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The Communications Act makes provision for Ofcom to carry out reviews when there is a change in ownership of any Channel 3 or Channel 5 licensee. There have been three previous reviews in relation to a change in control of Channel 5. Section 353 requires Channel 5 to give Ofcom notification of a “relevant change of control”, backed up by an obligation to provide Ofcom with such information as it requires to carry out a review of the change. The “relevant change of control” is not limited to the direct holding of shares in the licence holder but also includes any...

Directors UK, the professional association for screen directors, has launched its Directing Nudity and Simulated Sex Guidelines (the Guidelines), purportedly the first of their kind in the UK. However, arguably, they act as a complement to the terms contained in the agreement between the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) and the actor’s union, Equity, dated 1 August 2004 as revised on 13 October 2005 (The Agreement). The Guidelines provide shared professional expectations that apply to everyone involved in making sensitive content, with the aim of becoming standard working...

On 3 October 2019, Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, announced that the remit of the Advertising Advisory Committee (AAC) will be expanded so that the Committee can bring a consumer voice to both broadcast and non-broadcast advertising policy issues. In the UK, advertising is regulated through a combination of “co-regulation” and “self-regulation” systems. Co-regulation sees the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) given responsibility for regulating the content of broadcast adverts (television and radio), under contract from Ofcom....

Ofcom determined that an exchange between two BBC Breakfast Time presenters about President Trump’s remarks over four female Democratic congresswomen had not breached impartiality rules. The BBC Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) had partially upheld that comments made by presenter Naga Munchetty (NM) had breached the broadcaster’s impartiality requirements. However, that decision was overturned by the BBC’s Director-General after a public outcry. Ofcom received two complaints that the Director-General’s decision to overturn the ECU’s finding had breached Ofcom’s rules on due impartiality and accuracy...

The former leader of political activists the English Defence League (EDL) Tommy Robinson (his real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) was imprisoned for nine months after a retrial by judges of the Central London Criminal Court (known as the Old Bailey) concerning an incident which occurred in May 2018, when, outside Leeds Crown Court, he filmed defendants attending trial accused of the sexual exploitation of young girls. The footage, which was in breach of a reporting ban, was livestreamed from outside Leeds Crown Court while the jury was considering its verdict. Mr Robinson argued in his defence...