What could OFCOM do?
Of the service examples mentioned above, subtitling is well-established but will probably require some protection in the new era of de-regulated broadcasting. Audio description is still embryonic and other forms of added-value services to aid accessibility are emerging and will continue to develop as resources permit. These services are unlikely to be commercially viable so the driving forces will be social pressures. Funding could become a major issue. It is not exclusively an issue for the national regulator, although OFCOM may well find that it is forced into a lead role.
Within the framework of the new EU Directives on electronic communications, it will be possible for Governments to subsidise areas of provision that fall within the broad description of universal service. Although the UK Government will be able to do this, without distorting the rules of the 'level playing field', there is no reason to suppose that it will want to do so. Funding from within the communications sector, supervised by OFCOM, would seem to be the likely source and this view is confirmed by the stance taken in the draft Communications Bill.
There is also the impact of anti-discrimination legislation - the Disability Discrimination Act. The costs of making the adjustments required by this Act fall upon the service providers themselves. Experience with the telecommunications sector has shown that compliance with general legal obligations that are binding on all operators is quite separate from the concept of universal service. The designation of a provision within universal service, and with it the possibility of reimbursement of unmet costs from an industry fund, only applies where the market has failed to deliver and the regulator has then called upon specific providers to offer essential services. When providers are delivering, whether because of general legal obligations or as a result of commercial initiative, the universal service case does not come into play. Nevertheless, it seems improbable that OFCOM could avoid being drawn into the difficult debate over what adjustments are reasonable and possible in the context of the Disability Discrimination Act. Decisions of this nature call for experience of the industry and its resourcing, which OFCOM should be in a unique position to contribute. Consumer pressure will be directed at OFCOM in the first instance. It will be OFCOM's inescapable task to consider adjustments which are not to be regarded as reasonable - for the industry - but are important for the consumer, and therefore liable to fall within the remit of universal service.
Raising funding for loss-making accessible services by any form of levy on the industry, or by requiring operators to contain such costs within their service budgets, could lead to complaints that the regulator is implementing measures that might drive away business from the UK. OFCOM has an obligation to ensure that regulation is applied with a light touch, with interventions that are at a minimum level to secure the declared objective. At the same time, consumer pressure from disabled people will be under-lining the disadvantages they endure in trying to share in the information society. OFCOM will not have an easy task.
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