I will come back to the subject once I have had a chance to digest the full contents of the report in more depth, but here are a few first impressions of Lord Carter's Digital Britain report.
It was interesting to see that Carter has called for an inquiry into local authority newspapers and their impact on the commercial regional newspaper sector. As discussed previously, this is an issue that needs to be addressed and the inquiry is welcome.
However, it was surprising to see that Carter has decided not to overhaul the rules on mergers and acquisitions in the regional newspaper sector. He is placing his faith on existing regulations, bar a few "modest" changes and more "pre-notification" discussions with the Office of Fair Trading.
This will not please regional newspaper publishers who had been led to expect new, more relaxed legislation, after concerted lobbying by the Local Media Association - headed by former Johnston Press non-executive chairman Roger Parry.
As expected, the Channel 4/BBC Worldwide situation will rumble on and I would be surprised if a deal was done this year. Rather, Carter has welcomed the joint venture discussions between the two parties in areas such as digital channels, advertising and DVD sales and will ease the governance and regulatory elements required to make such ventures happen.
Radio seems to have done rather well. Carter has committed to a digital switchover date of 2015, which is ambitious but is what the radio sector has been asking for.
