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The Broadcasting Act 1990 provides the basis for specific programme and other requirements for the 18 terrestrial TV licences granted by the Independent Television Commission (ITC): the 15 regional ITV licensees (Channel 3), GMTV (breakfast-time licensee), Channel 4 and Public Teletext. The ITC is charged to review annually where licensees have failed to comply with these licence conditions. To meet this obligation, the ITC has now published its 1996 Annual Performance Reviews. Teletext received a favourable report and GMTV was congratulated on rectifying the complaints highlighted in the previous...

The new Broadcasting Standards Commission has published its first research report. The Commission was created out of the merger (under the Broadcasting Act 1996) of the Broadcasting Standards Council and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission on 1 April 1997. The study looks at public attitudes to media regulation in a changing social climate. It was undertaken by the Commission as part of a wider consultation on its new role combining standards and fairness in broadcasting. The research based on two national surveys and 14 focus groups also addresses the issue of privacy. In general, the respondents...

Under the Broadcasting Act 1996 the Secretary of State has designated eight "listed events" which cannot be broadcast only by subscription or pay-per-view without regulatory consent. There has been some political pressure recently for an extension of the list, which currently specifies the FA Cup Final, the Scottish FA Cup Final, the FIFA World Cup finals, the Derby and Grand National horse races, the Olympic Games, the Wimbledon tennis finals weekend and cricket test matches involving England. On 19 May 1997 the Under-Secretary of State for National Heritage announced a review of the list "to...

The rock band Status Quo applied for judicial review of the BBC Radio One playlist, alleging that it discriminated against them and in favour of younger bands. The High Court held that there was not sufficient evidence to establish even an arguable case and, as proceedings had also been commenced in private law, the judicial review action against the public broadcaster could serve no useful purpose. The application was thus dismissed.

During the recent UK General Election, several election broadcasts were the subject of consideration. At least two were by parties that fielded the required minimum of 50 candidates mainly in order to qualify for air-time. In the first case, the Referendum Party obtained some satisfaction in the High Court which decided that the Independent Television Authority had shown a "too ready acceptance" of the allocation of air time quotas set by the joint, non-statutory committee of MPs and broadcasters. The Court did not, however, agree with the claim that the Referendum Party had been discriminated...