Office of Public Sector Information
Section 360
1 (1) Section 3 of the 1990 Act (licensing under Part 1) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (1), for “Chapter II, III, IV or V of this Part” there shall be substituted “Chapter 2 or 5 of this Part or section 235 of the Communications Act 2003”.
(4) For subsection (8) (saving for telecommunications licences) there shall be substituted—
“(8) The holding by a person of a licence under this Part shall not relieve him of—
(a) any liability in respect of a failure to hold a licence under section 1 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949; or
(b) any obligation to comply with requirements imposed by or under Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Communications Act 2003 (electronic communications networks and electronic communications services).”
2 (1) Section 4 of the 1990 Act (general licence conditions) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (1), in each of paragraphs (a) and (c), after “this Act” there shall be inserted “, the Broadcasting Act 1996 or the Communications Act 2003”.
(4) In subsection (3) (fixing of fees), the words from “and the amount” onwards shall be omitted.
(5) In subsection (5) (provision of false information to be breach of condition)—
(a) for “imposed under this Part” there shall be substituted “contained in the licence”; and
(b) after “and 42” there shall be inserted “or (as the case may be) sections 237 and 238 of the Communications Act 2003 (enforcement of television licensable content service licences)”.
3 (1) Section 5 of the 1990 Act (restrictions on licence holding) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “The Commission” and “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (2) (incidental requirements to provide information), after paragraph (d) there shall be inserted—
“(da) impose conditions in a licence requiring the licence holder, if a body corporate, to give OFCOM notice, after they have occurred and irrespective of whether proposals for them have fallen to be notified, of changes, transactions or events affecting—
(i) shareholdings in the body; or
(ii) the directors of the body;
(db) impose conditions in a licence enabling OFCOM to require the licence holder to provide them with such information as they may reasonably require for determining—
(i) whether the licence holder is a disqualified person in relation to that licence by virtue of Part 2 of Schedule 2; or
(ii) whether any such requirements as are mentioned in subsection (1)(b) have been and are being complied with by or in relation to the licence holder;”.
(4) In subsection (6)—
(a) in paragraph (a), for “complained of” there shall be substituted “constituting their grounds for revoking the licence”; and
(b) in paragraph (b)(i), for “Parts III and IV of Schedule 2” there shall be substituted “the requirements imposed by or under Schedule 14 to the Communications Act 2003,”.
(5) In subsection (6A)—
(a) paragraph (a) shall cease to have effect; and
(b) in paragraph (b), for “Part IV of that Schedule” there shall be substituted “Part 1 of Schedule 14 to the Communications Act 2003”.
(6) Subsection (6B) shall cease to have effect.
(7) In subsection (7), for the words from “a failure” to the end of paragraph (c) there shall be substituted “a disqualification under Part 2 of Schedule 2 to this Act or a contravention of a requirement imposed by or under Schedule 14 to the Communications Act 2003”.
4 Sections 6 to 12 of the 1990 Act (which contain the mechanism for regulation in relation to licences under Part 1 of that Act) shall cease to have effect.
5 (1) Section 13 of the 1990 Act (prohibition on providing television services without a licence) shall be amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1) (offence of providing such service without a licence), for “service falling within section 2(1)(a), (aa), (b), (c), (cc) or (d)” there shall be substituted “relevant regulated television service”.
(3) After that subsection there shall be inserted—
“(1A) In subsection (1) “relevant regulated television service” means a service falling, in pursuance of section 211(1) of the Communications Act 2003, to be regulated by OFCOM, other than a television multiplex service.”
(4) In subsection (2) (exemption orders made after consulting the ITC), for “the Commission” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
6 In section 14 of the 1990 Act (establishment of Channel 3), for “The Commission” and “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
7 (1) Section 15 of the 1990 Act (applications for Channel 3 licences) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (2), for “specified in section 16(2) or (3) (as the case may be)” there shall be substituted “that have to be imposed under Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003 by conditions relating to—
(a) the public service remit for that service,
(b) programming quotas,
(c) news and current affairs programmes, and
(d) programme production and regional programming.”
(4) In subsection (3)—
(a) in paragraph (b), for “specified in section 16(2) or (3) (as the case may be)” there shall be substituted “that have to be imposed under Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003 by conditions relating to—
(i) the public service remit for that service,
(ii) programming quotas,
(iii) news and current affairs programmes, and
(iv) programme production and regional programming”;
(b) paragraphs (c) to (e) shall be omitted.
