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A new industry emerges
Friday June 26th 09
Yesterday Lord Carter announced his Digital Britain white paper which has grabbed the headlines because of the 50p per month levy to pay for universal broadband and specific proposals for the BBC. I was lucky enough to attend a reception that evening with Lord Carter and after listening to him I think his critics are missing the big point.
Yesterday Lord Carter announced his Digital Britain white paper which has grabbed the headlines because of the 50p per month levy to pay for universal broadband and specific proposals for the BBC. I was lucky enough to attend a reception that evening with Lord Carter and after listening to him I think his critics are missing the big point.
The Digital Britain report is much greater than the sum of its parts, as Lord Carter spelt out yesterday in the FT and at the reception. He is doing no less than defining an industry and an industrial policy around it, and is clearly stating that the UK sees this industry as one of its growth engines. He is absolutely right to do so.
Whatever the merits of individual proposals, he is beginning to shape the outlines of the digital industry, combining infrastructure companies on the one hand and content providers on the other – ‘pipes and poetry’ . The symbiotic nature of these industries has been much commented upon in the context of individual issues, but not until now has a government so clearly taken a view of this sector in a joined up manner. For that he is to be congratulated.
BroadView works in the web video communication business. We see ourselves as part of an ecosystem which includes telcos, broadcasters, professionals working in marketing, communications, web, design and others in the creative sector. We all now live, eat and breathe digital content. This is a critical mass of dynamic business in which Britain is a leading player and London is possibly the best place on earth. If that isn’t the basis for a key industry for the UK, what is?
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