Category: Culture

The speech made by Ed Vaizey, the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 29 October 2014.

My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you very much for letting me come along this evening to say a few words to this most distinguished gathering.

It would not be right to start without expressing my great sadness that we are all here together at Blenheim in such unfortunate circumstances, and I must extend my deepest sympathy to the late Duke’s family at this sad time.

The spirit and achievement of the 11th Duke is, of course, to be seen here at Blenheim. And it’s not just in these magnificent surroundings, but also in the very ethos of the group which together you comprise: the idea that a glorious stately home can become a successful business without losing either its historical integrity or the character that only a genuine family home can have. “My famous ancestor won the Battle of Blenheim in one day—but his descendants have been fighting it ever since,” His Grace the late Duke said just three years ago, and I very much hope that, if he were with us tonight, he would concede that it was a battle he had been winning. The evidence of that, I think, is all around us.

I should also say in passing that Blenheim itself has a personal fascination for me, and one that that makes coming here this evening particularly special. As an undergraduate studying the history of architecture, I studied Blenheim and many other similar buildings. A fellow student boasted that he stayed most weekends at each of the houses we were studying. The closest I came was driving into the grounds of Heythrop Park, then a NatWest training centre, before being chased away by a security official. Needless to say Ted Clive now lives in a stately home of his own, and I . . er . . do not.

Now I completely understand that there are some specific issues you’d like me to address this evening: the difficulties of running a successful tourist business in the current economic climate for one thing.

What the new structure we’re proposing for English Heritage might mean for you, if it has the effect of giving their properties an unfair advantage in the visitor attraction market, for another.

Allied to this, I know that many of you are reflecting on the broader question of how the magnificent houses you own can survive, not simply as going commercial concerns but as plain bricks and mortar, as years go by. You might also, reasonably enough, ask me – as Minister for Telecoms, as well as Culture and Heritage – what I am doing about ensuring that the revolution in digital communication and the advent of super-fast broadband reaches the rural communities of which you are all a part.

I hope to say a little bit about all these things, and I think some time has also been set aside for questions at the end, so I very much look forward to picking up on anything you think I’ve missed at that point.

But I should say, straight from the off, that I am not going to be able to offer any promises, nods or winks about the tax breaks that I know you all are lobbying for. The Chancellor and his team at the Treasury make those decisions and, as you’ve probably already heard, they play their cards very close to their chest. We in the outlying departments can – and we do – make the case for our respective sectors but we get absolutely no hints on what has been decided until pretty much the same time as you do. So forgive me, but I am simply unable to be the bearer of good, bad or indifferent news on that front this evening.

None of you, of course, need any persuading that the houses, gardens and other attractions you are helping the public to enjoy offer an experience for the visitor that is anything short of exceptional. But one thing I have noticed as a minister over the last four and a half years – and for many years before – is there are certain things that hugely improve a place’s chances of success in attracting people to visit.

It’s not so long ago that the ‘added value’ a visitor attraction had to offer the weary visitor was little more than a cup of tea so stewed it could have passed for creosote and a rock cake that put one more in mind of rock than cake. Times have changed and, thanks to Trip Advisor, standards have changed too.

Now I know there’s a whole speech to be made on the rights and wrongs of Trip Advisor and the potential it offers one’s competitors to – shall we say – massage the truth about a place. But at the same time we’re also perhaps aware of a current business belief called the ‘wisdom of crowds’, and the idea that ‘the many are smarter than the few.’

And so with that in mind, I popped the ten ‘Treasure Houses of England’ into that website to see how all of you fare in the court of public opinion. Thankfully, each one of you have earned an abundance of four or five star reviews.

Does this tell us anything? Are there any lessons here? Well, one immediately springs to mind. And that is that there’s something to be said for actively encouraging your visitors – or at least the ones who seem to have had a good time – to go on Trip Advisor straight away and share their thoughts with the online world? Cynical, yes, but surprising how many places do just that – and how many don’t. But the real lesson we learn from this kind of thing, I think, is the importance of two things: customer care and added value. And those two things are what the Treasure Houses do really well.

But for all that, when it comes to customer care, there will always be one or two that are harder to please than others. Before leaving the Trip Advisor site I had a quick look at some of our other national institutions.

Take the National Gallery in London, for example. For my part, I think it’s the most wonderful collection and one of which we in the UK should be really proud. Not so, however, for one ‘reviewer’ from Yorkshire who reported that ‘This was really boring – why can’t they get some new stuff in?

But the last word on this has to go to one visitor to Stonehenge from Salisbury who titled her review ‘Yawn.’ She went on to say, and I quote: ‘it was the biggest waste of time I’ve ever experienced. Why people come from all around the world to see a pile of stones, I will never understand.’

So some things, however magnificent, do indeed ‘fall on stony ground.’

Let’s look for a moment at the other half of my suggested recipe for success in this business: added value.

Here at Blenheim, the added value comes from the temporary shows like the current exhibition from the internationally acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei – his largest ever in this country. Add to this the flower show, the circus, the antiques fair, the concerts and the food festival, and you get a sense of the depth and quality of what Blenheim has to offer.

Leeds Castle, as well as boasting that it is ‘The Loveliest Castle in the World’ has also been offering an exhibition of Henry VIII’s armour, on loan from the Royal Armouries, and next summer there’s a Triathalon with the swimming leg taking place, inevitably, in the moat.

Chatsworth has its dazzling annual sculpture show, ‘Beyond Limits.’ In recent years it has displayed monumental pieces by some of the most outstanding contemporary sculptors working today – Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn, Manolo Valdés and Thomas Heatherwick (designer of London’s Olympic Cauldron), to name but four. Burghley has been staging its horse trials for more than 50 years, attracting north of 160,000 visitors this year.

