Legal Research

Lords Committee calls for ad minutage change

By scott

The House of Lords Communications Committee have published a report on the regulation of advertising on UK television. As we approach digital switchover in 2012 the committee calls for a harmonising of UK ad rules and the creation of a level the playing field between public service and commercial broadcasters. Currently under the Code on Scheduling of Television Advertising Public Service Broadcasters (ITV 1, Channel 4 and Channel 5) are permitted an average of 7 minutes of advertising per hour, maximum of 8 minutes per hour at peak times, whereas commercial channels (such as Sky 1) are permitted an average of 9 minutes of advertising per hour, with a maximum of 12 minutes per hour peak at peak times. The committee calls for all channels to be allowed an average of 7 minutes per hour, with appropriate peak time maximum to be determined after research from Ofcom.

The EU Audio Visual Media Services Directive (which amended the TV without Frontiers Directive) states that daily ad limits should be abolished but an hourly rate should be maintained with a the limit of 20 % of ads per clock hour (12 minutes).

I’m sure ITV and CH4 would prefer the harmonisation to be in the other direction to what the Committee are suggesting.

The Committee also called for ITV’s the Contract Rights Renewal undertakings (undertakings from ITV to protect advertisers following the 2003 Carlton-Granada merger, and essentially allow advertisers to renew their existing contracts with ITV, but adjusted to reflect the change in ITV1’s audience share.) to be removed and replaced with binding undertakings from ITV plc. to invest an appropriate proportion of any additional revenues from advertising in creating UK originated programming and training.

ITV will surely be glad that another voice is out there calling for the removal of its CRR obligations, however it is not quite a simple as that, mainly because it is only a year ago that the Competition Commission (CC) published its final report reviewing changes to the undertakings and concluding that the undertakings were very much still needed. The CC concluded that despite the many changes in this market over recent years, ITV1?s relative position of strength compared to other commercial broadcasters has changed little since 2003, and was quite damning of ITV’s cries of woe. First of ITV, said advertisers can get the same coverage using other channels and the internet and their position and power was much reduced. That’s not what you’re telling advertisers themselves the CC replied, and on top of that ITV’s actual share of the advertising pound was actually increasing rather than decreasing. Other claims that it was effecting their ability to invest were equally set aside, with the CC again pointing to ITV’s own evidence that much of this was down to bad management and programming decisions and not much else.

Full post as published by Information Overload on February 17, 2011 (boomark / email).