The UK is entering a significant period of review for broadcast radio policy. Ofcom is consulting on its future approach to broadcast licensing. DCMS has launched a wider Radio Review that will shape long-term distribution strategy, market structure and public policy into the 2030s and beyond.
These processes raise fundamental questions about spectrum management, platform access, economic sustainability, content supply, and the balance between producer interests and the interests of citizens. They will influence whether the UK moves towards greater consolidation, or towards a more plural and socially grounded media ecology.
Better Media, supported by Decentered Media, is convening two Online Civic Futures Forum sessions to ensure that independent, local and community media voices are heard in a structured and constructive way.
These sessions are designed for practitioners, volunteers, producers, students, civic leaders, policy specialists and engaged citizens who want to reflect on both social value and commercial realities.
Online Session Times
Thursday 26 February 2026 at 2:00pm https://luma.com/uy3fcvne
Thursday 26 February 2026 at 6:00pm https://luma.com/l136uppc
Participants attend one session only
This is not a campaign meeting. It is a professionally moderated consultation exercise that will explore lived experience, regulatory barriers, economic pressures, and future possibilities. The discussion will focus on how media policy can support plural markets, fair access to distribution, and sustainable independent supply.
Each ninety-minute session will include a short plain-English overview of the review processes, interactive polling on key policy questions, structured small-group discussions, and a forward-looking exercise on what a healthy and diverse radio ecology should look like in 2035.
Sessions will be recorded for accuracy. Notes will be generated and anonymised. A consolidated Consultation Insight Report will be published, outlining themes, areas of agreement and disagreement, and emerging principles.
This report will inform engagement with Ofcom, DCMS and related policy discussions, and will demonstrate that civic and independent media stakeholders meet the threshold of standing to contribute to national media policy review.
Online places are limited. Participants should register for one session only.
If you are concerned about the future of independent local media, spectrum access, economic sustainability, and the civic role of broadcasting, your perspective is needed.