Major gov Acts on TV 1980-today

1. Finish up on yesterday's work: get together and pull together the distinctive arguments from yesterday's work
2. As part of this, check the list of pointers from the blog post: if there are any of these you haven't researched, keep reading until you can cover all of these points
3. Make sure everyone in the group has the same points written down so when I ask anyone from the group, any one can deliver some or all of your findings/arguments
4. Once that is comprehensively completed, you can move on to today's task, splitting the work up again if you wish, or working by yourself as you prefer. Using the http://mediareg.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/ofcomitc-key-docs.html post, and any other resources, make notes on:
• how the history of TV regulation shows a narrative of initially tight regulation which began loosening once the 1979 Tory government took power
• the key differences between the 4 commercial TV regulators
• the major acts of legislation + reports that reshaped TV regulation since 1979:
• 1980 Broadcasting Act
• 1985 Peacock Committee/1986 Peacock Report
• 1990 Broadcasting Act
• 1996 Broadcasting Act
• 2003 Communications Act

• info/speculation on the next major act...

You will find that 'free market' style deregulation start to take hold from 1980, leading to the 'light touch' ITC and then the explicitly deregulatory OfCom; Peacock is an unexpected exception to this, despite his free market credentials, his actual report shocking Thatcher who appointed him assuming he'd recommend privatisation of the BBC...

You can use the links below to help with this, as well as the Word docs provided, and the Curran and Seaton book, plus this OfCom link:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/itc/uk_television_sector/overview/key_dates.asp.html
ITV Wiki also useful.
ScreenOnline (the BFI) provide a digestible guide to most of the major broadcasting legislation, plus an informative timeline with key events, not just acts, plus a good ITV history.

1980 Broadcasting Act:

Wiki;
Article excerpt (you may need to google title:Chasing the Receding Bus: The Broadcasting Act 1980 by Mike Elliott,The Modern Law Review,Vol. 44, No. 6 (Nov., 1981), pp. 683-692);

1986 Peacock Report:

Book preview: Peacock Committe and UK Broadcasting Policy (2009);
Hansard;
Wiki;

1990 Broadcasting Act:

ITC note;
ScreenOnline;
Official gov guide;
Wiki;
Guardian guide;
Blog post (Medi@chs);

1996 Broadcasting Act:

ScreenOnline;
Blog post (Medi@chs);
Official gov outline;
ITC note;

2003 Communications Act:

Wiki;
Screenonline (brief!);
Official gov guide (the full bill);
Hunt to review 2003 Act;
Guardian micro-site;

Future Tory Communications Act?

Jeremy Hunt to 'radically rethink' media regulation [Gdn Jan2011];
Leveson inquiry: questions for Mr Hunt [Gdn editorial Apr2012];
No Minister: Any chance for the Communications Act? [Gdn Dec2011];
Organ Grinder/Steve Hewlett (TV reg equiv to Roy Greenslade as leading UK expert) micro-site for Jeremy Hunt articles;
How Hunt got his fingers burnt (Broadcast Apr2012 - Broadcast is TV industry's leading mag);