The Media Bill Public Bill Committee today calls for evidence
from those with relevant expertise and experience or a special
interest in the Bill.
A Public Bill Committee has been appointed to scrutinise the Bill
line by line, and would welcome written evidence submissions to
aid this scrutiny.
The first sitting of the Public Bill Committee is expected to be
on Tuesday 5 December and the Committee is scheduled to report by
Thursday 14 December. Interested parties are encouraged to submit
evidence as soon as possible to ensure it is considered.
Aims of the Bill
According to the Bill’s Explanatory Notes, the
Bill would:
- update the legislative framework for public service
broadcasting (PSB), including provisions to facilitate the
delivery of public service content through digital platforms.
- introduce provisions so that public service content on
designated services is available online.
- introduce provisions to address the sustainability challenges
faced by Channel 4.
- apply the Bill’s changes to PSB to S4C, while retaining the
Welsh language content requirement.
- give Ofcom, the communications regulator, new powers to draft
and enforce a Video-on-Demand Code.
- update the regulatory framework for commercial radio.
- protect UK radio’s availability on connected audio devices.
- repeal section 40 of the Crime
and Courts Act 2013 which would (if commenced) force
news publishers to pay the costs of any court judgment if they
were not a member of the approved regulator, regardless of the
outcome of the court judgment.
Notes to editors
The Media Bill was
introduced in Parliament on 8 November 2023. The debate
on second
reading was held on 21 November 2023.
No oral evidence sessions are expected to be held on this
Bill.
Guidance on submitting written evidence
- The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written
evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more
time the Committee will have to take it into consideration and
possibly reflect it in an amendment. The order in which
amendments are taken in Committee will be available in due course
under Selection of Amendments on the
Bill documents pages. Once the Committee has dealt with
an amendment it will not revisit it.
- The first sitting of the Public Bill Committee is expected to
be on Tuesday 5 December and the Committee is scheduled to report
by Thursday 14 December. However, please note that when the
Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer
able to receive written evidence and it can conclude earlier than
the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Thursday 14 December. You
are strongly advised to submit your written evidence as soon as
possible.
- Your submission should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk
- Further guidance on submitting written evidence can be
found here.
