Ofcom commissioned a four-week public consultation which ended on 1 May 2008. There was only one question in the consultation: Should Ofcom agree to UTV’s request to co-locate 104.9 imagine FM ( Stockport ) in premises at Warrington alongside Tower FM, Wish FM and Wire FM, having particular regard to the statutory criteria and co-location guidelines?
There were 22 responses. These were split 50/50 for and against the proposal. Most of the “yes” responses were from station advertisers wishing to secure the station’s presence. Six responses were confidential, including two from industry parties arguing that the station should be able to stand alone in its market. All non-confidential responses are on the Ofcom website.
The Committee had regard to both the Broadcasting Act and its co-location/localness guidelines (outlined in the Appendix below).
With regard to the Broadcasting Act 1990 Section 106 (1A), the request had been regarded as (a) one that would substantially change the character of the service. This had triggered the consultation. Consideration was, therefore, given to the other three criteria.
- The station would still be available to listeners, but the actual location of the studio – and, therefore, the distance from which its locally made programmes would then be broadcast - is important when considering the range of services available, which would be narrowed in this request as set out.
- Insufficient evidence was provided to make an assessment of a change on competition grounds.
- Evidence of support within consultation responses for the change of location was evenly balanced with those opposed.
The Committee concluded the request should be refused under our co-location guidelines because:
- a station for an area as large as this should, as per the spirit of the guidelines, be expected to operate studios within its own licensed area
- there is insufficient evidence of cultural affinity to warrant a challenge to that expectation
- UTV did not convincingly demonstrate that co-location is required to ensure the financial viability of the station concerned.