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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...

The Audiovisual Media Services Directive contains a number of provisions concerning the scheduling and amount of advertising permitted on broadcast television (Arts. 19-26 AVMSD). In the UK, these requirements are enforced through the Code on the Scheduling of Television Advertising (COSTA) (see IRIS 2008-9/18). In a recent Broadcast Bulletin, Ofcom published a ‘Note to Broadcasters’ providing guidance to broadcasters on the application of COSTA rules to split-screen advertising. This type of advertising is defined as: ‘Split-screen advertising involves transmitting editorial content and advertising...

The BBC Trust, the apex of the BBC’s system of self-regulation, issues a service licence for every BBC UK public service channel. The licence defines the scope, aims, objectives, headline budget, and other important features of each service and states how performance is assessed by the Trust. Each BBC service is reviewed against its licence at least once every five years. Previously, the service licence for the main BBC channel, BBC One, did not contain any requirement as to the amount of current affairs programming to be shown in peak time on this channel. BBC One has the highest share of viewing...

On 1 October 2014, changes to UK copyright law came into effect. A series of Statutory Instruments have been given effect that in turn amend the relevant sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (1998 Act). The Copyright and Rights in Performances (Quotation and Parody) Regulations 2014 amends section 30 of the 1988 Act so that fair dealing with a copyright work for the purposes of caricature, parody, or pastiche does not infringe copyright in the work. This means that one can use a sample of another person’s work, e.g. song, music, film or artwork, without seeking permission or...

Ofcom, the UK Communications Regulator, received two complaints about a racial reference in the very popular BBC programme ‘Top Gear’, a magazine series on motoring. The BBC is covered by the Ofcom Programme Code, rule 2.3 of which states that ‘[i]n applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that material which causes offence is justified by the context’. Such offensive material may include ‘discriminatory treatment or language’ (for example, on the grounds of race). The episode of ‘Top Gear’ was filmed in Burma, and involved the presenters building a makeshift bridge over the...