DEPARTMENT FOR
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT News Release (118/08) issued by COI News
Distribution Service. 7 November 2008
JOINT DCMS/BERR
PRESS RELEASE
A forum of independent experts has been appointed to guide the
work of "The Digital Britain Report" and develop a
comprehensive plan to further our digital economy and society.
Among the members of the Steering Board, who will provide input
into the Digital Britain Report are the authors of recent and
related reviews, including Dr. Tanya Byron, Francesco Caio, Barry
Cox, Chairman of the Digital Radio Working Group, Andrew Gowers
and Robin Foster from the Convergence Think Tank. Along with other
members of the Steering Board, they will provide sponsorship and
expertise in their particular areas of focus and will advise on
the overall strategy and direction of The Report.
Stephen Carter, the Minister for Communications, Technology and
Broadcasting said:
"Fully embracing a digital future is a
must for any successful knowledge economy."
He added:
"The Steering Board will serve and advise The
Digital Britain Report in its ambition and its practical recommendations."
The expert advisers and their primary area of focus are:
Peter Black - Network technology
Dr. Tanya Byron - Online
protection
Francesco Caio - Next generation
networks
Andrew Chitty - Production/new media
Barry Cox -
Digital radio
Matthew d'Ancona - Print media/new
media
Robin Foster - Public service content
Andrew Gowers
- Creative economy
Ian McCulloch - Media markets
Peter
Phillips - Regulatory frameworks
Stephen Temple - Spectrum
Notes to editors
1. Further details on The Digital Britain Report were announced
on 17 October 2008. The press notice is available at http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/5548.aspx
2. Digital Britain Steering Board members:
Peter Black: Peter Black brings an extensive history of senior
executive management success in the communications industry. Peter
has worked with many companies including BT, Thus & Virgin
Media, both in the UK and North America. Peter has specialised in
businesses with a focus on telecommunications, broadband, data
communications, media and information systems. Recently working
closely with Ofcom, Peter was the Independent Telecommunications
Adjudicator where he and a small team managed the
telecommunications industry to dramatic success in rolling out
Local Loop Unbundling from its weak state of only 15000 lines to
the five million lines we have today. He has also recently been
involved in facilitating how the telecommunications industry will
interconnect their NGNs and most recently ran the UKPorting
initiative to significantly enhance the consumer's ability to
port mobile and fixed telephone numbers.
Dr. Tanya Byron: Tanya did her first degree in psychology at
York, her clinical psychology Masters training at UCL and her
doctorate (on the treatment of cocaine, amphetamine and ecstasy
misusers) between University College Hospital and Surrey. She has
worked in the NHS for 18 years working in drug dependency,
HIV/AIDS and sexual health, adult mental health and eating
disorders services. She was the Consultant of an in patient unit
for 12 to 16-year-olds with severe mental health problems and
child protection issues. Tanya now works one clinical day a week
as a Consultant in child and adolescent mental health. In
September 2007, the Prime Minister asked Tanya to conduct an
independent review looking at the risks to children from exposure
to potential harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and
in video games. The review was published in March 2008. Tanya is
Chancellor of Edge Hill University and patron of the charity,
Prospex. Tanya also presents television programmes on child
behaviour, science and current affairs (Little Angels; Teen
Angels; House of Tiny Tearaways; Panorama; How to Improve Your
Memory - with Professor Robert Winston, BBC TV). Her series about
human behaviour (Am I Normal?) aired on BBC2 in spring 2008. Tanya
also writes with Jennifer Saunders (The Life and Times of Vivienne
Vyle). Tanya has published three books on child behaviour and has
recently published Your Child Month by Month - a guide to child
development and the early years with Dorling Kindersley. In
addition Tanya writes a weekly column for the Times newspaper and
for several magazines. Tanya is married to the actor Bruce Byron
and is mother to Lily (13) and Jack (10).
Francesco Caio: Francesco Caio is chairman Nomura International.
From February to October this year he chaired an independent
review on next generation access: "The next phase of
broadband UK; action now for long term success." Francesco
joined Lehman Brothers in September 2006 where he served as vice
chairman Lehman Brothers Europe and chairman of the European
Advisory Board. Prior to this, he was chief executive officer of
Cable & Wireless from 2003. In 2000, he founded Netscalibur,
the European business telecommunications and internet service
provider, and from 1997 to 2000, was chief executive of Merloni
Elettrodomestici, one of the European leaders in domestic
appliances. In 1996, he was appointed chief executive of Olivetti
having previously led its telecommunications and multimedia
divisions. Francesco led the creation of Omnitel Pronto,
Italy's second largest mobile phone company before its
acquisition by Vodafone, and was its first chief executive officer
from 1994 to 1996.
Andrew Chitty: Andrew Chitty is the Managing Director of Illumina
Digital, the digital media production company he founded in 1998
and which has recently joined the All3Media Group. Illumina has
been at the forefront of creating innovative mulitplatform content
working extensively with the BBC and Channel 4 as well as a range
of public service institutions on projects that have won awards
including four BAFTAS, the UN award for e-learning and the Golden
Ladle for world's best cookery site. Andrew is currently Vice
Chair (Interactive) of PACT, chairs the National Skills Council
for Digital Media on behalf of Skillset and was co-author of
OFCOM's paper describing New Options for Public Service in
the Digital Age which explored the idea of moving from public
service broadcasting to a wider vision of public service content.