Beaulieu has its National Motor Museum where around half a million visitors each year can marvel at a 250-strong collection which includes Bluebird and Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang among its number. Holkham puts on open air plays and concerts, and at Harewood there‘s daily penguin feeding – or at least there is until the end of this week. All of the Treasure Houses are adding value by using their imagination: going further than before, but never so much as ruffling the feathers of the goose that lays the golden egg – the Treasure House itself.

I could go on. The point is, however, that delighting your customers is the key to success.

So do you have anything to fear from the new English Heritage, the free-standing body we are creating as a trust, with a dowry to ensure that it can stand on its own feet without the benefit of public subsidy? The answer, I believe, is no.

Our historic buildings, ancient monuments and country houses are all part of the same thing: our heritage. And it’s something that’s very popular indeed with people from this country and overseas, looking for an interesting day out, with or without penguin feeding. The London family that spends the day on a trip to the English Heritage owned Dover Castle is not declaring they will never go to the National Trust owned Bodiam Castle, or to the ‘Treasure House’ Leeds Castle.

The truth is they are making a choice, probably based on word-of-mouth recommendation or marketing of one sort or another. And in all probability they’ll take in the other two at another time, because heritage visits for many people are a regular thing, not once-in-a-blue-moon leisure choices.

What’s more, the funding for the new model English Heritage will also pay for young apprentices to develop heritage skills, and that too will be for the greater good of the whole sector in time.

But as I said a moment ago, marketing is so important. Common sense tells us that the personal recommendation of a friend or relative – or any disinterested individual, come to that – is the most effective recommendation of all. And more and more people are going online to find it. I’ve mentioned Trip Advisor but there are countless other online sources of comment and that’s before we get to your own websites. Not disinterested, of course, but a primary source of information for opening times, special events (those penguins again) and how best to get to you.

So for you as ‘businesses’ and your visitors as ‘customers’, we are now making it an absolute priority to ensure reliable, superfast broadband, with an investment of over £1 billion, half of which – £530 million – is focused on rural areas.

And I’m pleased to report that a great deal of progress has been achieved. In the rural areas where the Treasure Houses are to be found, customers have experienced a bigger increase in average speeds than in urban areas. The unobtrusive yet sturdy green cabinets that help make this happen are springing up all over the countryside. Superfast coverage here in the UK is higher than in Germany and Spain, and three times higher than in France.

Our overall aim is for the UK to be a leading digital economy, with 88 per cent of the whole country having access to superfast broadband by the end of next year.

The future for pretty well all businesses – and yours certainly – is digital, and we are making its realisation an absolute priority. I’d like to draw my remarks to you this evening to a close with a few words on the current state of country houses generally here in the UK. A book was published just last week by SAVE Britain’s Heritage. Written by the estimable Marcus Binney and with contributions from John Harris, it has been published almost exactly 40 years to the day after Roy Strong’s exhibition at the V&A entitled The Destruction of the Country House opened.

The book looks at what’s happened since 1974 and also sets that progress in the context of what had inspired Roy Strong to organise the exhibition.

In some ways it’s a pretty depressing account, with page after page of photographs showing fine houses that were ‘lost’ in the 100 years running up to 1974. Happily though there are also a host of examples of houses that have been ‘saved’, very often thanks to the determination and courage of organisations like SAVE, and the funding that the National Trust and the National Heritage Memorial Fund have been able to provide.

Another common factor in the successes has been the presence of an army of local groups and individuals who, to put it crudely, saw a bad thing about to happen and got off their backsides to do something about it.

Tyntesfield in Somerset, Seaton Delavel in Northumberland, Dumfries House in Ayrshire, are but three examples of heroic campaigning and hard work delivering a happy ending.

And speaking as a Government Minister, I can tell you that the power of a well-organised campaign, when it’s married to genuine passion for a cause, is a thing to behold. So the message of this book, which I commend to you all, is in the end a reasonably optimistic one. Not trite or self-satisfied, but certainly quietly encouraging.

So for me, the country house glass is by no means half empty. But it is, for all that, essential that owners, campaigners and government remain constantly vigilant. The buildings we’ve been talking about this evening – and your houses in particular – are quite literally irreplaceable.

We must never take them for granted and I can promise you that the Government, for its part, never will.

The speech made by Ed Vaizey, the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 14 October 2014.

This is the first time I have actually spoken at the Radio Festival – I have been here twice virtually.

But it’s not the same thing and I am delighted to be with you all – in person – today.

I spend a lot of time with Absolute 80s and their incredibly long playlist –– and of course Jack FM, my fantastic local independent station which I visited recently.

One of the constants over the past five years – something often lost on Media Commentators – is that radio continues to reach 90% of all adults, who listen to an astonishing 21 hours of radio every week.

What has changed is what they are listening to, with listeners able to choose stations based on strength of the brand and the content rather than just what they happen to be able to pick up on their analogue radio.

For example:

6 Music now has more listeners (just) than BBC Radio 3. It does not need an analogue outlet to be successful;

Absolute 80s has 70% of the reach of the main Absolute Radio – no analogue;

Kisstory, on-air for around a year, is bigger than Planet Rock (age of station: 15);

Eagle Radio’s been on DAB for a couple of quarters and it’s already generating 15% of its hours from that platform.

The radio industry has been well and truly freed from the constraints of its FM shackles and local DAB roll out and the D2 national multiplex will open these opportunities further, giving listeners more choice – including over 200 community radio stations.

But the world is changing and radio faces threats on a number of fronts.

The impact of iTunes, the emergence of Spotify, Rdio and Last FM has so far been at the expense of CDs whose sales continue to decline, but they are also competitors for radio, and radio does need to continue to differentiate itself to remain attractive to listeners.

I was very interested in what Tim Cook – CEO of Apple – said recently about why Apple acquired Beats Music.

