Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

moved Amendment No. 25: 25: Clause 5, page 4, line 40, at end insert ““, whether by digital terrestrial, digital satellite, digital cable or any other platform and regardless of provider”” The noble Lord said: This amendment makes clear that no preference is to be given to any particular type of platform and that full information on all providers and facilities will be made available. This relates to the earlier comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones. It is a permissive amendment in that it does not restrict or prescribe the use of any particular platform in any particular concentration. I note that, when colleagues in another place sought to amend the Bill in the same vein, the Minister rejected their amendment on the basis that altering the definition of the help scheme would not contribute to digital switchover in the wider context. The Minister in another place made it clear that his resistance to the amendment was because: "““It is neither workable nor practicable to amend the definition by placing substantive conditions on the way in which the scheme operates””.—[Official Report, Commons Standing Committee, 16/01/07; col. 40.]" In the light of that, Amendment No. 25 seeks to amend the Bill in terms of the wider definition of digital switchover. The amendment would serve to underpin the Government’s commitment to platform neutrality, as set out in the help scheme document published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and deposited in the Library before Christmas. This is an important amendment. The wide choice of digital television platforms is a great asset to broadcasting and represents a welcome departure from just one analogue spectrum. It is important that information on all providers is widely distributed so that those who the Bill is trying to assist are able to choose what they want in the full knowledge of what is available. I doubt that outside this Committee many people would be able to list all the providers available—from the well known Freeview, as provided on the digital terrestrial television platform, to lesser-known providers such as Homechoice on the digital subscriber line and the various operators on Sky and cable. The amendment will send out a message to whoever runs the digital help scheme that platform neutrality is properly endorsed by the Government. I beg to move.