Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin Issue number 282 29 June 2015 1 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 282 29 June 2015 Contents Introduction 4 Note to Broadcasters 6 Guidance to Code Section Ten: Commercial Communications in Radio Programming Standards cases In Breach Professia Reporter NTV Mir Lithuania, 2 November 2014, 19:10 7 ARY News ARY News, 19 January 2015, 13:50 26 Station ident Jack FM, 26 March 2015, 16:48 32 Advertisements for Sue Arnold Ambur Radio, 17 February to 24 March 2015, various times 35 Total Tone Up Made in Tyne and Wear, 2 April 2015, 19:30 39 Advertising Scheduling cases In Breach Advertising minutage Geo TV, various dates and times and Geo Tez, 11 March 2015, 20:00. 42 Advertising minutage PTV Global, 15 February to 9 March 2015, various times 44 Broadcast Licence Conditions cases Note to Broadcasters 46 Community Radio Annual Reporting In Breach Community Radio Annual Reports 2013 Key Commitment and other licence condition breaches 47 Providing a service in accordance with ‘Key Commitments’ Cross Rhythms Teesside (Stockton-on-Tees), Annual Report 2013 48 2 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 282 29 June 2015 Providing a service in accordance with ‘Key Commitments’ Castledown Radio (Tidworth), Annual Report 2013 51 Providing a service in accordance with ‘Key Commitments’ Halton Community Radio, Annual Report 2013 56 Providing a service in accordance with ‘Key Commitments’ Various licensees, Annual Report 2013 59 Providing a service in accordance with ‘Key Commitments’ Unity FM (Birmingham), 27 to 29 November 2014 and 15 to 17 April 2015 72 Providing a service in accordance with ‘Key Commitments’ Radio West Suffolk, 12 to 14 February 2015 74 Fairness and Privacy cases Not Upheld Complaint by Mr Christian Kitoko Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away: Eviction Special, Channel 5, 19 November 2014 77 Complaint by The Liverpool Housing Trust Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole, Channel 5, 26 November 2014. 89 Investigations Not in Breach 98 Complaints Assessed, Not Investigated 99 Investigations List 114 3 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 282 29 June 2015 Introduction Under the Communications Act 2003 (“the Act”), Ofcom has a duty to set standards for broadcast content as appear to it best calculated to secure the standards objectives1. Ofcom must include these standards in a code or codes. These are listed below. Ofcom also has a duty to secure that every provider of a notifiable On Demand Programme Services (“ODPS”) complies with certain standards requirements as set out in the Act2. The Broadcast Bulletin reports on the outcome of investigations into alleged breaches of those Ofcom codes below, as well as licence conditions with which broadcasters regulated by Ofcom are required to comply. We also report on the outcome of ODPS sanctions referrals made by ATVOD and the ASA on the basis of their rules and guidance for ODPS. These Codes, rules and guidance documents include: a) Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code (“the Code”). b) the Code on the Scheduling of Television Advertising (“COSTA”) which contains rules on how much advertising and teleshopping may be scheduled in programmes, how many breaks are allowed and when they may be taken. c) certain sections of the BCAP Code: the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising, which relate to those areas of the BCAP Code for which Ofcom retains regulatory responsibility. These include: the prohibition on ‘political’ advertising; sponsorship and product placement on television (see Rules 9.13, 9.16 and 9.17 of the Code) and all commercial communications in radio programming (see Rules 10.6 to 10.8 of the Code); ‘participation TV’ advertising. This includes long-form advertising predicated on premium rate telephone services – most notably chat (including ‘adult’ chat), ‘psychic’ readings and dedicated quiz TV (Call TV quiz services). Ofcom is also responsible for regulating gambling, dating and ‘message board’ material where these are broadcast as advertising3. d) other licence conditions which broadcasters must comply with, such as requirements to pay fees and submit information which enables Ofcom to carry out its statutory duties. Further information can be found on Ofcom’s website for television and radio licences. e) rules and guidance for both editorial content and advertising content on ODPS. Ofcom considers sanctions in relation to ODPS on referral by the Authority for Television On-Demand (“ATVOD”) or the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”), co-regulators of ODPS for editorial content and advertising respectively, or may do so as a concurrent regulator. Other codes and requirements may also apply to broadcasters and ODPS, depending on their circumstances. These include the Code on Television Access Services (which sets out how much subtitling, signing and audio description relevant 1 The relevant legislation is set out in detail in Annex 1 of the Code. 2 The relevant legislation can be found at Part 4A of the Act. 3 BCAP and ASA continue to regulate conventional teleshopping content and spot advertising for these types of services where it is permitted. Ofcom remains responsible for statutory sanctions in all advertising cases. 