Ofcom has launched a new consultation into whether it should remove some of the stricter advertising rules currently applied to the commercially-funded public service broadcasters.
All UK broadcasters are subject to restrictions on the quantity and scheduling of advertising on their channels. But under rules introduced over 30 years ago, the public service broadcasting (PSB) channels – ITV, STV, Channel 4, S4C and Channel 5 – are subject to tighter advertising restrictions than non-PSB commercial channels, such as ITV2, 5USA and Pick.
Last year, Ofcom launched a call for evidence and the regulator has provisionally concluded that stricter advertising restrictions on PSB channels are no longer justified or proportionate.
Ofcom’s preferred option is to bring PSB advertising rules into line with those for non-PSB channels, while retaining safeguards that limit the number of internal breaks allowed in programmes.
A second option would bring PSB advertising rules fully into line with those for non-PSB channels. However, the regulator is maintaining the option to keep things exactly as they are.
Under both main options, all PSB and non-PSB channels would be subject to the same limit of showing no more than an average of 12 minutes of television advertising and teleshopping spots per hour – of which no more than nine minutes may be television advertising. In each case, existing restrictions on the frequency of advertising in films, news and children’s programmes would be kept in place.
The regulator believes that giving PSB channels the same freedoms in advertising minutage and scheduling as other commercial channels would not significantly affect the range of services available to viewers.
In Ofcom research, there was a limited awareness by the public that there was even a difference in the amount, and the frequency of advertising shown on PSB channels versus other commercial channels. Viewers had also failed to notice an increase in advertising minutes on PSB channels following the period of National Mourning on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, when they were allowed the same advertising limits as non-PSB channels so they could recoup lost minutage.
