Ofcom has published a Statement of Principles and Methods setting out how it intends to determine which connected TV platforms should fall under new obligations within the Media Act to ensure that public service broadcasters’ content is available, prominent, and easily accessible.

Ofcom will not itself ultimately determine which platforms should fall within the scope of the new regime – that is for the Secretary of State. However, the Media Act charges Ofcom with making recommendations, and also sets out a range of factors it must take into account  when deciding whether platforms should be designated as ‘regulated television selection services’ (RTSS). The Statement expands on the principles and methods Ofcom will apply to assess those factors:

1. The Number of Users

• Ofcom will use the “best available evidence” to provide an objective and reliable basis to measure the number of people in the UK using a television selection service (TSS).
• If individual user numbers cannot be measured reliably, Ofcom may use a proxy for user numbers.
• Ofcom will apply a consistent methodology to assess each TSS to ensure fair treatment.

2. Significant Number of Users

• No threshold number is provided by Ofcom for what constitutes ‘significant’, but the Statement explains that Ofcom will “bear in mind the aim of the new availability and prominence regime to maximise audience benefits by ensuring public service content is available to ‘the overwhelming majority of the population’“.
• Given that what constitutes a significant number of users is context-dependent, Ofcom will set out what it considers to be significant and the reasons why in a draft report, allowing stakeholders the opportunity to comment on its proposed approach. It may take into account, for example, the level of use by different audience groups, the growth projections (positive or negative) of a particular platform, as well as the commercial implications of a platform being designated as a RTSS.

3. Manner and Use of TSS

• Ofcom will “generally take account of the extent of active use of the TSS” and may consider available data or estimates of how regularly a particular TSS is accessed by users.

4. Technical Functionality of TSS

• Finally, a TSS will generally be considered to be capable of being regulated if it can:
• Carry the designated internet programme services of PSBs;
• Present services and programmes with different levels of prominence; and
• Include features to ensure it is accessible to people with disabilities.

The first report to the Secretary of State is expected to be produced by Ofcom and consulted upon this summer.

To read the Statement in full, click here