Ed richards ofcom biography for kids
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British kids’ programs disappear
U.K. media regulator Ofcom has warned that just 17% of children’s programs on British TV are now homegrown.
In a report that will feed into its review of public-service broadcasting, the regulator said investment in kidvid by terrestrial channels ITV, GMTV, Channel 4 and Five had halved in real terms since 1998.
“The future provision of high-quality programming for children appears to be under threat,” said Ofcom’s Peter Phillips.
The regulator is particularly concerned about children’s drama and factual programs.
ITV, the U.K.’s biggest private terrestrial web, has stopped making tyke fare because it says there is no money in it.
Five, owned by RTL, claims its commitment to preschool shows remains firm, but Ofcom’s research suggests the hours devoted to children’s shows on the web has decreased by 58%.
Only the BBC, which runs dedicated digital nets CBeebies and CBBC, was still in
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Snouts in the trough: 'Independent' media regulator costs taxpayer millions and holds mittpunkt England in contempt
By STEPHEN ROBINSON and ZOE BRENNAN FOR THE DAILY MAIL
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Well-connected: Ofcom boss Ed Richards
Talk to anyone in the insular, self-regarding, oh-so-liberal London media world about Ofcom ledare executive Ed Richards and they will say he’s brainy, self-assured and carries a vast amount of information around in his head.
True, he is slick, articulate and plausible, dressed in dark, well-cut suits with fashionable narrow lapels.
But more than anything, Ed Richards is a leading member of the New Labour political establishment, an interconnected, back-scratching mafia that, while bankrupting Britain, made its own members seriously rich.
For Richards has done extremely well for himself — the total amount of his salary and pension benefits since he took the helm of Ofcom in 2006 is heading towards the £2 million mark.
When asked to justify his own captain-
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3G bad, 4G better?
But for all the talk of White Spaces technology, external, machine-to-machine communication and even 5G, it is when he looks back, not forward that Mr Richards makes the most arresting point. I put it to him that consumers are not that interested in futurology - many of them want to know why they haven't yet got decent 3G, let alone 4G.
His response surprises me in its frankness. "The wrong decision was made about coverage of 3G." Mobile operators were only required to reach 80% of the population under the terms of the 3G auction. "That stored up a problem of 20% of people not being able to get the service that everyone else had."
Conveniently, of course, that decision was made in the 1990s before Ofcom existed, but its consequences, according to Ed Richards, are being felt today. He says the lessons were learned when it came to 4G.
The 4G auction has been criticised - it only earned £2.3bn compared to the £22.5bn for 3G - but he says