(5) After subsection (3) there shall be inserted—
“(3A) For the purposes of subsection (1)(d)(ii)—
(a) different percentages may be specified for different accounting periods; and
(b) the percentages that may be specified for an accounting period include a nil percentage.”
(6) In subsection (4), for “paragraphs (b) to (e)” there shall be substituted “paragraphs (b)”.
8 (1) Section 16 of the 1990 Act (consideration of applications for Channel 3 licences) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (1), for “specified in subsection (2) or (3) below (as the case may be)” there shall be substituted “that have to be imposed under Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003 by conditions relating to—
(i) the public service remit for that service,
(ii) programming quotas,
(iii) news and current affairs programmes, and
(iv) programme production and regional programming”.
(4) Subsections (2) and (3) of that section shall cease to have effect.
(5) In subsection (4) of that section—
(a) for “specified in subsection (2) or (3) (as the case may be),” there shall be substituted “that have to be imposed under Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003 by conditions relating to—
(a) the public service remit for that service,
(b) programming quotas,
(c) news and current affairs programmes, and
(d) programme production and regional programming,”;
(b) the words from “and in applying” onwards shall be omitted.
(6) Subsections (5) to (8) shall cease to have effect.
9 (1) Section 17 of the 1990 Act (award of licences to person submitting highest bid) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (12)(b), for “specified in section 16(2) or (3) (as the case may be)” there shall be substituted “that have to be imposed under Chapter 4 of Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003 by conditions relating to—
(i) the public service remit for that service,
(ii) programming quotas,
(iii) news and current affairs programmes, and
(iv) programme production and regional programming”.
10 In sections 17A to 19 of the 1990 Act (financial conditions in Channel 3 licences and failures to begin a service), for “The Commission” and “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
11 (1) Section 21 of the 1990 Act (changes of control in period immediately after award of licence) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (2), in the definition of “associated programme provider”, for the words from “appears” to “inclusion” there shall be substituted “is or is likely to be involved, to a substantial extent, in the provision of the programmes included”.
12 In section 22 of the 1990 Act (temporary provision of regional Channel 3 Service for additional area), for “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
13 In section 23 of the 1990 Act (appointment of C4C members), for “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
14 In section 24(3) of the 1990 Act (Channel 4 licence), for “the Commission” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
15 In section 28 of the 1990 Act (Channel 5), for “The Commission” and “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
16 (1) In section 29 of the 1990 Act (application to Channel 5 of Channel 3 provisions)—
(a) subsection (2)(b) and the word “and” immediately preceding it, and
(b) subsection (3),
shall cease to have effect.
(2) In subsection (2)(a) of that section, for “the Commission” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
17 In section 37(1) of the 1990 Act (conditions requiring announcement of programme Schedules), for “the Commission” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
18 (1) In sections 40 to 42 of the 1990 Act (enforcement of licences), for “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(2) In sections 41(1) and 42(1)(a) of that Act (which contain provisions relating to the enforcement of directions under Part 1 of that Act), after “this Part”, in each place, there shall be inserted “, Part 5 of the Broadcasting Act 1996 or Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003”.
19 In section 42B(1) of the 1990 Act (licensing of restricted services), for “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
20 (1) Section 48 of the 1990 Act (additional services) shall be further amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1)—
(a) for “telecommunication” there shall be substituted “electronic”; and
(b) for paragraphs (a) and (b) there shall be substituted “on a relevant frequency”.
(3) In subsection (2), for paragraphs (a) and (b) there shall be substituted “any part of the signals which—
(a) is not required for the purposes of the television broadcasting service for the purposes of which the frequency has been made available; and
(b) is determined by OFCOM to be available for the provision of additional services;”.
(4) After that subsection there shall be inserted—
“(2A) For the purposes of this Part, if they consider it appropriate to do so, OFCOM may, while an additional services licence is in force, from time to time modify the determination made under subsection (2)(b) for the purposes of that licence in any manner that does not reduce the amount of spare capacity made available for the licensed services; and when so modified any such licence shall have effect accordingly.”