He said:

One night, all of a sudden it dawns on me that when I listen to Beat Music for a while, I feel completely different. And the reason is: they recognised that human curation was important in the subscription service. The sequence of songs that you listen to affects how you feel.

Of course, he is really talking about radio (though he might not know it) and I think his comments are very insightful.

For it is clearly not enough to ask for credit card numbers and get access to 12 million songs – there needs to be more input around curation of music, playlists and genres and linking this to human presenters with stories to tell.

It’s that magic which keeps listeners coming back, as well as radio’s ability to rethink itself and stay relevant and interesting. And add value to the listening experience for listeners:

Take the BBC Radio 3 Brahms series which is focusing on different and lesser known works and obscure recordings – increasing the public’s enjoyment and understanding;

Classic FM did something similar with their John Elliot-Gardiner series;

Or Beatdown on XFM with Scroobius Pip – which won the Radio Academy award for specialist music and which pushes the boundaries of radio as a medium;

Or Ben Mynott’s Fluidnation on Chill which finds and introduces experimental down tempo music to a weekly audience of 75,000 people;

Or Eagle FM’s recent Surry Heroes Event – linking local artists, music, community and achievement together with radio to create something really inspiring;

There are countless other examples from local and national stations.

So radio’s real strength is the human touch, the live presenter, the active curation of content, the engaging and entertaining formats along with trustworthy news and information and a wide choice of genres.

But there are challenges.

The first one is engagement with young people – on first glance the figures in Ofcom’s Communications Market Report look troubling, with a fall in listening for the 15-24 age group from 18.7 hours in 2007 to 15.5 hours in 2013.

But when asked about brands – Kiss, Capital XTRA or 6 Music – awareness levels are extraordinarily high and this is reflected in the reach these stations have achieved.

So is the decline in listening hours because of lack of engagement in radio or because of the way young people consume media through smartphones, the internet and through social media?

I was really interested in the analysis that Matt Deegan did recently on the links between heavy Twitter usage, heavy Facebook usage and reach based on RAJAR data.

According to his analysis 36% of Kisstory listeners, 32% of 1Xtra listeners and 29% Capital XTRA (London) listeners described themselves as heavy Twitter users.

The figures were even higher for Facebook.

Now younger people are the heaviest users of social media and stations like this are targeted to attract younger audiences.

But there appears to be more to it than just an interesting correlation. It suggests a multiplatform approach and a strong social media presence is essential for radio to increase reach and engagement with new audiences.

Something else that would help is making it easier to access radio on smart phones.

I am pleased the BBC is working with a coalition of global broadcasters which includes UK commercial radio and the EBU to research and develop ‘hybrid’ radio – a combination of internet and broadcast radio – for use in mobile phones.

New research published today by the BBC shows the majority of smartphone users want radio in their devices but have concerns around mobile data costs, battery use and reception issues when using streamed audio services.

Nearly two thirds of the mobile phone owners surveyed said that hybrid radio could be a deciding factor when faced with a choice between phones with similar specs.

They particularly valued the strengths of broadcast radio – free-to-receive, robust reception and reliability, as well as better reception coverage, longer battery life and reduced mobile data costs.

I very much welcome the Universal Smartphone Radio Project and hope the BBC build on the good work so far by continuing to support this important project.

The second issue – for commercial radio – is about realising value.

Although ad revenues have recovered since the recession, national advertising overall remains flat, though there is growth in local advertising.

The reality is that radio has struggled to get advertisers to pay– in spite of the very clear benefits of radio advertising.

The fact is that the price of radio advertising has not risen in line with inflation and it remains the biggest bargain in media today, particularly for local and medium sized companies that should be investing more in advertising to grow their markets.

I know the RAB does great work here but the industry needs get to a position where the inclusion of radio advertising in company’s campaigns becomes a no brainer.

The whole industry – including the BBC – will need to grasp the changes that big data will bring to the way in which Radio measures audiences and impacts in a way that brings more advertising.

The third of the key challenges I want to mention is about connected cars. When I arrived in office in 2010, new car installation of DAB as standard was less than 5% and in car digital listening was well almost negligible.

When you consider the future of digital radio then cars are an absolutely vital area.

The car is where 22% of radio listening occurs and digital radio in car is a much better listening experience than analogue.

And thanks to the work of Digital Radio UK and great support from the vehicle manufacturers and their trade association the SMMT.

The headline is that in September 2014 there was a record 246,000 cars fitted with digital radio as standard – which is 58% of all new car registrations.

This compares with September 2013 when 167,000 cars were fitted with digital radio as standard, which was equivalent to 42% of new car registrations.

Encouragingly new commercial vehicles also saw a strong increase with digital radio as standard. Year on year the percentage went from 1% in September 2013 to 12% in September 2014 and the numbers of commercial vehicles with digital radio increased almost 10 fold.

So good and continuing progress.

But there is a new challenge for the radio industry in the form of new connected cars.

I am sure you are all aware of Apple, Google and Samsung’s move in to the car and as more cars are connected to the internet then more on-demand, streaming services will be available.

There is of course the risk that radio, despite its on-going popularity among drivers, becomes less prominent in the car and harder to find on the digital dashboard.

Radio will need fight to maintain its prominence on the digital dashboards of the future – this will require leading broadcasters, content providers and tech companies to work together.

We have an interest here because of the vital role in-car radio still plays with traffic and travel information and in emergencies.

I will therefore convene a “Digital Dashboard summit” early next year to better understand how radio and audio in connected cars will evolve and to help ensure that the increase in connected car functionality is an addition to, rather than at the expense of, consumers.

My final challenge relates to the long-term migration of radio to Digital.

As you know I have championed this since 2010. In my view digital is inevitable, and vital for the industry’s health and well-being.

