, Saniel Pedwar
Cymru (S4C); and contained a number of other
important provisions relating to the future of
broadcasting, including the establishment of a
broadcasting complaints commission.
Broadcasting Act (UK), 1990 Ushered-in
far-reaching and controversial changes to
broadcasting in Britain. Th e Act constituted
a further and substantial assault on the part of
government upon the traditional duopoly (BBC/
IBA) of broadcasting control that had prevailed
since the birth of commercial television in the
UK in 1956. The Conservative government’s
White Paper, Broadcasting in the ’90s: Competi-
tion, Choice and Quality was published in 1988.
Th e Observer (13 November 1988) called it ‘the
biggest bomb put under British TV in half-a-
century’.
Th e White Paper proposed a fi fth TV channel,
an expansion of Direct Satellite Broadcast-
ing (DSB), more local TV stations, three
new national radio networks and a growth in
localized radio. Th e Act of 1990 wound up the
Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and
replaced it with a ‘light-touch’ Independent Tele-
vision Commission (ITC), whose most impor-
tant fi rst task was to select companies for the
new commercial TV franchises to operate from 1
January 1993 (see franchises from 1993).
Controversy raged over the manner in which
the franchises were to be allocated – through
secret auction. Would-be future franchise-
holders were invited to put their case for selec-
tion and make a money bid, without any idea
of what a reasonable bid might be. Th e result
was regarded in many quarters as farcical: some
companies bid vast amounts; others very little.(in anticipation of SkyAnywhere, 2011), and – for
an estimated 125m – Amstrad, manufacturer of
satellite boxes. In February 2011, teaming up with
HBO of America, Sky launched the Sky Atlantic
channel, while pressing ahead with its ambition
to convert Murdoch’s 39 per cent holding of
Sky into 100 per cent ownership and control.
Objections to what has been widely viewed as
a threat to media plurality were raised by other
media and the public alike, the issue being
presented fi rst to Ofcom (see ofcom: office of
communications, uk), which recommended
that the matter be referred to the Competition
Commission. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt
declined to do this and was ‘of a mind’ to give
Murdoch what he wanted, conditional upon
safeguards. Murdoch proposed to partly offl oad
Sky TV news under an independent chairman
for a period of ten years.
A YouGov survey commissioned in March
2011 by the campaign network Avaaz found that
over 60 per cent of the British public felt that
Murdoch was already too powerful to be permit-
ted total control of BSkyB. Alice Jay, Campaign
Director of Avaaz, was of the opinion that ‘the
deal gives one man the keys to the media king-
dom’, adding that ‘Rupert Murdoch’s so-called
“safeguards” of BSkyB’s independence are about
as reliable as a British airport in a blizzard’. It has
been estimated that BSkyB’s income would be
twice that of the BBC by 2015.
Such a deal, which the coalition government of
the UK was willing to accept, met with a wide-
spread and hostile reception. It was described
by Sly Bailey, Chief Executive of Trinity Mirror,
as a ‘whitewash’, while according to a London
Evening Standard editorial (3 March 2011) it did
‘not smell right’. A leader headline in the Daily
Telegraph declared it a ‘body blow to the notion
of a vibrant, diverse press’.
However, the Murdoch empire was shortly
afterwards engulfed in a sensational phone-
hacking scandal. Th is resulted in the dramatic
closure of the chief off ender, the 168-year-old
News of the World (see journalism: phone-
hacking), the resignation of the Chief Execu-
tive of News International, Rebekah Brooks, and
the appearance before a House of Commons
Committee of Brooks, Rupert Murdoch and
his son James. Temporarily at least, Murdoch’s
ambition to acquire BSkyB in its entirety was
put on hold. See conglomerates; murdoch
effect; pluralism; regulatory favours.
Broadband High-speed electronic facility that
allows for multiple informational and entertain-
ment use – of fi lms, computer games, music,