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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...

A man who made a hoax telephone call to a national radio show on 31 August 2000 was pursued under post office legislation, rather than broadcasting legislation. Irish broadcasting legislation contains numerous provisions concerned with programme content but is aimed at the obligations and responsibilities of broadcasters rather than individual callers. The man telephoned an RTE (the national public service broadcaster) radio chat show, claiming to be the well-known captain of the Galway county hurling team and to be representing his own views and those of the team members. Hurling is a popular...

The BBC is financed by a licence fee, a form of special levy on all owners of television sets. However, it has also recently become heavily involved in commercial activities, for example joint ventures with private-sector companies. Considerable concern has been expressed by competitors that it is able to distort competition through using public funds to support activities in the commercial marketplace. To meet this criticism, the BBC has developed a Fair Trading Commitment and detailed Commercial Policy Guidelines. Nevertheless, the 1999 review of the future funding of the BBC (see IRIS 1999-8:...