The previous Government introduced the legislation and set the targets and criteria for a future switchover.

When we came into office we established the Digital Radio Action Plan to look at what was needed for a future switchover and:

To sort out DAB coverage once and for all;

Bring the car industry to a point where it would invest in DAB;

Set minimum standards of performance for radio receivers in tandem with improved coverage and help reassure consumers;

Find solutions for smaller stations who want to be able to broadcast on the DAB platform and have alternatives to the local DAB tier.
Last December at the Go Digital conference I said it was too early to set a date for a future radio switchover.

We needed to see the majority of listening move to digital and have DAB coverage close to FM equivalence before we will be ready to be talking about switchover dates.

But what I did announce is a series of important measures that should help us achieve those criteria, potentially in the next few years.

On national DAB coverage the BBC have announced they are building 162 additional digital transmitters to take National coverage from 93% to 97%.

That programme is well underway with 80 new digital transmitters rolled out and has just reached the 95% mark.

We continue to see the expansion of local DAB multiplexes – in the last 18 months we have seen 12 licensed but unlaunched local DAB multiplexes finally come to life and on air delivering highly valued local BBC and commercial radio stations.

The first was in Oxford, the most recent in Somerset and the next is in North Yorkshire.

In parallel to this DCMS and Ofcom have been working with the BBC and the local commercial multiplex operators to develop a plan that will expand local DAB coverage from 72% to around 90% of UK homes (around 4 million extra).

I am pleased to say the major parties have agreed the principles of the local DAB coverage plan. To be clear, following intense negotiations, the funding principles and final price for the building of around 200 new local digital transmitters and the upgrade of around 50 sites have been agreed.

The “moggies” as we have described the multiplex operators collectively are almost there and subject to final agreements which we anticipate will be concluded in the next couple of weeks, the main works are due to start next March finishing mid-2016.

This programme – as I announced in December – will be supported by DCMS funding, reflecting the wider benefits of extending digital coverage for local commercial and BBC services and in helping us reach the switchover coverage criteria.

We are also allowing local Multiplex licences to be extended to 2030 as we believe this is necessary to give the BBC and multiplex operators certainty and secure the platform’s future.

Last December, I also announced that we would fund a new programme of work by Ofcom to develop a low-cost solution for small local stations to get onto DAB.

I am delighted that Ofcom are making a progress on this development and that Ofcom announced at TechCon on Monday that it will shortly be consulting on proposals to issue licences for some trial small-scale multiplexes, which will take place next year.

This is the first major step towards providing small-scale radio stations, both community and commercial, with a potential route to DAB.

Finally I announced that DRUK would be taking a lead on the launch of the digital radio tick mark scheme working with manufacturers and retailers.

This is important as it will raise the specification standard of digital radios on sale which will provide consumers with reassurance when making purchasing decisions and a better listening experience.

The majority of manufacturers have had their products tested and approved to use the tick mark and you will see these products beginning to arrive in stores before Christmas.

I am also delighted to see that the digital radio tick mark will appear on the envelopes of the 40 million car tax reminders DVLA are sending to motorists. The disc may be gone but the tick mark has arrived.

So we are seeing progress on a number of fronts but I think radio needs to stay focused on supporting the transition to digital radio, building on the work carried out under the Digital Radio Action Plan and shifting away from an analogue age which is moving into the past.

Oh – one final thing.

In my speech last December – I said we would start to look again at deregulation.

Ofcom has started its review of Music Formats. I know that there are different views here following Ofcom’s call for inputs earlier this year. Ofcom needs to ensure that any changes take account of the needs of all those affected, including listeners.

But there is a more pressing issue.

The announcement on digital radio last December means that many licences which benefitted from the Digital Economy Act’s provisions for a further and final 7 year renewal will begin to expire before a switchover takes place.

This affects the three national analogue licences – Classic FM, Absolute and Talksport – and around 60 local licences before 2020.

We have looked carefully at the issue and have concluded that there are benefits to commercial radio from having a period of stability and not having to re-compete for licences which may only last for a couple of years up the point where switchover is likely to take place.

For that reason I can say that we are planning to consult shortly on changes to further extend the durations of analogue radio licences that have received the second and final roll overs and which will start to expire from 2017.

This consultation will cover both national and local analogue licences.

Our objective will be to carry this out quickly in order to give us the option of bringing in the necessary changes before the end of March next year, subject to sufficient Parliamentary time being available.

So in conclusion, I don’t doubt that the entrepreneurial spirit that has underpinned the radio industry’s success will continue to serve the sector well, allowing commercial radio to rise to the challenges which I have described.

Momentum continues to be made towards a digital future through greater coverage, the work of the car industry, progress on small scale DAB and by other measures to support radio’s transition. This is a transition we strongly support.

The speech made by Ed Vaizey, the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 3 July 2014.

Good afternoon everyone.

I’m really pleased to be here, and to see so many of you getting together to talk about the great survivor of the media world. Year after year, decade after decade, we’re told that the new kid on the block is going to come along and make the venerable old institution obsolete. Yet year after year, decade after decade, it continues.

But enough about Torin Douglas… Let’s talk about radio!

Television – that was going to sound the death knell for the wireless. By 1979 Buggles were even singing about how video had killed the radio star.

And the internet – well that was definitely going to be the end of radio. Why listen to someone else’s musical choices when you can simply download your own? Five years ago the influential TechCrunch website even ran a headline that proclaimed “Commercial radio is dead”.

Yet, in 2014, here we are. British adults consume around a billion hours of radio each week. If one person were to sit down and try and listen to that much programming, it would take them more than 100,000 years. Half of the world’s digital radio consumer sales take place in the UK. Commercial radio alone reaches over 34 million people every week. Last year the sector generated revenues of almost half a billion pounds. Not bad for a medium that was declared dead just five years ago.

