Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator Update

The independent Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA2) has today published its update for October 2009. This shows that at the end of October there were 6.2 million unbundled lines and 6.14 million Wholesale Line Rental lines. The number of telephone numbers using Carrier Pre-Select was 3.83 million. The update can be found here.

OTA-Broadcast Transmission Services report

Ofcom has today published a report from the independent Office of the Adjudicator – Broadcast Transmission Services (OTA-BTS) for the period from 1 July 2009 to 30 September 2009. A statement was also published on principles for the pricing of new transmission agreements.
The reports can be found here.

COSTA: Advertising breaks in news and children’s programmes

Ofcom has published FAQs relating to the rules that come into force on 1 December 2009 concerning advertising breaks during news programmes and children’s programmes.
The FAQs can be found here.

Listed Events: Ryder Cup, 2010 and 2012:

Ofcom has granted consent for BSkyB’s live coverage of the Ryder Cup in 2010 and 2012. The Ryder Cup is a Group B listed event. This means that a non-qualifying service (one that is not available free-to-air to at least 95% of the population) may acquire the rights to live coverage, provided that the rights to broadcast highlights have been offered to a qualifying service. The BBC, which is a qualifying service, has acquired the highlights rights, therefore consent for BskyB’s coverage is automatic. The statement can be found here.

Media Literacy eBulletin

This month’s Media Literacy e-Bulletin features news on the Consortium for the promotion of Digital Participation, Race Online 2012 and Get online day 09. It also includes items on recent work by the Internet Watch Foundation, Childnet International and the BBC, and highlights new Ofcom research on adult and children’s media literacy. The Media Literacy e-Bulletin can be found here.

Access Services

Ofcom has published its quarterly report on the provision of access services (subtitling, signing and audio description) by broadcasters for the third quarter of 2009. The full report can be found here.

Consumer Protection Test

The Consumer Protection Test for telephone number allocation focuses on communications providers who have used numbers to cause serious or repeated harm to consumers. Ofcom will not allocate 070 personal numbers, 0871/2/3 special service higher rate numbers and 09 premium rate numbers to anyone who appears on either of two lists. We strongly encourage all providers that assign telephone numbers to others to take best use of numbers and consumer protection into account and to refer to the following two lists that we are publishing when making assignment decisions. The latest ‘Under Assessment’ and ‘Number Refusal’ lists have been updated here.

Investigations Activity report

The Investigations Activity report summarises Ofcom’s investigations activity during the period between 1 April and 30 September 2009 and in particular focuses on our performance in meeting a range of key performance indicators. The report can be found here.

Radio licensing update

The Monthly Update provides information about Ofcom’s broadcast radio licensing activity, including details of commercial radio licence re-advertisements, changes to the formats of stations, and community radio licence awards. This month, the update also includes details of how to apply for a grant from the Community Radio Fund. Details can be found here.

TV licensing update

The latest information about Ofcom’s broadcast TV licensing activity, including details of new licences issued and changes to existing licences, can be found here.