(5) In subsection (3)—
(a) for “The Commission” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”; and
(b) for “(2)(a)” there shall be substituted “(2)(b)”; and
(c) for paragraphs (a) to (c) there shall be substituted—
“(a) to the obligations contained in any code under section 303 of the Communications Act 2003 by virtue of subsection (5) of that section; and
(aa) to any need of the person providing the television broadcasting service in question to be able to use part of the signals carrying it for providing services (in addition to those provided for satisfying those obligations) which—
(i) are ancillary to programmes included in the service and directly related to their contents; or
(ii) relate to the promotion or listing of such programmes.”
(6) In subsection (4), for paragraphs (a) and (b) there shall be substituted—
“(a) to provide services for the satisfaction in his case of obligations mentioned in subsection (3)(a); and
(b) to provide in relation to his television broadcasting service any such services as are mentioned in subsection (3)(aa).”
(7) For subsection (6) there shall be substituted—
“(6) In this section—
“electronic signals” means signals within the meaning of section 32 of the Communications Act 2003;
“relevant frequency” means a frequency made available by OFCOM for the purposes of a television broadcasting service.”
(8) This paragraph does not affect the validity of a licence granted or last renewed before the television transfer date, or the services licensed by any such licence.
21 (1) Section 49 of the 1990 Act (licensing of additional television services) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (1), for the words from “of the following” to “48(1)(b)” there shall be substituted “relevant frequency”.
(4) For subsections (2) and (3) there shall be substituted—
“(1A) An additional services licence is not required for an additional service that is comprised in the public teletext service (within the meaning of Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003).”
(5) In subsection (10), at the end there shall be inserted “and “relevant frequency” has the same meaning as in section 48.”
22 (1) Section 50 of the 1990 Act (applications for additional services licences) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (1)(b)(ii), the words “(subject to the approval of the Secretary of State)” shall be omitted.
(4) Subsection (7) shall cease to have effect.
23 (1) Section 51 of the 1990 Act (consideration of applications for licences for additional television services) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (1), for paragraph (a) (requirement of approval of technical plans) there shall be substituted—
“(a) that the technical plan submitted under section 50(3)(b), in so far as it involves the use of an electronic communications network (within the meaning of the Communications Act 2003), contains proposals that are acceptable to them; and”.
(4) Subsections (2) and (7) shall cease to have effect.
24 In section 52 of the 1990 Act (additional payments in respect of additional television services licences), for “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
25 (1) Section 53 of the 1990 Act (duration and renewal of additional television services licences) shall be amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1), for the words before paragraph (a) there shall be substituted—
“(1) A licence to provide additional services on a frequency which is a relevant frequency for the purposes of section 48 or (in the case of a licence granted before the television transfer date) was assigned under section 65—”.
(3) In subsection (2), after “not later than” there shall be inserted “the day falling three months before”.
(4) In subsections (4) to (11), for “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(5) In subsection (8), for the words from “payable” onwards there shall be substituted “the cash bid of the licence holder were the licence (instead of being renewed) to be granted for the period of the renewal on an application made in accordance with section 50(3).”
(6) After that subsection there shall be inserted—
“(8A) For the purposes of subsection (7)(b)—
(a) different percentages may be specified for different accounting periods; and
(b) the percentages that may be specified for an accounting period include a nil percentage.”
(7) After subsection (11) there shall be inserted—
“(12) A determination for the purposes of subsection (11)—
(a) must be made at least one year before the date determined; and
(b) must be notified by OFCOM to the person who holds the licence in question.
(13) In this section “the television transfer date” has the same meaning as in the Communications Act 2003.”
26 (1) Section 54 of the 1990 Act (additional television services not to interfere with other transmissions) shall be amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1), for “the Commission” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) Subsection (2) shall cease to have effect.
27 (1) Section 55 of the 1990 Act (further provision in relation to additional television services licences) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission” and “The Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (4) at the end there shall be inserted “and, in the case of a licence renewed under section 53 as if the reference in section 42(4) to the end of the period for which the licence is to continue in force were a reference to the end of the period for which it has been renewed.”
28 (1) Section 58 of the 1990 Act (sources of programmes for S4C) shall be amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1), for “comply with their duty under section 57(2)(b)” there shall be substituted “fulfil so much of their public service remit in relation to S4C under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12 to the Communications Act 2003 as is contained in sub-paragraph (2)(a) and (b) of that paragraph”.
(3) In subsection (2)(a), for “comply with section 57(3)” there shall be substituted “fulfil so much of their public service remit in relation to S4C under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12 to the Communications Act 2003 as is contained in sub-paragraph (2)(c) of that paragraph”.