Barry Cox: Barry Cox worked as a journalist on the Scotsman, the
Sunday Telegraph, Granada's World In Action, and at LWT,
where he became Controller of Features and Current Affairs, and
then Director of Corporate Affairs. He was Director of the ITV
Association between 1995 and 1998, Deputy Chairman of Channel Four
[1999-2007] and a consultant with ITN. He was chairman of the
Digital TV Stakeholders Group between 2002 and 2004, and the News
International Visiting Professor of Broadcast Media at Oxford
University in 2003. He is currently chairman of Digital UK Ltd,
the consortium of public service broadcasters which is leading the
switch from analogue to digital TV in Britain, and chairs the
Digital Radio Working Group which is looking at making a similar
switch in radio.
Matthew d'Ancona: Matthew d'Ancona is Editor of The
Spectator, and has put the transformation of its digital platform
at the heart of his editorship. He is also Advisory Editor to
Spectator International Editions. He writes political columns for
The Sunday Telegraph and GQ, where he is a Contributing Editor. He
is a regular presenter on Week in Westminster and is working on a
Radio 4 series on Britishness to coincide with a collection of
essays on Britain led by the Prime Minister. He was BSME Current
Affairs Editor of the Year in 2007 and Political Journalist of the
Year in the British Press Awards 2004. His third novel, Nothing to
Fear, is published in November. He makes frequent appearances at
events on the future of the web, including Google Zeitgeist. He
was elected a Fellow of All Souls College Oxford in 1989.
Robin Foster: Robin Foster is an adviser on economic, policy and
strategic issues affecting the communications sector. He is
currently Director of media strategy consultants, Human Capital,
and an independent member of the UK Government's Convergence
Think Tank, which is advising on the future of UK communications
sector policy and regulation. He ran the Global Communications
Consortium research programme at London Business School from
January 2006 to March 2008. Until August 2005, Robin was Partner,
Strategy and Market Developments and member of the Executive and
Policy committees at the UK communications regulator Ofcom, where
he ran the annual strategic planning process and directed the
programme of research and analysis for Ofcom's first review
of Public Service Broadcasting. Previous positions include
director of strategy at both the Independent Television Commission
and the BBC, and head of the telecoms and broadcasting consulting
division at economic consultants NERA. Robin's publications
include his January 2007 report on Future Broadcasting Regulation,
commissioned by DCMS. As research fellow at Bournemouth Media
School in 2000-2002, Robin led a programme of research into the
future of television in the UK ("Future Reflections").
Andrew Gowers: Andrew Gowers is interim Head of External
Relations at London Business School. Twenty-five years a
journalist, most of them at the Financial Times, he served as
Editor of that paper from 2001 to 2005, prior to which he was
founding Editor and joint Managing Director of Financial Times
Deutschland. In 2006 he moved to the corporate world, working from
2006 to 2008 as Head of Corporate Communications at Lehman
Brothers, the global investment bank.
Ian McCulloch: Ian McCulloch started in Commercial Television in
1980 at LWT in the Sales Department. During the consolidation
period he went through the Sales and later company mergers of YTV,
TVS, Meridian and then Granada. He moved to the Broadcasting side
of the business where his role was to ensure the most revenue
generative ITV schedule working with Marcus Plantin, David
Liddiment and Nigel Pickard. As COO Broadcasting for Granada he
was instrumental in the merging of the Granada and Carlton
operations and the creation of one ITV. In 2005 after attending
Harvard AMP he moved back into the sales environment as Commercial
Director of ITV. After creating and implementing a radical and
successful growth and cultural change strategy departed ITV in
2007 and he now operates as a media consultant.
Peter Phillips: Peter Phillips is a member of Ofcom's Board,
and is responsible for its strategy, consumer policy, technology,
chief economist and market research teams. Prior to Ofcom he was
Director of Business Development at the BBC, leading the award
winning sale of BBC Broadcast in 2005. Earlier posts at the BBC
included Chief Operating Officer at BBC News and BBC Head of
Corporate Planning. Before that Peter was an investment banker in
the mergers and acquisitions team at SG Warburg (now UBS) and a
senior manager in the strategy consulting firm Bain & Company.
He has a double first in Mathematics from Oxford, and is a trustee
of the Crafts Council and the Nuffield Trust and an adviser to the
Royal College of Physicians.
Stephen Temple: Stephen Temple was an early pioneer of Digital
Britain with his GSM initiative not only transforming
Europe's mobile radio industry from analogue to digital but
also conquering the world of mobile radio standards. He also
shaped Europe's digital TV future, co-founding Europe's
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) and inspiring the regulatory
foundation for digital broadcasting services in the UK. In the
private sector he pioneered NTL's high speed broadband
Internet and led the development of Vodafone's broadband
convergence strategy. He is a chartered engineer, won the USA IEEE
1994 award for International Communications and was awarded a CBE
in 1996 for services to Trade and Industry. For several years he
was a member of Ofcom's spectrum advisory group.
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