Britain continues to be a nation of audiophiles. Despite the ever-increasing competition for people’s time and the growing range of online providers, broadcast radio continues to thrive in the digital age.

The key to this success is, of course, the quality of content. In an age where anyone with a broadband connection can instantly create their own music station, broadcasters have to have something distinctive to offer.

Innovative independent production companies have a huge role to play in delivering that, and I was really pleased to see so many UK indies getting the plaudits they richly deserve at last month’s New York Festivals Radio Awards.

British and Irish indies scooped a total of 40 Gold, Silver and Bronze awards, with the cherry on the cake being the Grand Award for TBI Media and Snappin’ Turtle. It’s been quite a year for TBI, who also helped Absolute Radio win a Bronze Radio Academy award for ‘The Manuscript’, a programme that was funded fully by its sponsor and broke new ground for the network.

Another of Absolute’s Gold awards was shared with independent producer Avalon, which just goes to show what can be achieved when different parts of the creative industries work together. And quality content doesn’t just bring awards – it also brings greater audiences and, with them, greater advertising revenues.

Competition for audiences may be fiercer than ever, but indies and broadcasters are showing the industry that it doesn’t have to be a race to the bottom. I sincerely hope this quest for quality continues, providing compelling entertainment and experiences for listeners and successful, innovative campaigns that really chime with advertisers.

Of course, in 2014, WHAT you broadcast isn’t the only thing that matters. Constantly evolving technology means that HOW you broadcast is also more important than ever. I’ll come to DAB and DAB+ in a moment, but first I want to address an issue that I know many of you are concerned about.

In December, I said that it was not yet time to announce dates for a final switchover to digital radio but that we fully supported the long-term transition to a digital future. However, I am very much aware that FM and AM licences rolled over under the 2010 Digital Economy Act will start to come up for renewal at the end of 2017, and that Ofcom has no power to extend them further.

I am sympathetic to this issue and appreciate the long-term worries it is causing the sector. I can assure you that this is something that is very much on my radar. I have asked my officials to make this issue a priority over the coming months and plan to say more on this question towards the end of the year.

I still want to keep up momentum on digital and have been working closely with Ford Ennals and having monthly progress meetings. So for example, my department has given OFCOM £500,000 for the Small-Scale DAB programme. This will test simple, cost-effective, small-scale applications of DAB. I want to see them deliver new ways to provide small commercial stations with a route to DAB.

Last month OFCOM held its first stakeholder event to discuss this important issue, and I was pleased to hear that it was extremely well attended. OFCOM has made it clear that the success – or otherwise – of this project will ultimately be dependent on gaining industry participation, so I’d like to take this opportunity to really encourage the sector to support this.

And that’s not all. I’m sure you all saw the announcement on Tuesday this week that OFCOM has advertised the licence for the second national commercial multiplex, D2. This is going to double the amount of national capacity available to commercial radio, creating more capacity for new national services. It will also open the way to the first DAB+ services.

While it’s important that we maximise the number of digital stations out there and ensure local stations have access to DAB, there is still work to do on the coverage of existing services.

Fortunately, I have good news on the coverage front. Thanks to the commitment of the Government, the BBC and commercial radio, another 4.3 million households will be able to tune in to DAB by end of 2016. That’ll take the coverage from 72 per cent of homes to around 90 per cent – and also bring almost 6,000 miles of roads under the DAB umbrella I hope that final details the plans will be announced in the next few weeks.

There’s good news in terms of new car conversion – one of key successes of the Digital Radio Action Plan. Fifty five per cent of new cars sold in April had digital radios fitted as standard, up from just five per cent four years earlier. That’s incredible progress but obviously there is still much more to do, especially in the aftermarket.

I recognise that half the battle is in making motorists aware of the existence and benefits of digital. That’s why, late last year, I announced plans to allow Digital Radio UK to use DVLA and DVSA communications to promote the digital message to drivers.

I’m pleased to say that, from November, we’ll start to see the fruits of this arrangement when DRUK’s digital radio tick mark is included on vehicle tax reminders. It may sound like a small step, but when you bear in mind that those reminders are, at some point in the year, sent to all vehicle owners in the UK – that’s 40 million people – it’s a great way of getting our message across.

That’s not the only place you’ll be seeing the tick mark. On the first of June, applications opened for domestic radio manufacturers who want to be part of the scheme, and Pure has already announced that it will be carried across its entire digital product range from later this year.

That’s the future. In the short-term there’s still plenty to look forward to. There’s an amazing summer of sport to enjoy, with the Tour de France, the Commonwealth Games, the tail end of Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix.

We’re in the midst of the music festival season, as the number of muddy music fans trooping back home earlier this week showed. And up and down the country, local fetes, festivals and fireworks will be bringing hundreds of thousands of people together to celebrate what it means to be British.

Throughout all this activity it will be local and national commercial radio stations, from Talk Sport to Jack FM my local station in Oxford that are keeping people entertained and informed, ensuring nobody misses a thing.

And we should not forget the fantastic work done by stations up and down the country – something which was highlighted in the Radio Centre Action Stations publication – whether the amount of locally made programming produced or the community work with almost £20 million for charity in the past year

I don’t doubt that the entrepreneurial spirit that has underpinned this success will continue to serve the sector well, allowing commercial radio to rise to the challenges presented by digital technology and to seize the opportunities it offers.

Be in no doubt momentum continues to be made toward digital through greater coverage, the work of the car industry, the announcement on D2 and progress on small scale DAB. We are still working toward a digital future.

Have a great conference.

The speech made by Ed Vaizey, the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 23 June 2014.

Good morning everyone. Welcome to the UK, welcome to London and welcome ICANN 50.

