§ Mr. HillTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many franchises have been granted for the issuing of licences by his Department for the establishment of television cable stations in the United Kingdom since such licensing started; and if he will list(a) the geographical location of such stations, (b) the name of each company which has been granted a franchise, (c) the name of the principal shareholder or parent company of such franchise holders, specifying whether such principal shareholder or parent is of United States of America, Canadian, United Kingdom or other origin and (d) how many applications are outstanding to the latest convenient date and still awaiting decision by the Cable Authority.
§ Mr. MellorI have been asked to reply.
The Cable Authority is responsible for awarding cable franchises under the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984. A total of 71 cable franchises have been awarded since 1983 (including 11 pilot franchises awarded by the Home Office before the passage of the 1984 Act). Of these 20 have been licensed, of which 17 are operational. A further 63 franchises have been advertised by the Cable Authoritiy. The authority is considering a total of 139 applications, in respect of the 44 franchises for which the closing date has now passed. It intends to make its decisions known during the course of the summer. I have placed in the Library a list of the other information requested, where this is not commercially confidential.