 An industry issue made public
At the end of 2006 the UK's media and telecoms regulator announced proposals to auction the radio spectrum that will be made available as a result of the current switch from analogue to digital television transmission. That situation immediately placed under threat the possibility of the public service broadcasters delivering high definition TV on the Freeview platform and the plans of manufacturers and retailers.
The HDforAll group was formed by the public service broadcasters, retailers and manufacturers to raise the issue amongst the public. Babel PR was appointed to provide a focal point for the campaign and to bring together the interests of the members in a coherent national campaign. Babel prepared the core messaging for the group, defined the issues to be addressed, developed a public facing web site and brought together industry and consumer research.
Significant support amongst the industry and public was mobilised and comprehensive coverage of the issues was achieved across the full range of print and broadcast media. The positive outcomes included Ofcom being instructed to re-examine the underlying assumptions of its proposals with the result that Freeview viewers will now receive an HD service.
|
