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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords who have contributed to this short debate, and particularly to the noble Baroness for moving the amendment. I apologise for missing her first two or three sentences. However, I am well aware of her concerns in this area, and we looked at these issues in Committee. In many ways, the other contributors to the debate have largely made the case that the Government make in response to the amendment. Noble Lords are concerned that Clause 21 might encourage C4C to shift public service content from Channel 4 on to other platforms to get round the prohibition. However, I cannot articulate the position any more graphically than my noble friend Lord Puttnam, who has declared his interests. His expertise and knowledge of the issue are valuable. We are not reducing Channel 4’s public service obligations, so for the foreseeable future the bulk of C4C’s public service content will continue to be delivered on Channel 4. Even beyond the licensed public service channel, the publisher-broadcaster model is likely to remain C4C’s principal approach. Our worry is that a blanket prohibition on in-house production by C4C, across all platforms, would be especially problematic in relation to new media, where the operation of technical infrastructure, software and content need to be integrated. C4C needs to maintain in-house production capability, even though the great majority of content is commissioned externally. As regards the concept that this is the R&D function translated from a different context, the point holds that this is important to Channel 4. As regards C4C’s digital TV channels, although there is currently no prohibition on in-house production, C4C commissions all the original programming on these channels from independent producers. The noble Baroness knows that all too well and I am in great danger of spelling out facts of which she is all too well aware. I ask her to withdraw the amendment but to rest assured that we have considered this issue carefully. We are aware of the anxiety. However, for the reasons that I have given in terms of the role of Channel 4 and what we see for its future, I do not think that her anxieties are necessarily well founded. Therefore, I hope that she will feel able to withdraw the amendment.