This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Ofcom article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
![]() | This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus. |
![]() | This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
For what it's worth, the Communications Act 2003 [1] uses the all-caps form OFCOM, but the organisation's own website uses the mixed-case Ofcom, which also seems to be the style preferred by the Guardian [2] and other media outlets. Should we have a consistent style? If so, which? --rbrwr 16:52, 22 Dec 2003 (UTC)
According to the Guardian ([3]), Ofcom has decided to outlaw analogue broadcasts by 2012. As an American, I simply can't understand this at all. I mean, as a good lefty I certainly feel that things here in America are often a little under-regulated; from my point of view I think our government sometimes lets companies get away with too much. But this seems to take the opposite phenomenon -- overregulation -- to a ridiculous and unintelligible extreme. Isn't the UK a free country? Why shouldn't broadcasters be allowed to have parallel analogue and digital streams if they want to? It would be like the USDA (our food safety body here) not only banning the sale of rotten meat (which is dangerous) but also banning the sale of chuck steaks (because they really aren't as good as sirloin). User:Doops 04:19, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Doops- It seems the US (and its FCC) has been embarking down a similar route (along with a host of other countries). Sets with mid sized screens in the US will be required to be capable of receiving digital TV by march 1st 2006. 'Under current US laws analogue television signals are due to switched off by the end of next year, so long as 85% of households have made the switch- a prospect that most observers consider unlikely.'
http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?class=countries&subclass=0&id=933
Note that 2006 is yet earlier than 2011. Seems you're actually in a somewhat analogous state. User:Isthatyou
The thing that concerns me about abandoning analogue is that the AM analogue signals are transmitted over a very wide area. This means that in England we can hear the Voice of Russia, Swedish Radio, etc, broadcasts in English, and the BBC world service is broadcast on 678kHz AM/Medium Wave. When the authorities refer to abandoning analogue in Britain are they referring only to the FM bands or AM as well? And if AM - what happens to the rest of Europe? There is no point in making, for example, 693 & 909 khZ (BBC radio 5) frequencies available to other UK users because European broadcast stations would fill the broadcast gaps. --Norvic48 (talk) 17:01, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
Is it me or have I missed something? The Fox/BBC paragraph is a very good example of OFCOM in action, but it seems to just sit out of context in this article. Is it supposed to be something to do with Consultation - the section title? Why is just this one case study given? Surely there have been others? I wonder whether this item, as excitingly juicy as it is, might be in here for reasons other than simply informing the reader about OFCOM - and, perhaps, with more direct quotations than are strictly necessary. I wouldn't want to see it removed, but maybe framed with some explanation, or balanced with some other examples. Naturenet 22:41, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I'd agree with the original comment in this. This example, and the citation of the Jerry Springer Decision as "one of the most controversial", both seem very POV; there seems absolutely no reason to single them out. Incidentally, was the Jerry Springer decision even made by Ofcom? There's no source cited and Jerry Springer: The Opera was broadcast on the BBC, which doesn't come within Ofcom's remit. I'd happily see it removed, if other examples can't be found to balance it.
The footer states this is related to ITV, which is incorrect.
- Jax
This is not really correct. Ofcom regulates all the TV channels, and more besides (e.g. telephone companies). The ITV stuff should go. -Splashtalk 16:18, 22 November 2005 (UTC)
No. This Ofcom article should not be associated with the ITV article/category any more than it should with any other service it regulates. It should either be removed, or each article that describes a service regulated by Ofcom should also be listed. There must be a logical balance when categorising and linking information. Beck13 15:06, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
There's an AFD on Alice Soundtech, a leading UK supplier of studio and transmission equipment for RSL radio stations, from mixing consoles to AM/FM transmitters, based in Surrey. People in the biz or in the know can chime in at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Alice Soundtech. -- 62.147.86.249 16:54, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
As an Ofcom employee I would not think it proper to edit the 'Criticism' section myself - but I would suggest that this is not representative of criticism of Ofcom (e.g. it does not refer to the debate over food advertising to children) and reads like it has been written by someone with an axe to grind over their own specific difficulties with an ISP! Suggest someone else re-writes this to refer more generally to criticism of Ofcom.