(4) After subsection (5) there shall be inserted—
“(6) In this section “programme” does not include an advertisement.”
29 (1) Section 66 of the 1990 Act (requirements relating to transmission and distribution of services) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsections (1) and (2), for “for general reception” there shall be substituted “so as to be available for reception by members of the public”.
(4) After subsection (2) there shall be inserted—
“(2A) In subsections (1) and (2) “available for reception by members of the public” shall be construed in accordance with section 361 of the Communications Act 2003”.
30 In section 66A of the 1990 Act (enforcement of licences held by BBC companies), for “the Commission”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
31 (1) Section 71 of the 1990 Act (interpretation) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For the definitions of “S4C” and “on S4C” there shall be substituted—
““S4C” has the same meaning as in Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003;”.
(3) For the definitions of “television broadcasting service” and “television programme service” there shall be substituted—
““television broadcasting service”, “television licensable content service” and “television programme service” each has the same meaning as in Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003;”.
32 (1) Section 85 of the 1990 Act (licensing of independent radio services) shall be amended as follows.
(2) In subsections (1) and (2), for “the Authority” and “The Authority”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (1), for “such licences to provide independent radio services as they may determine” there shall be substituted “licences to provide relevant independent radio services”.
(4) Subsections (3) and (4) (duty to secure the meeting of a variety of tastes and interests and to ensure fair and effective competition) shall cease to have effect.
(5) After subsection (7) there shall be inserted—
“(8) In this section “relevant independent radio services” means the following services so far as they are services falling to be regulated under section 245 of the Communications Act 2003—
(a) sound broadcasting services;
(b) radio licensable content services;
(c) additional radio services.”
33 (1) Section 86 of the 1990 Act (licences under Part 3) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Authority” and “The Authority”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) For subsection (9) of that section there shall be substituted—
“(9) The holding of a licence by a person shall not relieve him of—
(a) any liability in respect of a failure to hold a licence under section 1 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949; or
(b) any obligation to comply with requirements imposed by or under Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Communications Act 2003 (electronic communications networks and electronic communications services).”
34 (1) Section 87 of the 1990 Act (general licence conditions) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “the Authority”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (1), in each of paragraphs (a) and (d), after “this Act” there shall be inserted “, the Broadcasting Act 1996 or the Communications Act 2003”.
(4) In subsection (2), sub-paragraph (ii) of paragraph (b) and the word “or” immediately preceding it shall be omitted.
(5) In subsection (3) (fixing of fees), the words from “and the amount” onwards shall be omitted.
35 (1) Section 88 of the 1990 Act (restrictions on the holding of licences) shall be amended as follows.
(2) For “The Authority” and “the Authority”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “OFCOM”.
(3) In subsection (2) (incidental requirements to provide information), after paragraph (d) there shall be inserted—
“(da) impose conditions in a licence requiring the licence holder, if a body corporate, to give OFCOM notice, after they have occurred and irrespective of whether proposals for them have fallen to be notified, of changes, transactions or events affecting—
(i) shareholdings in the body; or
(ii) the directors of the body;
(db) impose conditions in a licence enabling OFCOM to require the licence holder to provide them with such information as they may reasonably require for determining—
(i) whether the licence holder is a disqualified person in relation to that licence by virtue of Part 2 of Schedule 2; or
(ii) whether any such requirements as are mentioned in subsection (1)(b) have been and are being complied with by or in relation to the licence holder;”.
(4) In subsection (6)—
(a) in paragraph (a), for “complained of” there shall be substituted “constituting their grounds for revoking the licence”; and
(b) in paragraph (b)(i), for “Parts III and IV of Schedule 2” there shall be substituted “the requirements imposed by or under Schedule 14 to the Communications Act 2003”.
(5) In subsection (6A)—
(a) paragraph (a) shall cease to have effect; and
(b) in paragraph (b), for “Part IV of that Schedule” there shall be substituted “Part 1 of Schedule 14 to the Communications Act 2003”.
(6) Subsection (6B) shall cease to have effect.
(7) In subsection (7), for the words from “a failure” to the end of paragraph (c) there shall be substituted “a disqualification under Part 2 of Schedule 2 to this Act or a contravention of a requirement imposed by or under Schedule 14 to the Communications Act 2003,”.
Communications Act 2003