Beorn
06-17-2009, 03:42 PM
£6 levy to pay for Scots superfast internet access
The whole of Britain is to pay £6 a year in tax for the speedier introduction of superfast internet access across the north.
The levy, on every phone line in the country, will pay to extend broadband connection at speeds quick enough to download an entire Star Wars DVD in three minutes by 2017 to remote and rural areas of the UK where otherwise it would never be provided commercially.
The proposal is contained in a white paper on Digital Britain, which also proposes guaranteed access to standard broadband services fast enough to receive video programmes live everywhere by 2012. Also included are plans to relieve STV of the burden of paying for Scottish news. Instead, under a pilot scheme, potential news providers will compete for a contract to provide a Scottish news service for up to £15million over three years.
It will be paid for by “top slicing” BBC funding otherwise intended to pay for the switchover to digital TV in a move bitterly attacked by the BBC Trust.
There are proposals for a partnership between a slimmed-down, cash-strapped Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide.
The government is also speeding up the switchover to higher-quality digital radio, and there will be a crackdown on internet piracy, with service providers required to send written warnings to offenders and reduce the speed of the connections of serial offenders so they cannot continue to flout copyright laws.
The levy to pay for faster broadband services, at anything from eight megabits to 100 megabits, was broadly welcomed last night, although Tory spokesman John Hunt accused the government of “dithering” over the need for a broadband revolution and introducing an unnecessary “broadband tax”.
He claimed universal provision could be achieved by encouraging investment, tougher regulation and some public investment alone.
He said: “The cable revolution happened without a cable tax. The satellite revolution happened without a satellite tax. Everyone recognises some public investment might be necessary to reach the more remote parts of the country, but simply slapping on an extra tax is an old economy solution to a new economy problem.”
Liberal Democrat business and enterprise spokesman John Thurso said he was “encouraged” by a promise from Business and Enterprise Minister Ben Bradshaw that remote areas like his Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency will not necessarily come last.
Lord Thurso said: “This is an invitation to lobby hard to ensure priority is given to those areas like mine where the most economic development can be delivered by earlier provision.”
Liberal Democrat Scottish spokesman Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, said if the government really believed economic development was linked to faster broadband, it should not leave the most fragile communities to wait for the service until 2017.
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Lib Dem MP Danny Alexander said it was essential the slower two megabit broadband was provided to every home and did not exclude remote households.
He said the next-generation network would be “a huge opportunity for the Highlands” and urged: “Public agencies and the private sector need to get together to make sure that we are first in the queue in bidding for this new fund, and I will be taking steps to make sure that we do.”
Polly Purvis, executive director of ScotlandIS, representing internet service providers, said: “We have a great opportunity to compete online with a global shop front, regardless of location.”
Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy said the proposed pilot scheme paying for news programmes to be televised by STV would be “a lifeline” for the channel, but the Tories said it was wrong to take money from the BBC to “prop up” regional news. The pilots will also take place in Wales and one English region, still to be selected.
Competition
STV said it was delighted adding: “Assuming adequate funding is provided, this will enable our viewers to continue to enjoy STV’s Scottish news and provide strong competition to the BBC.
In a strongly-worded statement, BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said the body would not sit back quietly to allow the licence fee to be used as a “slush fund”.
He said: “On behalf of licence fee payers, the BBC Trust opposes top-slicing.
“The licence fee has a clear aim, clear benefits, is clearly understood and has stood the test of time. Top-slicing would damage BBC output, reduce accountability and compromise independence.”
The Scottish Government complained of a “missed opportunity” for Westminster to back public service broadcasting in Scotland. SNP culture and broadcasting spokesman Pete Wishart MP was disappointment the UK Government was not supporting the establishment of a Scottish Digital Channel.
Source (http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1265815?UserKey&UserKey=)
The whole of Britain is to pay £6 a year in tax for the speedier introduction of superfast internet access across the north.
The levy, on every phone line in the country, will pay to extend broadband connection at speeds quick enough to download an entire Star Wars DVD in three minutes by 2017 to remote and rural areas of the UK where otherwise it would never be provided commercially.
The proposal is contained in a white paper on Digital Britain, which also proposes guaranteed access to standard broadband services fast enough to receive video programmes live everywhere by 2012. Also included are plans to relieve STV of the burden of paying for Scottish news. Instead, under a pilot scheme, potential news providers will compete for a contract to provide a Scottish news service for up to £15million over three years.
It will be paid for by “top slicing” BBC funding otherwise intended to pay for the switchover to digital TV in a move bitterly attacked by the BBC Trust.
There are proposals for a partnership between a slimmed-down, cash-strapped Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide.
The government is also speeding up the switchover to higher-quality digital radio, and there will be a crackdown on internet piracy, with service providers required to send written warnings to offenders and reduce the speed of the connections of serial offenders so they cannot continue to flout copyright laws.
The levy to pay for faster broadband services, at anything from eight megabits to 100 megabits, was broadly welcomed last night, although Tory spokesman John Hunt accused the government of “dithering” over the need for a broadband revolution and introducing an unnecessary “broadband tax”.
He claimed universal provision could be achieved by encouraging investment, tougher regulation and some public investment alone.
He said: “The cable revolution happened without a cable tax. The satellite revolution happened without a satellite tax. Everyone recognises some public investment might be necessary to reach the more remote parts of the country, but simply slapping on an extra tax is an old economy solution to a new economy problem.”
Liberal Democrat business and enterprise spokesman John Thurso said he was “encouraged” by a promise from Business and Enterprise Minister Ben Bradshaw that remote areas like his Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency will not necessarily come last.
Lord Thurso said: “This is an invitation to lobby hard to ensure priority is given to those areas like mine where the most economic development can be delivered by earlier provision.”
Liberal Democrat Scottish spokesman Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, said if the government really believed economic development was linked to faster broadband, it should not leave the most fragile communities to wait for the service until 2017.
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Lib Dem MP Danny Alexander said it was essential the slower two megabit broadband was provided to every home and did not exclude remote households.
He said the next-generation network would be “a huge opportunity for the Highlands” and urged: “Public agencies and the private sector need to get together to make sure that we are first in the queue in bidding for this new fund, and I will be taking steps to make sure that we do.”
Polly Purvis, executive director of ScotlandIS, representing internet service providers, said: “We have a great opportunity to compete online with a global shop front, regardless of location.”
Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy said the proposed pilot scheme paying for news programmes to be televised by STV would be “a lifeline” for the channel, but the Tories said it was wrong to take money from the BBC to “prop up” regional news. The pilots will also take place in Wales and one English region, still to be selected.
Competition
STV said it was delighted adding: “Assuming adequate funding is provided, this will enable our viewers to continue to enjoy STV’s Scottish news and provide strong competition to the BBC.
In a strongly-worded statement, BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said the body would not sit back quietly to allow the licence fee to be used as a “slush fund”.
He said: “On behalf of licence fee payers, the BBC Trust opposes top-slicing.
“The licence fee has a clear aim, clear benefits, is clearly understood and has stood the test of time. Top-slicing would damage BBC output, reduce accountability and compromise independence.”
The Scottish Government complained of a “missed opportunity” for Westminster to back public service broadcasting in Scotland. SNP culture and broadcasting spokesman Pete Wishart MP was disappointment the UK Government was not supporting the establishment of a Scottish Digital Channel.
Source (http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1265815?UserKey&UserKey=)