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At least three separate matters regarding the misdeeds of broadcasters have been the subject of recent accountability investigations and proceedings. The matters have mainly involved the abuse of premium rate telephone and interactive services. First, Ofcom has fined ITV plc GBP 5.675m for “the abuse of premium rate services (PRS)” in viewer competitions in programming and in conjunction with inadequate internal compliance mechanisms. At least two items of the Broadcasting Code were at issue: Section 2.2 (Factual programmes or items or portrayals of factual matters must not materially mislead the...

The English High Court has upheld the conviction of a publican for showing live English Premier League matches received from the Greek NOVA satellite system. It held that she had breached s. 297(1) of the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988, making it an offence dishonestly to receive “a programme in a broadcasting service provided from a place in the United Kingdom with intent to avoid payment of any charge applicable to the reception of the programme…” In the case of the Premier League, Sky and Setana have exclusive rights to broadcast live coverage of certain matches in the UK; there are...

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has proposed changes in the rules relating to the distribution of television advertising. These reflect the provisions in the new Audiovisual Media Services Directive (see IRIS 2008-1: 5). Currently, the rules applied to most TV channels reflect those in the Television Without Frontiers Directive and limit advertising to no more than an average of nine minutes per hour plus three minutes for teleshopping, with no more than 12 minutes advertising in each hour. There must be a break of 20 minutes between advertising slots, which must be taken during natural...

Under the Communications Act 2003, the UK communications regulator Ofcom no longer has the power to set quotas of children’s programmes to be provided by the commercial public service broadcasters. Instead, it must consider whether such broadcasters, taken together, offer ‘a suitable quantity and range of high-quality and original programmes for children and young people’. Where a broadcaster proposes a significant change to its programme policy, it must consult Ofcom and take its opinions into account. ITV1, the major commercial terrestrial channel, proposed to reduce the amount of children’s...

On 12 March 2008, the House of Lords announced its decision, upholding the view of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (now “Clearcast”), that an advertisement submitted on behalf of Animal Defenders International for broadcast clearance would infringe Section 321(2) of the Communications Act 2003, i.e. the prohibition on political advertising. There was no disagreement that the content of the advertisement was inoffensive. It was intended as part of a campaign, entitled "My Mate's a Primate", which sought to draw the public’s attention to the exploitative (in ADI’s eyes) use of primates...