On current evidence Government would still appear to be sticking to the line that only Channel 69 capable equipment will qualify and that compensation levels will be based on residual value of equipment. The effect of this will be to exclude owners of equipment that does not tune to Channel 69 but will still be rendered redundant as a result of PMSE's eviction from Channels 31-37 and 61-68. Additionally, owners of Channel 69 equipment would end up receiving a small fraction of the true value of their equipment.
The previous Government's position was to ensure that any compensation package should leave the PMSE sector 'no better, no worse off' as a result of the changes to spectrum access. The new coalition administration has yet to commit to this and Save Our Sound UK is extremely concerned that it may not.
Final decisions have yet to be made on the structure and scope of any compensation package but it is possible that things will be finalised by the end of July 2010, before Parliament rises for summer recess. Consequently, Save Our Sound UK urges supporters to contact their recently elected MPs as a matter of urgency to highlight the issues and ask them to pursue a satisfactory outcome for the PMSE sector.
(Jim Evans)
