The Newspaper Society has welcomed reports that the government will recommend a relaxation of cross-media ownership rules in its soon to be published interim Digital Britain report, but wants further reform of newspaper merger controls.
Santha Rasaiah, director of the Society's political, editorial and regulatory affairs department, said: “The NS successfully campaigned for the relaxation of the cross media rules under the Communications Act 2003, which allowed local newspapers to own broadcasting outlets in their core circulation areas for the first time.
“Further reform would be welcome. However this should not be limited to the cross media regime. The NS also advocates further reform of newspaper merger controls and a more realistic approach to assessment of competition in local media markets by the competition authorities.”
Digital Britain is expected to be published by Lord Carter, the new minister for communications, technology and broadcasting, later this month.
Trinity Mirror has been reported as among regional publishers lobbying for a relaxation of controls so that regional groups can merge titles.
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