My Lords, I rise to speak to my Amendment 32, and I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone, for her support and for adding her name. I draw your Lordships’ attention to my interest in the register as a board member of Creative Scotland.
My Amendment 32 seeks to protect the provision of digital terrestrial television—DTT. As the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, outlined, the current provision of DTT is due to run out in 2034. Without this amendment, we could see a decline in the universality of free-to-air public service broadcasting and the further exclusion of vulnerable parts of our population who are already digitally excluded. This amendment safeguards the long-term future of these services to ensure that broadcast TV and radio that is free at the point of consumption will continue to be available across the UK.
The recent World Radiocommunication Conference in Dubai secured digital terrestrial television’s place as the exclusive primary service in the crucial 470 to 694 megahertz frequency band across ITU region 1. This has secured reliable access to the radio frequency spectrum and regulatory conditions needed to deliver broadcast services such as DTT across the UK, and it solidifies their central role in the broadcasting landscape. However, I note that a further debate on spectrum use and future needs is scheduled for 2031, meaning that the call for certainty to 2040 and beyond is even more vital.
Let me be clear that I am not trying to act against the tide of progress towards IP delivery of television. However, I have spent far too much time looking at digital exclusion—most recently as a member of the Communications and Digital Committee of your Lordships’ House—not to understand the fatal flaws in believing that broadband provision will be the universal answer within 10 years. Our committee’s recent Digital Exclusion report noted that, even if rollout continues across the UK, take-up would not necessarily follow. Social broadband tariffs are still expensive; they are an additional monthly cost for the financially vulnerable—often with half the speed—and far too many people who could benefit from them do not even know that they exist.
Living in Scotland, I appreciate the fragility of the broadband network: how easily it is adversely affected by the weather and how so many parts of the country do not receive the speeds that are advertised by the providers. In fact, just this afternoon, I picked up on an email from a colleague from Alzheimer Scotland who has just done a piece of work on the impact on the elderly and vulnerable of BT moving all the telephone lines to digital. It is a shocking piece of work, looking at how this group has been left behind and how the telecom companies’ assurances about addressing the needs of vulnerable people have not been fully acted on.
A recent study by EY predicted that, regardless of rollout, more than 5.5 million properties in the UK will not have a high-speed broadband subscription in 2040. In contrast, DTT is free if you pay your licence fee.
Yet, currently, these services, which the Digital Poverty Alliance describes as a “lifeline”, have no guarantee of a secure future. The Ofcom Online Nation report confirms that 6% of UK adults lack an internet connection at home. This is higher in Wales and Scotland, higher among older audiences—20% of people over 65 do not have an internet connection at home—and higher among people with disability, 11% of whom do not have one. As things stand, these populations face the threat of terrestrial TV being switched off forever within a decade, and many of the most vulnerable and excluded are in danger of being left further isolated.
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There are many examples of different technologies coexisting alongside one another and providing customers with choice on how they access services. The e-book did not mean the end of the paperback. But perhaps the best example for today is the need to retain cash as a means of payment. As the number of card and digital payments rose, there was a risk, as banks closed cash machines, that cash could disappear, which would disproportionately hurt those who relied on cash, including vulnerable groups such as the elderly and those on lower incomes. The Government stepped in to provide legal guarantees to protect access to cash, in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. The case for protecting DTT is even stronger, as DTT accounts for about 43% of broadcast TV viewing, whereas cash represented only about 14% of payments in 2022.
Some 90% of the Great British public want a universal free-to-air broadcast service to continue. While I can understand that the PSBs are mindful of future cost burdens, even they appreciate, as ITV’s briefing for today’s debate says:
“We need to make sure that PSBs can continue to make their services universally available, that the millions of viewers who still rely on DTT are not disenfranchised”.
Part of the answer to making sure that people are not left behind is to continue the rollout of high-quality broadband, but the other part is to ensure that everyone can continue to receive universal content and that broadcast TV and radio will not require a superfast broadband connection or expensive monthly subscriptions. Amendment 32 would put into law a legal protection for these crucial services by placing a duty on government to keep issuing multiplex licences and on Ofcom to make available sufficient radio spectrum. Without this firm steer, terrestrial television faces an uncertain future. Any such extension could become prohibitively costly as PSBs begin to de-invest in the network over the next decade in favour of putting all their resources into IP provision.
When similar amendments were debated in the other place, the Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport stated that 2034 is not a cliff-edge moment and seemed to confirm the Government’s commitment to DTT and the communities who rely on it. She acknowledged that, even after 2034, Ofcom would retain the ability to readvertise the multiplex licences, and for public service broadcasters to continue distributing their linear channels over DTT. She hinted that these services would have a longer shelf life than 2034. If that is the case, the Minister should have no issue with making a firm commitment now.