The Independent Television Commission (ITC) works to the broad requirements and objectives defined by Parliament in legislation. The Government Minister responsible for broadcasting is the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport.
Legislation
The major Acts of Parliament which have governed UK commercial television are as follows:
Television Act 1954. A White Paper was published in 1953 proposing some element of competition to the BBC in providing television services. It outlined the policy for the structure of the new system which would give scope to private enterprise under public control, and retain editorial integrity although being financed by advertising. The Act provided for Independent Television (ITV) to be set up and supervised by a public body, the Independent Television Authority (ITA), which would be responsible to Parliament, own the transmitters, appoint and supervise the programme companies and control advertising. Live transmission of the London ITV service started on 22 September 1955.
Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 enabled the provision of local commercial sound broadcasting in the UK. It established Independent Local Radio (ILR) which was to be set up and supervised by the ITA, renamed the Independent
Broadcasting Authority (IBA).
Broadcasting Act 1980 gave the IBA responsibility for establishing the fourth television channel. The Channel 4 service was launched on 2 November 1982.
Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984 provided for the establishment of a Cable Authority to appoint, supervise and promote cable services and for the IBA to provide Direct Broadcasting by Satellite (DBS) services.
Broadcasting Act 1990. The main provisions were a new Independent Television Commission (ITC), replacing the IBA and Cable Authority, to license and regulate UK commercial television services (other than the Welsh language service S4C) and the privatisation of the IBA’s transmission service as National Transcommunications Ltd (NTL). The
Radio Authority was established to supervise Independent Radio.
Broadcasting Act 1996. The main provisions were for the ITC to license and regulate digital terrestrial broadcasting; to relax media ownership restrictions; to introduce a new definition of control; to create the Broadcasting Standards Commission by merging the Broadcasting Standards Council and Broadcasting Complaints Commission.
In December 2000, the Government published a White Paper (“A New Future for Communications”) and proposed the creation of a new regulation body, Ofcom, covering radio as well as television services, and combining the regulation of these with telecoms and spectrum regulation. The Communications Act 2003 was given Royal Assent on 17th July 2003. The ITC’s functions will vest in Ofcom on a date to be announced, later this year.
Licensing and Regulating
The Broadcasting Act 1990 provided a new regulatory framework. The IBA had been publisher/broadcaster of Independent Television (i.e. ITV and Channel 4 programmes, the public teletext service and, for a time, a satellite service called British Satellite Broadcasting) as well as regulator. The ITC is not involved in prior approval of the programme schedules. From 1 January 1993, when the new Channel 3 (ITV) and Channel 4 licences came into force, the licensees have been the broadcasters who are responsible for programme content. The ITC, however, has wider powers than the IBA to enforce licence conditions, codes and rules. Under its powers, derived from the Broadcasting Act 1990 and the Broadcasting Act 1996, the ITC:
- licenses commercial television services in the UK (i.e. non licence-fee or non-government funded) whether delivered by analogue or digital means, terrestrially or by cable and satellite, public teletext and certain other text and data services;
- regulates these services through its licences and codes of practice on programme content, advertising, sponsorship and technical standards and has a range of penalties for failure to comply with them;
- has a duty to ensure that a wide range of television services is available throughout the UK and that, taken as whole, they are of high quality and appeal to a variety of tastes and interests;
- has a duty to ensure fair and effective competition in the provision of services.
Under the Broadcasting Act 1996, the ITC has powers to license and regulate commercial services provided by companies controlled by the BBC and S4C in the same way as those provided by independent broadcasters.
Fuller information on the methods by which the ITC carries out these functions is in ITC notes: Licensing procedures (5) and Regulation (6).
Financing
The ITC is funded by the annual licence fees payable by all licensees, based on tariffs related to qualifying revenue (mainly advertising, subscription and sponsorship income) except for local delivery licences which relate to the number of homes in the licensed area. Tender payments, including the cash bids, from the licensees are collected by the ITC and paid to the Government. ITC note: Commercial television: revenues and payments (4) outlines this area in more detail.
Members of the ITC
The ITC, consisting of part-time Members appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, determines ITC policy, with advice and information from the chief executive and the directors and staff of the principal ITC groups and departments. There is a Chairman, Deputy Chairman and between eight and ten Members. There are National Members for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Biographies of individual Members are available from the ITC’s Viewer Relations Unit and on the website.
Specialist Committees
The ITC is advised by a number of specialist committees whose members are listed in the ITC annual report and accounts. These are:
Advertising Advisory Committee which provides a forum for the debate of advertising and sponsorship issues. Members are drawn from the advertising industry, television companies and representatives of consumer interests.
Medical Advisory Panel. Members are nominated by leading medical and professional bodies who advise the ITC on health and medical aspects of advertising.
Central Religious Advisory Committee advises the ITC and BBC on policy matters relating to religion. Its membership is drawn from the major Christian traditions and world faiths represented in the UK.
Schools Advisory Committee offers advice on proposals for schools programmes and monitors the performance of the service in meeting the needs of schools.
Gaelic Television Committee (Comataidh Telebhisein Gaidhlig) is an independent statutory body whose chairman and members are appointed by the ITC. It is responsible for managing the Gaelic Television Fund which finances, through grants, the production of Gaelic programmes, training, research and other purposes related to Gaelic television broadcasting.
ITC Staff
The ITC employs 180 staff to carry out its licensing and regulatory work. The permanent staff include specialists in licensing, finance, engineering, public affairs and the regulation of programmes and advertising. Some finance and engineering staff are located in Winchester. The ITC also has 8 national and regional offices from which staff maintain contact with viewers and with locally based licensees for compliance purposes.
Publicity
The ITC uses the television services it licenses to promote its regulatory function. Several promotions have been run on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and a range of cable and satellite channels which illustrate important aspects of ITC regulation which are of concern to viewers including undue prominence, bad language and misleading advertising. Weekly advertisements in the TV Times and a reference in the Radio Times give viewers information on how to contact the ITC.
Further References
ITC Publications
ITC notes 2-38 cover all aspects of the ITC’s functions and activities
External Publications
Broadcasting Act 1990. London: HMSO, 1990
Broadcasting Act 1996. London: HMSO, 1996
BONNER, Paul, with, ASTON, Lesley. Independent Television in Britain: Vol. 5. ITV and IBA, 1981-92: the old relationship changes. London: Macmillan, 1998
July 2003
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