Part 5: Regulation of radio services Section 43: Character of local services
This section amends Chapter 2 of Part 3 of the BA 1990 in relation to the character and coverage of national and local radio services. Subsection (2) amends section 106 of the BA 1990 to remove the requirement for local radio licences to include conditions for securing the character of the licensed service. This means that local radio stations will no longer have to commit, and then adhere, to conditions in their licences requiring them to broadcast specific genres of content, or target a particular age group (the ‘format’). These requirements are replaced by the amendments made by section 44 which sets the requirements for local news and information.
	Subsection (3) makes a consequential amendment by repealing section 106ZA of the BA 1990 which relates to the requirements to be followed before OFCOM could consent to a departure from the character of local licensed service.
	This section also amends Chapter 5 of Part 3 of the CA 2003. Subsection (4) repeals sections 355 and 356 of that Act, which require OFCOM to carry out a review where there has been a change of control over a local radio licence holder. The review considers matters including the character of the service and localness requirements. This requirement is no longer proportionate following the changes made to character requirements by the rest of this section and the changes to the localness requirements made by section 44.