Gutted

A chance has been missed today to define the future of media in the UK.

Stephen Carter' Digital Britain report has been long gestating and formed an opportunity to open up the media landscape in the UK for the 21st century.

I have not yet had a chance to read the report in full, but second hand reports are disappointing.

There is some irony to the proposal to levy a telephone tax to pay for rural provision of fibre. As soon as anyone has broadband they should be using VoIP and getting rid of their phone. But this is not a bad idea. However I fail to see why this budget should not come from the licence fee, since the BBC puts more strain on the infrastructure than anyone this side of Google's YouTube.

Based on second hand reading, all other proposals are fudges. There's little to curb the oligopoly that Sky and the BBC have become.

British media is in a perilous state; innovative British companies are hawking formats globally with huge success, but the success ends there.

There is no British Hulu nor YouTube - nor will there be now. You would have thought that lessons might have been learned from financial regulation.

There are no sensible answers to public service broadcasting, the threat from the US and the monster that the BBC has become...

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