Ads for food and drinks high in salt, sugar or fat will be banned from British television programmes aimed at children in the government fight against increasing childhood obesity. UK media regulator Ofcom today announced rules that will apply to programming that appeals to children under the age of 16 at any time of day or night on any channel.
The regulator’s initial proposal had covered programming for children under 9 years old, but today’s proposal to cover under 16-year-olds will also affect a larger range of programmes, and the announcement has not gone down well with the advertising industry. The ISBA, which represents over 400 UK advertisers,said in a statement ”These proposals are harmful to UK television, damaging to the competitiveness of UK plc and will not reduce obesity. We fear that the Ofcom board members have been influenced by political opinion, not the evidence.”
Ofcom estimates that the impact on total broadcast revenues will be up to £39 million pounds ($73.6 million) per year, falling to around £23 million pounds as broadcasters mitigate revenue loss over time. It said commercial broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 and Five could lose up to 0.7 percent of their total revenues. Dedicated children’s channels could lose up to 15 percent of total revenues, the regulator said.
The restrictions will apply to all broadcasters licensed by Ofcom and based in the UK, including international broadcasters transmitting from the UK to audiences overseas. The changes will take effect before the end of January 2007, but ad campaigns already underway will be allowed to be broadcast until the end of June of that year. Ofcom said any decision to extend the rules to under 16-year-olds would still require a further short consultation.
(Source: Reuters)
