Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984
| Year | 1984 |
Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984
1984 CHAPTER 46
An Act to provide for the establishment and functions of a Cable Authority and to make other provision with respect to cable programme services; to amend the Broadcasting Act 1981, to provide for the establishment and functions of a Satellite Broadcasting Board and to make other provision with respect to broadcasting services; and for connected purposes.
[26th July 1984]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Cable Programme Services
Introductory
1 The Cable. Authority.
(1) There shall be an authority to be called the Cable Authority (in this Part referred to as ‘the Authority’) for the purpose of performing the functions assigned to the Authority by this Part.
(2) The Authority shall consist of—
(a ) chairman and deputy chairman; and
(b ) such number of other members, not being less than three nor more than ten, as the Secretary of State may from time to time determine.
(3) Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the Authority.
2 Meaning of ‘cable programme service’ etc.
(1) In this Act ‘cable programme service’ means a service which consists wholly or mainly in the sending by any person, by means of a telecommunication system (whether run by him or by any other person), of sounds or visual images or both either—
(a ) for reception, otherwise than by wireless telegraphy, at two or more places in the United Kingdom, whether they are so sent for simultaneous reception or at different times in response to requests made by different users of the service; or
(b ) for reception, by whatever means, at a place in the United Kingdom for the purpose of their being presented there either to members of the public or to any group of persons.
(2) In this Part ‘licensable service’ means a cable programme service which consists wholly or mainly in the sending by any person, by means of a telecommunication system (whether run by him or by any other person), of sounds or visual images or both either—
(a ) for simultaneous reception, otherwise than by wireless telegraphy, in two or more dwelling-houses in the United Kingdom; or
(b ) for reception, by whatever means, at a place in the United Kingdom for the purpose of their being presented there either to members of the public or to a group of persons some or all of whom do not have a business interest in hearing or seeing them.
(3) In this Part—
‘diffusion service’ means a service falling within subsection (2)(a ) above;
‘prescribed diffusion service’ means a diffusion service of such a description as the Secretary of State after consultation with the Authority may by order made by statutory instrument prescribe;
‘restricted service’ means a service falling within subsection (2)(b ) above.
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) above do not apply in relation to a service which consists wholly or mainly in the sending of sounds or visual images or both by any person if it is an essential feature of the service that, while they are being conveyed, there will or may be sent from each place of reception, by means of the telecommunication system or (as the case may be) the part of it by means of which they are conveyed, sounds or visual images or both for reception by that person.
(5) References in subsections (2) and (4) above to sounds are references to speech or music or both except that they do not include, in relation to any telecommunication system, speech providing information for the purposes of facilitating the use of a telecommunication service provided by means of that system.
(6) References in subsections (2) and (4) above to visual images are references to visual images which are such that sequences of them may be seen as moving pictures.
(7) References in this section to a telecommunication system do not include references to a telecommunication system the running of which does not require to be licensed under Part II of the Telecommunications Act 1984 an this Act referred to as ‘the 1984 Act’).
(8) For the purposes of this section a person has a business interest in hearing sounds or seeing visual images if he has an interest in hearing or seeing them for the purposes of his business, trade, profession or employment.
(9) In this section ‘dwelling-house’ includes a hotel, inn, boarding house or other similar establishment.
Licensing of services by Authority
3 Prohibition on unlicensed service.
(1) Subject to any exceptions for which the Secretary of State after consultation with the Authority may by order provide, a person who provides a licensable service shall be guilty of an offence unless he is authorised to provide the service by a licence granted under section 4 below (in this Part referred to as a licence).
(2) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—
(a ) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;
(b ) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.
(3) No proceedings in respect of an offence under this section shall be instituted—
(a ) in England and Wales, except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions;
(b ) in Northern Ireland, except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.
(4) Without prejudice to subsection (2) above, compliance with this section shall be enforceable by civil proceedings by the Crown for an injunction or interdict or for any other appropriate relief.
(5) An order under this section shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
4 Power to license services.
(1) A licence may be granted by the Authority for the provision of such a licensable service as is specified in the licence or is of a description so specified.
(2) A licence shall be in writing and, subject to subsections (3) and (8) and section 17 below, shall continue in force for such period as may be specified in the licence.
(3) A licence for the provision of a prescribed diffusion service (whether as originally granted or as varied under subsection (8) below) shall not continue in force for a period exceeding the relevant maximum period.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) above the relevant maximum period is—
(a ) fifteen years in the case of a licence for the provision of a prescribed diffusion service in an area—
(i) in which such a service has not previously been provided; or
(ii) in which such a service has previously been so provided, but only in so much of it as in the opinion of the Authority does not amount to a substantial part of it; and
(b ) eight years in every other case.
(5) A licence may include—
(a ) such conditions as appear to the Authority to be requisite or expedient having regard to the duties imposed on them by this Part and, in the case of a licence for the provision of a prescribed diffusion service, to the information included in the application in pursuance of section 6(1) below;
(b ) conditions requiring the rendering to the Authority of a payment on the grant of the licence or payments during the currency of the licence or both of such amount or amounts as may be determined by or under the licence; and
(c ) conditions requiring the holder of the licence to furnish to the Authority, in such manner and at such times as they may reasonably require, such information as they may require for the purpose of exercising the functions assigned to them by or under this Part.
(6) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a ) of subsection (5) above, conditions included in a licence by virtue of that paragraph may require the holder of the licence—
(a ) to comply with any direction given by the Authority as to such matters as are specified in the licence or are of a description so specified; and
(b ) except in so far as the Authority consent to his doing or not doing them, not to do or to do such things as are specified in the licence or are of a description so specified.
(7) The payment or payments required to be rendered to the Authority by conditions included in a licence by virtue of subsection (5)(b ) above shall be such as to represent what appears to the Authority to be the appropriate contribution of the holder of the licence towards meeting the sums which the Authority regard as necessary in order to discharge their duty under section 18 (1) below.
(8) The Authority may vary a licence by notice in writing served on the holder of the licence if—
(a ) in the case of a variation of the period for which the licence is to continue in force, the holder consents; or
(b ) in any other case, the holder has been given a reasonable opportunity of making representations.
(9) Subject to the provisions of this Part, it shall be the duty of the Authority to exercise the powers conferred on them by this section in the manner which they consider is best calculated—
(a ) to promote the provisions of prescribed diffusion services; and
(b ) subject to paragraph (a ) above, to promote the provision, by means of telecommunication systems, of services other than telecommunication services.
5 Publicity etc. with respect to certain licences.
(1) This...
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