It’s hard to believe that in the 15 years since ICANN first met in Singapore, this event has never taken place in the UK. Britain is a world leader in digital technology. The internet economy is already responsible for more than eight per cent of UK GDP – that’s a greater share than in any other G20 country.

Much of this success is down to the innovative spirit of British technology pioneers. But Government has also played its part. We’re on track to deliver superfast broadband to 95 per cent of the country by 2017, giving hi-tech and traditional businesses the infrastructure they need to access global markets. We’ve created tax relief of up to 225 per cent for research and development.

The government is leading by example – we’re aiming to make all government services digital by default. You can already go online to apply for everything from a driving licence to permission for burial at sea!

It all helps to explain why the UK is the highest-ranked G20 country in the Global Innovation Index.

But it’s not the only reason why it’s fitting that ICANN’s 50th meeting is taking place in London. About 10 miles to the South West of where we are today lies the childhood home of Tim Berners Lee, the Great British brain behind the creation, a quarter of a century ago, of the world wide web.

Head about 10 miles to East and you’ll find the Olympic Stadium, where Sir Tim memorably tweeted to the world during the 2012 Opening Ceremony. His message – “This is for everyone” – was a fitting description not just of the Games, but also of the web and the internet. And, just as importantly for today’s discussion, for how the UK believes the internet should be governed.

The system of governance we have in place now has by any measure been successful in creating the opportunity for economic growth and intellectual freedom. That includes ICANN of course in the performance of its role in coordinating and developing the domain name system so that it serves the global community. The current review of ICANN accountability is an important step therefore.

And that links to the IANA function which has performed so well under the existing arrangements under contract to the US government that the average Internet user might well wonder what we are talking about. We often talk about the “stewardship” of the IANA function, and I always think it’s the perfect way of describing the role. It’s not about regulation or ownership. It’s not about one country controlling the internet or dictating its terms. It’s about nurturing it, supporting it, creating the environment in which it can develop and grow so that it can safely be handed on to the next generation.

But the internet is constantly evolving and the way it is stewarded has to evolve too. That’s why the UK government strongly supports the moves by the US to “let go” of the IANA function. It’s a huge step forward in making this global resource a truly global enterprise. And it’s a move that has a symbolic mirror in the very make-up of ICANN, which has shifted from being a US-based and US-dominated organisation to one that is seen as much more international.

Of course, with such a vital role to play, it’s absolutely imperative that the alternative model we move to is maintains the security, stability and resilience that underpins the global domain name system. That it’s capable not just of doing the job as well as the old way, but of doing it better. And, above all, that it’s capable of adapting and coping with the next wave of internet-enabled devices, the so-called internet of things. That is why as we engage with this final phase of privatisation of the domain name system, we must be cautious and not rush to change the current arrangements.

This is only going to happen if the system continues to evolve and develop organically with the full involvement and input of all interested parties worldwide. And that can only happen if the act of stewardship continues to be carried out in a collaborative, bottom-up way. In a spirit of global co-operation rather than state-centred regulation.

Some say this can’t work, that such a monumental task can only be undertaken at a governmental or supranational level. But look at how well the ICANN model has worked so far. In less than 20 years the internet has revolutionised the way the world works, talks and studies. And this explosive growth wasn’t managed by governments, it was driven by you.

Just look at the principles that were agreed at the Global Multistakeholder Meeting on The Future of Internet Governance – NETMundial. They weren’t created by politicians, or by the UN or by anonymous men in shadowy rooms. They were created in the open by the community that supports and curates the internet, the people without whom life online would be simply impossible. The people who have the best possible grasp of both the challenges facing the internet and the means required to tackle them. Or to put it another way: the people in this room.

The principles developed at NETMundial are as robust as they are simple. Internet governance should be built on a fully inclusive, multi-stakeholder process, ensuring the meaningful and accountable participation of everyone involved. Decisions should be made in a bottom-up, open, participative, consensus-driven way. There should be a suitable level of accountability, with mechanisms for checks and balances as well as for review and redress. Anyone affected by an internet governance process should be able to participate in that process.

I’m proud to say that the UK government wholeheartedly supports these principles as a basis for the global internet governance framework.

Again, I know that some don’t share this view. But what is the alternative? Top-down, centralised decision-making. A bureaucratic world-wide web of red tape. The internet being run not by the people who make it work on a daily basis but by horse-trading politicians behind closed doors.

Just imagine an internet that relied on governments agreeing on things! Internet governance has to match the rapid pace of change experienced by the internet itself. But let’s face it, “Rapid change” and “inter-governmental agreement” are not concepts that generally go well together.

That is why I was so keen to host a high-level meeting of governments here today. We are not here to make decisions on your behalf. We are here to talk about the ideas you have developed. We are here to learn more about ICANN, and for you to learn more about us.

So governments have a role in internet governance, just as the technical, civil and academic communities do. And we also have responsibilities.

Governments have to act proportionately in cyberspace, empowering users of the internet by promoting and safeguarding freedom of expression, cultural diversity, gender equality, information, education and skills.

We have to ensure that domestic legal frameworks are fair and consistent by ensuring transparency of legal process and accountability for government decisions and that the law applies equally online as it does offline. They have to provide equitable civil processes for dispute resolution so that citizens can enjoy due legal process and can enforce their rights.

And as we’ve seen in the UK, governments have to establish and promote a robust global internet infrastructure that provides equitable access for all, promotes economic development and job creation, and allows more people to enjoy a better quality of life.

What governments shouldn’t be doing is attempting to manage how the internet is run. As Fadi Chehade has said, “The Internet is the Greatest Public Gift”. It doesn’t belong to anyone, it isn’t controlled by anyone. The internet itself has endured precisely because it is bigger than any one country.

