Ofcom has asked the BBC and other Freeview TV operators to come up with more evidence to justify their plans for new “broadcast flag” DRM standards on HD-capable Freeview PVRs, which are designed to stop people illegally recording TV shows. The regulator said it had received “a large number” of responses to a consultation on the plans that raised “potentially significant consumer ‘fair use’ and competition issues”—so it’s extending the process and challenging the Freeview members to show exactly how consumers will benefit.

Ofcom writes in a letter (pdf) the Freeview partners must demonstrate three things if they want to change the licence rules: how consumers will benefit; how “potential disadvantages” in the receiver market will be addressed; and a list of alternative approaches that would have less impact on consumers.

Critics, including MP Tom Watson, have questioned the wisdom of the plans and expressed concern that some Freeview PRVs would not be compatible with the new system if some manufacturers don’t sign up. No TV signals will be encrypted, but manufacturers will have to sign up to the new scheme if they want to keep receiving the look-up EPG tables, needed to make PVRs record properly.

The BBC told us at the time that “no existing Freeview boxes will be affected by this whatsoever” and that “content rights holders have begun to expect a degree of content management on the Freeview HD platform”; it’s a plan, says the Beeb, to “prevent mass piracy”.

As we noted at the time, the public response phase was open for just 10 working days. The public doesn’t get another say, but at least their views will be considered again by Ofcom, as the BBC and friends go back to the drawing board to think of a new way to convince regulators to pass the new rules.

• UK Broadcasters Want Freeview HD DRM’d To Tackle PVR Piracy