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The Independent Television Commission (ITC), the British regulator of broadcasters other than the BBC, has required a broadcast apology from Channel 4 over its broadcast of a highly controversial satirical programme on paedophilia and on its treatment in the media. The programme, in the series "Brass Eye", was broadcast on 26 July and repeated on 27 July, attracting around 1,000 complaints to the ITC. The Culture Secretary (the minister responsible for broadcasting) had also intervened by expressing concern about the inability of the ITC to prevent the broadcasting of the repeat. In its adjudication,...

The British Culture Secretary has announced her longawaited decision on the BBC's proposals for four new digital television channels and five new digital radio services. Government approval is needed for the BBC to vary the number or geographical coverage of its services. Guidelines drawn up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport set out conditions for such approval relating to the nature of the new services and the procedure for consultation on them to be adopted by the BBC. The proposals were especially controversial as they were strongly opposed by rival commercial broadcasters as duplicating...

The UK regulator, the Independent Television Commission (ITC), has fined a major private broadcaster, London Weekend Television, GBP 100,000 for breaches of its Code of Programme Sponsorship. The breaches occurred in a series "Club@vision" which was aimed at young people and included features on nightclubs. The series was produced by an independent production company and commissioned by ITV, the major private network, as a co-production with London Weekend Television. A complaint was made to the regulator that clubs were being asked to pay a fee and to contribute to production expenses to ensure...

The highest UK court, the House of Lords, has overturned the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal which had struck down a decision of the Independent Television Commission refusing to consent to TV Danmark 1 exercising exclusive rights to Danish football matches (See IRIS 2000-8: 7 and IRIS 2000-10: 6. See further IRIS 2001-4: 6). In the process, the Court gave a different interpretation of the "Television Without Frontiers" Directive from that of the Court of Appeal. There is no further right of appeal in the UK legal system. TV Danmark 1, a broadcaster established in the United Kingdom, had...

Announcing the new Labour Government's legislative programme in the House of Lords on 20 June, the Queen said that "a draft Bill to create a single regulator for the media and communications industries and reform the broadcasting and telecommunications regulations will be published." The draft Bill is likely to be prefaced in the next weeks by a Bill that will set up OFCOM - the unified regulator which will combine the roles of the Broadcasting Standards Commission; the Independent Television Commission; Oftel; the Radiocommunications Agency; and the Radio Authority (see IRIS 2001-1: 8). The...