United Kingdom

[GB] Revised arrangements for signing

IRIS 2015-6:1/20

David Goldberg

deeJgee Research/Consultancy

On 13 May 2015, the UK regulator Ofcom issued a statement regarding revised arrangements for signing to start from 1 January 2016, following a consultation (published in 2014). The arrangements affect “relevant TV channels”, meaning (i) domestic TV channels (ii) with an audience share between 0.05% and 1%.

Generally, the new arrangements envisage an increase in the amount of sign-presented programming over time: 30 minutes a month from the first anniversary of the relevant date (for the purpose of access services obligations the relevant date is the later of the date the channel started broadcasting or 29 December 2003) to 75 minutes from the tenth anniversary.

Alternative arrangements to publish sign-presented programming may be provided, but those can only enter force after Ofcom has approved them - and “the minimum contribution they must make will rise over time, and will be adjusted for inflation.”


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This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.