Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Mike Weatherley(12 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Speaker
Order. I am sure that that is an immensely amusing and informative reply and we are grateful, but the House will want to hear Mr Weatherley.
Mike Weatherley (Hove) (Con)
Will the Minister welcome with me and the digital economy in Hove the news yesterday that Hove will be included in the next round of superfast broadband bids?
Mr Vaizey
May I say, if you will indulge me, Mr Speaker, that I find it odd that Opposition Members have such distaste for Morocco? What is wrong with Morocco getting superfast broadband? Why is that seen as some kind of weird phenomenon? [Interruption.] Perhaps I am channelling my inner Boris.
May I congratulate my hon. Friend on how well he has campaigned for superfast broadband in his part of the world in Brighton and Hove? We will ensure that we work with him to ensure that the generous Government funding that is available supports his constituents.
Local Media
Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Mike Weatherley(13 years, 10 months ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Mr Vaizey
The hon. Member for Bath (Mr Foster) wants to answer the question, so I am tempted not to answer it, and simply to leave him to deal with it when he speaks. However, I should mention a number of points. First, I have always been against top-slicing the BBC licence fee to fund other broadcasters, because that is the thin end of the wedge. We have one publicly supported broadcaster in this country, but once one starts top-slicing, one effectively creates a second, and possibly a third.
I do not say that ITV is calling for top-slicing, but I say to any broadcaster that might still be calling for it to be careful what they wish for, because the BBC operates under a number of constraints and in a very public climate—something that other broadcasters are, to a certain extent, free from. We do not think such an approach is the way forward, but we believe that we have an answer for my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley: the third strand of our policy after deregulation and laying the infrastructure for super-fast broadband, the definition of which is in Hansard.
Mike Weatherley (Hove) (Con)
I feel that I am missing out on some of the definitions here. May I, too, please receive the Minister’s letter about the definition of super-fast broadband?
Mr Vaizey
I am delighted to welcome my hon. Friend, the new Member for Hove, who has had a distinguished career in the film industry. I went down to Hove to support him during the election and got into trouble with the Daily Mirror as a result, but I will not go into that. I like to think that my visit contributed substantially to my hon. Friend’s impressive victory, and I will certainly drop him an e-mail about my definition of super-fast broadband.
After deregulation and broadband roll-out, the third strand is our major announcement on strong public service local television. Bizarrely, this country has had no real local television. As I am sure right hon. and hon. Members will point out, when they turn on their local news it is, in effect, regional news, and regional news can be wholly irrelevant to one’s local area. As an Oxfordshire MP, I am used to getting news from Southampton and other places, which are fantastic, but the news is not entirely relevant to where I live. Things are very different in America and western Europe, where local television thrives. A local television network, enabled by a new regulatory regime, could form a core plank of local journalism and local democracy in a thriving multi-platform local media ecosystem. If the hon. Member for West Bromwich East (Mr Watson) wishes to put down a parliamentary question, I will give him a definition of multi-platform local media ecosystem.
The Government’s focus is on making new local media models commercially viable. We believe that local television has the potential to revitalise local media markets with new cross-media models, and as a new platform for reaching local audiences. Before I go into further detail, I want to stress that regional news will remain, for both ITV and STV, an obligation on the channel 3 licence holders. Our vision for local TV is in addition to existing regional news services. We are looking at the potential for existing public service content providers in the nations and regions to play a role locally.