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Dateline: 18th March, 2007 Ofcom Responds "There is absolutely no way that Ofcom, as a regulator, would introduce proposals which would threaten the UK theatre sector as a whole," Ofcom spokesperson Clayton Hirst has told The Stage. "We wouldn’t do anything which would put in jeopardy the theatre sector. "Our research indicates that there should be enough of the new interleaved spectrum to meet likely demand from professional microphone users." This was in reponse to widespread concern within the industry, and a House of Commons debate, about the regulator's proposals to sell off the part of the radio spectrum following the switchover to digital - see our stories of 14th February and 20th February (an e-petition). The theatre lobby, however, is unconvinced and, in a joint submission, the Society of London Theatre and the Theatrical Management Association say that for the industry to fail in obtaining the rights to the fequencies currently in use would be "catastophic". "An entirely open-market free for all in a spectrum auction in which some of the world’s largest corporations will be competing would place the theatre industry in real jeopardy," they say. They want to theatre frequencies to be kept out of the auction completely or a requirement for successful bidders to give the industry access to them at moderate cost. Although the initial consultation period closes later this month, there will be a further consultation round in the summer, focusing on the actual bidding process and the building-in of safeguards. There is still time to sign the epitition at petitions.pm.gov.uk/PMSEspectrum/ Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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