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On 5 July 2013, Ofcom (the Office of Communications) fined a British TV channel more than GBP 100,000 after it aired a lecture by an Islamic scholar who said Muslims had a ‘duty to kill’ anyone who insulted the Prophet Mohammed. The Manchester-based DM Digital channel was found to be in breach of Rule 3.1 of the Broadcasting Code which says that “material likely to encourage or incite crime or lead to disorder must not be included in TV or radio services”. DM Digital broadcast the programme "Rehmatul Lil Alameen" on 9 October 2011. It featured a live lecture in Urdu by an Islamic Pir (a religious...

A series of decisions released by Ofcom (Office for Communications) on 23 July 2013 has changed the way local programming, particularly news, will be provided by ‘Channel 3’ independent/commercial broadcast licensees across the United Kingdom. The decisions follow the announcement by the Secretary of State for Culture Sport and Media, Maria Miller, not to block the applications for renewal of the local television licences of the current holders; effectively giving ten-year extensions. In response to a consultation with the licensees concerning a number of issues related to the provision of local...

On 18 July 2013, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) dismissed the appeals made by the Union des associations européennes de football (UEFA) and the Federation internationale de football association (FIFA) to set aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union in the case T-55/08 UEFA v. Commission [2011] and the case T-385/07 FIFA v. Commission [2011] (see IRIS 2011-3/3). The Grand Chamber upheld the decisions of the General Court and the European Commission regarding the compatibility with Community law of measures taken by the UK and Belgium on...

On 25 April 2013, the Defamation Act 2013 completed its passage through Parliament with the Royal Assent. The Act aims to correct serious problems for all types of media caused by the UK’s law of defamation that allows individuals and companies to sue for allegedly defamatory statements; it does so by a mix of different provisions either clarifying or modifying the existing law. The Act does not attempt to set out any general codification of the law of defamation. Most provisions apply only to England and Wales as Scotland has separate and different legal rules. The Act provides that a statement...

On 24 May 2013 Ofcom ordered a review of the amount of alcohol advertising on television, after it emerged that children are increasingly watching reality programmes, such as: Britain’s Got Talent, X-Factor, and I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, which can show such advertisements under current rules. The existing guidelines ban adverts from being aired during shows that have a particular appeal to the under 18s. But research carried out for the broadcasting regulator reveals that children saw an average 3.2 alcohol adverts per week in 2011 - an increase of 18% on 2007 when they saw 2.7 per week. The...