§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department intends to abandon the contiguity rule when implementing the ownership restrictions relating to Channel 3 franchises under schedule 2 of the Broadcasting Act.
§ Mr. Peter LloydAs I made clear in reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Pembroke (Mr. Bennett) on 4 December at columns85–87, we intend, through the supplementary ownership rules, to allow one body to hold a controlling interest in two regional Channel 3 licences as long as they are not both large, and for this purpose nine of the 15 licence areas will be designated! as large. When we originally announced our proposals on ownership of Channel 3 licences we envisaged designating only five or six licence areas as large, but providing in addition that co-ownership of contiguous areas would not be permitted. We believe on further consideration that a contiguity rule could give rise to unintended problems and that the need for such a rule can in large part be met by designating a higher number of "large" areas as we propose.