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On 15 December 2014, the United Kingdom media regulator Ofcom published two reports. One, entitled Public Sector Broadcast Annual Report 2014 (the First Report), reviewed the UK Public Sector Broadcasters (PSBs) performance since 2008. The remits of PSB channels, such as ITV and Channel 4, are defined under section 265 of the Communications Act 2003; part 2 of Schedule 12 of the 2003 Act is the relevant part for the Welsh Channel S4C and the public purpose of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is described in the BBC Charter, due for renewal in 2016. The second Report, entitled Public Service...

In a decision of 26 November 2014 (case no. A14-275018), the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found that labelling obligations for advertisements contained in YouTube videos had been breached and ordered the food manufacturer Mondelez UK Ltd to ensure that future ads in this medium made their commercial intent clear prior to consumer engagement. The case concerned so-called “Lick Race videos” on five YouTube channels owned by well-known private “vloggers”, which humorously portrayed a particular way of eating Oreo biscuits. Following a complaint from a journalist, the Mondelez company...

The Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014 came into effect on 1 December 2014. The Regulations amend the provisions setting out the regulatory framework for on-demand programme services contained in Part 4A of the Communications Act 2003. This Part was inserted by the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2009 and 2010 to implement the relevant provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (see IRIS 2010-1/24). The new regulations first prohibit an on-demand programme service from containing a video work, which has been refused a classification certificate by the British Board of...

The UK co-regulatory bodies, the Committee of Advertising Practice and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice have introduced changes to their codes to regulate the marketing of e-cigarettes. The former covers general advertising, including non-broadcast electronic media, such as company websites and posts on social media directly connected with the supply of goods and services; the latter covers television services licensed by Ofcom. There were previously no specific restrictions on non-broadcast advertising of e-cigarettes. However, e-cigarettes could in practice not be advertised in...

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has determined that British Sky Broadcasting Limited (Sky) should allow British Telecommunications Plc (BT) sports channel BT Sports to screen Sky’s sports channels. The background to the case was that in 2010, the UK communications regulator Ofcom decided to vary Sky’s broadcast licence pursuant to section 316 of the Communications Act 2003, whereby Sky had to offer its Sky Sports 1 and 2 channels at wholesale prices to other TV platforms - this is known as wholesale must-offer obligation (WMO) (see IRIS 2010-5/26). Later in 2010, Sky appealed Ofcom’s decision to...