Ofcom market impact assessment of the BBC's HDTV proposals
Ofcom report (71 pages, PDF) providing a market impact assessment of the BBC's proposals for a new high-definition digital television channel.
Ofcom considers that there are unlikely to be significant adverse effects from the proposed service, although there may be a negative impact on IPTV “as current broadband infrastructure does not allow HD services to be delivered to a significant number of consumers”.
The extent of substitution from commercial television channels is judged “likely to be modest” provided that BBC HD is a mixed-genre channel (rather than a channel showing many movies in HD). Ofcom recommends that the BBC Trust should “ensure that the service licence for the BBC HD channel holds the BBC Executive to the mixed-genre service description”.
For further information or advice please contact Nicholas Francis.