ICANN 50 is taking place at a critical moment in discussions about the future course of internet governance. I have already referred to NETmundial meeting in Sao Paulo – the key outcomes of which will be discussed at this meeting.

The recommendations for strengthening the global Internet Governance Forum should feed directly into the 9th IGF in Istanbul in September. Following closely on from the IGF, the International Telecommunication Union – the ITU – will have the opportunity to consider its role in standards and capacity building at the Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, South Korea, in October and November.

All these processes and linkages are against the backdrop of the WSIS+10 review by the UN General Assembly. The outcomes of the 2005 Tunis summit, which embedded the multi-stakeholder approach in the Internet governance eco-system, have been implemented very well. You only need to look at the highly detailed evaluations produced by UNESCO last year and the recent ITU High Level Event to see that.

So it makes sense for next year’s final stage of the UN review process to also be undertaken with the active participation of representatives from all over the world.

We must explore in these fora how we can encourage alliances and active collaboration among stakeholder constituencies and sources of expertise.

A key objective must be to strengthen existing mechanisms and processes, such as the Internet Governance Forum, which we in the UK have always supported.

I hope that, in future, we will see an IGF whose outcomes are more immediate, visible and tangible, and that there will be stronger links between the main IGF and its many regional and national multi-stakeholder IGFs and with other entities in the Internet eco-system.

Achieving this will help with what has to be our number one goal – bringing the next billion people from developing countries into the global digital economy, with all the social and economic benefits that entails.

Earlier this year the World Wide Web celebrated its 25th birthday, 25 years of unparalleled expansion, economic growth and social good. ICANN is key to ensuring that this success continues for the next 25 years.

Sir Tim Berners Lee said “this is for everyone”. It’s up to us to make sure it stays that way.

The speech made by Ed Vaizey, the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 20 May 2014.

Good morning everyone. It’s great to be back at the DTG Summit and it’s great to start the day with so many familiar and friendly faces.

As you may have seen on the way in, this lovely modern building isn’t just a conference centre. It’s also home to one of Steve’s many employers, the Guardian. It’s a newspaper that, in recent years, hasn’t been shy about embracing new technology. But that’s not always been the case.

Back in 1928 its editor, the legendary CP Scott, was somewhat dismissive of a piece of an invention being demonstrated by a Scotsman named John Logie Baird. “Television?” he said. “The word is half Greek and half Latin. No good will come of it.”

Eighty-six years later I think we can all agree that he somewhat underestimated the medium’s potential.

That’s not a mistake anyone in this room could ever be accused of making. For nearly two decades the Digital Television Group has been central to the distribution of TV in the UK, maintaining the technical specification for Freeview and supporting the development of YouView, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media and many others.

The FITT

And of course there’s the Future of Innovation in Television Technology Taskforce. I had the pleasure of launching FITT in September 2012, and this morning I have the honour of presenting its much-anticipated findings. But before I do, it’s worth rewinding 18 months and reminding ourselves why the taskforce was needed.

The Digital Switchover was about to be completed, and traditional distinctions between linear television and the internet were being eroded. And this wasn’t just something that affected early adopters. Everyone with a digital TV and a broadband connection was in on it.

With the pace of change accelerating, the time was right to think about not only what the future of television would look like, but what we could do, collectively, to shape it.

The biggest question we asked of the taskforce was to determine what specific measures are needed to ensure the UK retains its world-leading role in television technology.

I can’t overstate how important this is. The UK’s creative industries are worth more than £70 billion to our national economy, and television is a key part of that. As well as its direct benefits, a thriving television industry also supports other vital sectors – music, film, advertising – in a way no other sub-sector does.

If the UK is going to maintain its leadership in this field, we have to be properly prepared for the new technologies and new challenges that are coming thick and fast.

For example, there’s the forthcoming international discussions and decisions on future television use of 700MHz spectrum. Our primary objectives here are:

firstly, to make sure that the core structure of the DTT platform are maintained as part of any transition and that interference issues are fully mitigated

secondly, to enable spectrum cleared through this process to be available to Mobile Operators when they need it in line with releases across Europe and in other international markets.

Broadcasters will – quite rightly – expect assurances on a range of issues. Many of these will be dependent on the work we are doing with Ofcom and which will inform future decisions.

The next stage of that work is Ofcom’s consultation on 700 MHz clearance, which is due before the summer. I’m sure you’ll all take the opportunity to tell them exactly what you think!

But I also hope that broadcasters will view this as an opportunity for bold thinking. I would encourage them accelerate thinking on the feasibility of a longer-term move to the new DVB-T2 transmission with MPEG4 or even make the jump to the new HEVC compression standard.

Although a migration to DVB T2 would be outside the scope of a future 700MHz clearance – a coordinated transition would – in my view – greatly enhance the longevity of the platform and combine spectrum efficiency with benefits for consumers in terms of the enhancement of universal services and maintaining platform choice.

The Report’s Findings

All this means that the FITT report has been produced in a climate of intense change, a period in which the old certainties are up in the air. But the report shows that the most important factor in the equation remains unshaken – people still like watching TV!

While the technology behind the screen is constantly shifting, the core experience of watching it isn’t. Viewers still want to share stories and experiences that play to their sense of identity, as an individual, as a family, as a nation. Often as a combination of all three. This is unlikely to change.

Likewise, there is still demand to consume content that is culturally relevant as well as compelling. But what’s interesting is that our definition of what is relevant to us as individuals has grown as a result of being exposed to more and more choice.

Who would have thought, for example, that there would be such a large market for Scandinavian noir? That millions would be gripped by a tent full of amateur bakers? Or that Channel 4, with Gogglebox, could get people watching a TV programme about people watching a TV programme – and win a BAFTA for it!

