Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure a sustainable future for radio.

While radio stations across the UK are reporting increasing numbers of listeners tuning in to their broadcasts, many of these stations are operating against the backdrop of a rapid fall in advertising and other revenues due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Commercial radio stations have been able to take advantage of some of the unprecedented support measures that have been introduced across the wider economy, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. However, we acknowledge that commercial radio also faces some sector-specific pressures.

We are pleased that an agreement has now been reached with Arqiva that will result in a significant reduction in annual transmission costs for local commercial stations that use Arqiva’s services, and have worked with industry during this crisis to support efforts to reduce other costs. We note in particular the help secured by Radiocentre in the form of reduced music licensing payments to reflect the fall in stations’ revenues, and Ofcom’s announcement relaxing its enforcement of licensees’ programming and production requirements, which has been extended to December.

We have also worked with Ofcom to release emergency funding, through the Community Radio Fund, to help community radio stations continue to provide programming and outreach projects for the communities they serve. Ofcom announced details of 81 awards on 4 June.

We note that Ofcom plan to begin advertising small-scale multiplex licences later this year, which will provide a lower-cost digital transmission option for smaller stations, and we will shortly be publishing our response to our consultation on analogue commercial radio licences.

We will continue to liaise with stakeholders across the industry regarding ways in which the Government can reduce regulatory burdens further to support radio through Covid-19 and beyond.