4 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 282 29 June 2015 licensees must provide), the Code on Electronic Programme Guides, the Code on Listed Events, and the Cross Promotion Code. It is Ofcom’s policy to describe fully the content in television, radio and on demand content. Some of the language and descriptions used in Ofcom’s Broadcast Bulletin may therefore cause offence. 5 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 282 29 June 2015 Note to Broadcasters Guidance to Code Section Ten: Commercial Communications in Radio Programming In December 2010, Ofcom implemented a revised Section Ten of the Code. We also issued associated guidance. Enquiries from broadcasters have demonstrated a need for clarification in this guidance concerning the description of a ‘commercial reference’. We therefore intend to add a third set of sub-bullet points to the description, which will clarify that a reference “in programming to a brand, trade mark ... and/or service that ... promotes the station/broadcaster’s own ... services” does not generally include a reference to the broadcast service itself. The revised guidance to the description of ‘commercial reference’ will therefore state: Commercial reference (for the purposes of Section Ten of the Code only) – this is a reference in programming to a brand, trade mark, product and/or service that: o is subject to a commercial arrangement between the broadcaster (or any agent or employee of the broadcaster) and a third party (or third parties); or o promotes the station/broadcaster’s own products or services. Commercial references therefore include, for example: o sponsorship credits; o donated prize descriptions; o paid-for product references; o referral of listeners to a station’s website; and o the promotion of a station event. Commercial references do not generally include: o promotions of the licensed service itself, through station idents/jingles etc; or o trails for programming on the licensed service; However, such promotions or trails may contain commercial references – for example, sponsorship credits; Broadcasters will find this revised guidance under ‘Introduction: General guidance’ in ‘Broadcasting Code Guidance Notes: Section Ten – Commercial Communications in Radio Programming’, which is available at: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/guidance/programme-guidance/ The guidance will be published on 1 July 2015, when revised rules concerning controlled premium rate services come into effect and their associated (revised) guidance will also be published – see our Note to Broadcasters, ‘Broadcasting Code: non-geographic numbers in programming’, in Broadcast Bulletin 278, at: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast- bulletins/obb278/Issue_278.pdf 6 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 282 29 June 2015 Standards cases In Breach Professia Reporter NTV Mir Lithuania, 2 November 2014, 19:10 Introduction NTV Mir Lithuania is a television channel broadcasting to the Russian-speaking community in Lithuania. Professia Reporter was a 30 minute current affairs documentary broadcast in Russian, which dealt with the elections to the Ukrainian Parliament on 26 October 2014. The licence for NTV Mir Lithuania is held by Baltic Media Alliance Limited (“BMAL” or “the Licensee”). A complaint alerted Ofcom to this programme, which the complainant considered was not duly impartial in relation to discussion of the Ukrainian Parliamentary elections that took place on 26 October 2014. Ofcom obtained a translation by an independent translator of the programme from the original Russian to English. On assessing the translation, we noted that this programme was presented by a reporter. The programme included interviews with various individuals, including candidates who contested the Ukrainian Parliamentary elections, making allegations that there was maladministration and malpractice in relation to those elections, especially in the south-eastern (mainly Russian-speaking) part of Ukraine. In particular, the programme implicitly criticised the detention of candidates from the opposition Communist Party by Ukrainian security forces. Throughout the programme, we noted various statements that referred to the policies and actions of the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Government, and/or other relevant agencies of the Ukrainian state concerning these elections, and in particular those elections in the south-eastern (mainly