Now Brussels wants to make our TV ad breaks even longer!
TELEVISION viewers may have to sit through even more adverts after Brussels announced it would scrap rules that limit the length of breaks. The European Commission yesterday said it wants to dump a limit of 12 minutes of commercials an hour.
Officials also want to loosen rules that restrict product placement.
Broadcasters will be able to fill shows with as many adverts as they want during primetime, which means viewers face being bombarded with commercials.
Advert breaks are already a source of complaints. Britain’s Got Talent’s first semi-final on Sunday was criticised after producers showed more adverts than performances. Some 21 minutes and 28 seconds of the 90 minutes show were taken up by commercials, while the acts lasted only 17 minutes and 39 seconds.
Under the Brussels proposal, from 7am to 11pm no more than three hours and 12 minutes of adverts, equal to 20 per cent of the time, will be allowed to be shown.
However, channels will be able to choose how they schedule the adverts. Slots sold during primetime shows are much more valuable, which means there will be an incentive to show fewer adverts during the day.
The UK Government is likely to argue in negotiations with the EU that its own media regulator Ofcom should be allowed to impose stricter rules on British channels. However, Brussels will want universal control as some UK commercial channels are broadcast on the Continent.
The Commission also wants to scrap rules that mean appearances of brands on screen cannot be ‘unduly prominent’. It risks British TV becoming more like the US, where products can be as prominent as the actors.
The UK’s most popular commercial channel, ITV, yesterday praised the proposed changes but said it did not want to spoil people’s enjoyment.
A spokesman said: ‘We welcome moves by the Commission to de- regulate rules around commercial communications, in particular on product placement and sponsorship, which to date have been unnecessarily prescriptive. This will help to ensure the continued investment in original content.’
Pauline Webborn, of pressure group Mediawatch, said: ‘Broadcasters risk alienating and losing their viewers if they take advantage of this. There will definitely be less enjoyment watching television if people are bombarded with adverts.
‘Clearly there is also a risk that children will be affected if they are shown too many adverts for certain types of products.’
European commissioner for digital economy Gunther Oettinger, who announced the plans, said: ‘You can change between TV channels now, you can switch to a TV on-demand channel if you don’t want to watch adverts, so
‘Broadcasters risk alienating viewers’
we think it is time to liberalise the advertising rules we have had until now.
‘The current legal situation says that a maximum of 20 per cent of advertising can be shown per hour of broadcasting. This is a very clear rule but it is a constraining factor...We will leave it up to the discretion of the broadcasters to place advertising slots where they want.
‘Viewers have new freedom. They are always free to change to another channel or to video on-demand.’
An EU source admitted that ‘in theory’ there may be more advertising at peak times under the plans, but insisted that it was ‘not in the interest of broadcasters’ to abuse the rules. Plans must be approved by member states and the European Parliament.