This exchange of content and ideas runs both ways internationally. Britain may be nation of Borgen fans, but from Dr Who to Downton Abbey, UK television exports are booming. UK actors and production people are in high demand. And our production companies, including our independent producers, have taken full advantage of this global profile. Recent examples include the Anglo-Sino Film Co-Production Agreement and the memorandum signed between Pact and the Chinese State Broadcaster, CCTV.

UK content is easy to find, consume and share, both at home and around the world. Maintaining this must remain a commercial imperative.

This increased connectivity doesn’t just affect producers. As the report shows, the majority of viewers are now creating and becoming part of a much larger phenomenon – that of ‘Big Data’. The creation and collection of detailed information on viewing habits has helped to change the way consumers are studied. We’re moving away from simple demographics, cohorts and ages and closer to a household and individual level. This brings with it great opportunities to exploit, but also many risks to consider and fears to address.

Focussing on the positives, the FITT report puts forward the interesting theory that a combination of big data, a mature consumer electronics market attuned to consumer needs, and consumer appetite for new applications and services will drive real convergence.

This is because there is a clear reason for the various parts of the value chain to cooperate at the level of the consumer. The report suggests the upside here is a massive opportunity for innovation in the UK – for example through better integration between broadcasters and social networks. The downside, of course, is that others have also spotted the opportunity and UK companies will need to be agile to take full advantage!

Finally, the FITT report predicts that the TV screen itself will change, completing its transition from a means of delivering content to an essential tool for displaying and engaging through services and applications. Advances in terms of picture and sound quality will also continue to come through.

And there will be increased connectivity via TV sets, with more viewers taking advantage of broadband infrastructure able to carry all the audio visual content viewers could want. The main screen will be at the centre of the domestic data universe, orbited by smartphones, tablets and a range of faster devices.

What is surprising – on first glance – is the prediction that the evolution of these devices will result in an increase in linear viewing.

Research last year found that if all households had the ability to record TV programmes, they would expect the level of playback to settle at around 15 to 20 per cent, with most of the emerging demand for on-demand content coming at the expense of recorded programming.

But the FITT report goes further. It suggests that the continued growth in tablets and smartphone sales will continue to enhance the “must-watch experience”, with what’s happening on television driving what is important and relevant to social media. Don’t agree? Just look at Twitter’s trending topics during Britain’s Got Talent and Strictly – or try to scroll through your Facebook timeline right now without seeing any spoilers from last night’s Game of Thrones!

The result is a predicted increase in linear viewing despite the in-roads made by providers such as Netflix and Amazon.

It may initially seem counterintuitive, but in my experience that usually means there must be something worth thinking about!

FITT Report Recommendations

The FITT report contains a lot of insights into the future of television, a lot of ideas about how things are going to look in future. But most importantly, it also makes a number of key recommendations, recommendations aimed at ensuring the UK stays at the pinnacle of the TV world for many years to come.

It promotes a new initiative – the Next Generation of TV Planning Programme – to develop an evolving plan that will look at longer-term solutions encompassing all relevant technologies, and taking account of 700MHz clearance.

It makes important recommendations on how further detailed work and collaboration can open the way to using big data – similar to the £42 million Government investment in the Alan Turing Institute.

It calls on the industry to collaborate on cross-platform promotion of UK-developed apps.

It makes interesting suggestions about the talent and skills we need to develop in order to maintain our position in the world.

And it also has some requests of the government. The report calls for greater certainty for the TV sector in terms of platform competition, spectrum availability and the continued accessibility of free-to-air public service content.

And it makes a case for government incentives that will allow the development of a “UK Creative Cloud”, a shared resource that will meet the current and future computing demands facing our sector.

On behalf of the Government, I can tell you that we will certainly be taking careful note of these recommendations, and will work very closely with the proposed Next Generation of TV Planning Programme.

Next Steps

The FITT has produced a great report, one packed with insights and ideas. But I don’t want you to think that its publication of marks the end of the process. It’s only the latest stage. In TV terms, it’s the cliffhanger conclusion of the pilot episode, rather than the final scene in the farewell season.

It’s vital that we keep this dialogue going. The success of our television sector shows what is possible when industries devise their own solutions to problems, and organisations like the DTG have a decisive role to play in making that happen.

Mobile Video Alliance

With this in mind, I’m delighted to be able to announce that the DTG is to launch the Mobile Video Alliance.

Created in association with mobile network operator EE and the global interconnection and data centre company Equinix, the Mobile Video Alliance will bring together stakeholders from right along the mobile video value chain, helping them to discuss their requirements, identify challenges and share opportunities.

It will advocate and develop a mobile video ecosystem to support the delivery of audio-visual content to mobile devices, something critical to the future both of broadcasting and of mobile networks.

The idea and aim of the Mobile Video Alliance is simple. Develop and promote technologies that harmonise the delivery of video to mobile devices, providing a consistent, reliable and enjoyable user experience with better economy for everyone involved.

Dynamic collaborations like this have a strong track record within the TV sector. I will follow the work of the Mobile Video Alliance very closely, and wish every involved all the best for the future.

Conclusion

Television has come a long way since CP Scott wrote it off all those years ago, but big issues and challenges remain. The very nature of constantly evolving technology means this will always be the case. Innovative, collaborative solutions will always be required.

And that’s not something the Government can deliver on our own. It’s been said that any Government, in isolation, will nearly always make bad decisions, so it’s up to you to tell us what’s happening and what you need. It’s up to you to think big and think different, especially on the major strategic issues.

This summit is an opportunity to do just that. So make the most of the opportunities it presents. Take the time to read through the FITT report, share your ideas and problems, and use today to foster the collaboration on which the UK’s television industry relies.

Thanks again to everyone involved in the Future of Innovation in Television Task Force. Thanks to the DTG for inviting me along to speak today. And thanks to all of you for your continued dedication to the UK television industry.

Have a great conference.