Go ahead. That section is truly awful! Guydrury (talk) 22:11, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
Yep, reading the criticism sounds very one sided and lacks substantial sources. "...and some claim this..." in the text itself isn't good enough without proof! :) Londonsista (talk) 13:46, 15 January 2008 (UTC) The criticism is fair enough. It is a fact that Ofcom have failed to enforce any of its policies or use the extent of it powers and prefers to issue further guideance notes for the industry rather than act as a regulator. J.Crowley —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.127.130 (talk) 13:49, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
I think the criticism section should make a comeback. For an organisation tasked with managing the UK's communications, OfCom don't actually have a contact email address. Mongoosander (talk) 19:59, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
Has Ofcom had any problems with Al Jazeera? I have heard alot of noise about Ofcom and Fox News, but I have heard nothing about Al Jazeera being held to a similar standard.LookBook 23:51, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
An important responsibility of Ofcom is licensing. Ofcom has promoted a strategy of liberalisation of the spectrum whereby the most effective way to ensure maximum return on spectrum usage is the market. Hence an approach consisting of auctions as main vehicle for licenses awards. This approach is developed in Ofcom's Spectrum Framework Review. --Henri 14:55, 21 October 2007 (UTC)
In the introduction there is a link for 'Office of Telecommunication' (Oftel) but this redirects to Ofcom again. Was there a page of Oftel giving for example the history of its creation and how it was subsumed into Ofcom? 217.42.171.6 (talk) 23:56, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
I suspect that there were articles for each of Ofcom's predecessors as they were the regulatory bodies in their respective areas, existing before Ofcom came into operation after the founding of Wikipedia. I reckon that the articles were deleted and redirected to this article as the previous bodies have been abolished and Ofcom is the current regulator. On your last point, I am proposing here recreating the article for the Radio Authority. I have been directed to this Ofcom article from a link in the article for Feargal Sharkey, the person rather than the album. He was a member of the former Radio Authority and the redirection to this Ofcom article may suggest he is a member of Ofcom when he isn't. I think there should therefore at least be an article, even if not containing much information nowadays (about a former regulator that has been abolished and does not exist anymore), giving the dates when the body was operational and pointing to this Ofcom article as the current regulator. There is an article for example for the Independent Broadcasting Authority, although perhaps that was more well-known than the Radio Authority, and even an article for the very old Independent Television Authority, setting out that they are former authorities, stating when they existed and setting out major events during their time. Wikipedia, as an encyclopedia, is missing a part of the history of regulators in different industries and the record of them. In the context of Feargal Sharkey's career, and possibly others that have had careers at other predecessors but not at Ofcom, it is wrong to redirect to Ofcom. aspaa (talk) 14:46, 4 September 2020 (UTC)
I've removed all references to specific complaints from the article. Those listed are not particularly important or representative of OFCOM's work, and insofar as they're worthy of attention they will be covered adequately in the appropriate articles. --TS 12:40, 28 November 2008 (UTC)
Does Ofcom have any jurisdiction over British Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies? -- Beland (talk) 00:35, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
It seems that, per advice against both abbreviations (WP:TITLEFORMAT) and geographic bias (WP:WORLDVIEW), this article should be located at Office of Communications. Note that the article itself starts with this more descriptive and recognizable name. ENeville (talk) 17:17, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
Ofcom is shown in this article as a Statutory corporation. I think it is a Non-departmental public body (popularly known as a Quango). Which is correct? Biscuittin (talk) 09:42, 17 July 2014 (UTC)
What the difference of authority? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.122.74.13 (talk) 18:02, 25 February 2015 (UTC)
Breaking news (The Telegraph): Ofcom to replace the BBC Trust and run the BBC. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 5.64.182.168 (talk) 21:50, 25 June 2015 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to 2 external links on Ofcom. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add ((cbignore))
after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add ((nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot))
to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template ((source check))
(last update: 18 January 2022).
Cheers. —cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 23:47, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to one external link on Ofcom. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add ((cbignore))
after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add ((nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot))
to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.
An editor has reviewed this edit and fixed any errors that were found.
Cheers.—cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 09:29, 6 January 2016 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 7 external links on Ofcom. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
((dead link))
tag to http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/right-of-free-expression/controls-on-broadcasting/ofcom.htmlWhen you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template ((source check))
(last update: 18 January 2022).
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 08:38, 4 September 2017 (UTC)
It seems odd and potentially in violation of NPOV that Roskomnadzor is linked in the "See also" section when no other bodies outside of the UK are.
For that matter, what's Overton window doing in the list?
I propose we remove both of these links. – ♫CheChe♫ talk 20:26, 12 December 2023 (UTC)