Gambling programmes can appear at night on three UK TV channels
Posted by Gavin Smith on 28 May 2009 at 10:05
Three commercial television channels in the UK have been given the green light to broadcast teleshopping programmes at night, including transactional gambling.
The UK media watchdog, Ofcom, said the decision would help the channels ITV, Channel 4, and Five, make more cash for programming.
The Daily Mail reports the permission was given for the promotional programming to be broadcast between midnight and 6am.
Some have criticised the move, saying this kind of programming is not in keeping with public service broadcasting.
The teleshopping description includes transactional gambling, allowing viewers to take part in things like roulette or place bets on virtual horseracing.
According to the paper, others have shown concern that the permission could prompt problem spending or gambling.
Quoted by the Mail, John Beyer of Mediawatch UK, said: "The transferring of teleshopping techniques to ordinary commercial television channels is something most people would not welcome."
Ofcom has said the move will allow support for channels finding the economic slump a problem, providing them with new ways of raising cash.
According to the paper, a representative of Ofcom said adding gaming into the teleshopping remit meant it would actually be under closer control as it was defined as a form of advertising.
The watchdog has also put a stop to plans to let primetime television shows display more advertising, although it has said there can be more adverts in programs which are longer than an hour in length.
Public service broadcasting channels can now include six commercial breaks in a two-hour programme, as opposed to five.
The alteration won't apply to films, but may be applicable to sporting events and longer finals of big entertainment shows, the Mail says.
The change could have little noticeable impact for many viewers as many UK television shows do not last longer than an hour.
Under the plans which have been stopped, commercial terrestrial channels would have been allowed to run another 20 minutes of commercials in some peak time evenings.
According to the Daily Mail, this would have meant more ad breaks during some of the UK's most popular soap operas.
Although Ofcom has scrapped this for now, it could come up for review again in the future.
The BBC is not affected by the developments as it free of advertising due to its licence fee funding set up.
