News article: 21 March 2011
VOD SERVICES ON NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WEBSITES “WITHIN SCOPE” OF NEW REGULATIONS
ATVOD publishes Determinations that Sun Video, News of the World Video, Elle TV and Sunday Times Video Library are On Demand Programme Services
Video on demand offered by some national newspapers and magazines will be subject to regulation, under a ruling published today.
Newspaper and magazine proprietors have argued that their video offerings, accessed on-line and by mobile devices, are exempt from new regulations because they are part of online versions of newspapers, not services offering “TV-like” programmes which are subject to the new law.
But the video on demand co-regulator has rejected the argument. It believes some services are designed to offer TV-like programmes on-demand, and therefore must fall within the scope of regulation.
Proprietors will now challenge the ruling by The Authority for Television On Demand (“ATVOD”) by appealing to communications regulator Ofcom. If the ruling is upheld, affected newspapers and magazines will have to pay annual fees to ATVOD and ensure that the regulated video content meets ATVOD rules.
ATVOD has today published its determinations that video on demand services that appear on The Sun, News of the World, Sunday Times and Elle magazine websites are On Demand Programme Services and therefore subject to regulation under the new rules for UK services offering ‘TV like’ programmes. The service providers - News Group Newspapers Ltd, Times Newspaper Ltd and Hachette Filipacchi (UK) Ltd - have been issued with a determination that, by failing to notify ATVOD , they are in breach of section 368BA of the Communications Act 2003.
ATVOD was designated as the appropriate regulatory authority by Ofcom in March 2010 and has so far received notifications with regard to 122 services available online, via set top boxes, on mobile phones, or via internet connected TVs. Regulated services are required to ensure that programmes than might seriously impair child development are not made available to children.
Commenting on the recent rulings, ATVOD Chair Ruth Evans said:
“ATVOD has no desire or remit to regulate the press – whether online or offline – but we do have a duty to be even-handed and apply the new statutory regulations in a fair and consistent manner. Where video content appears as an integral part of an online version of a newspaper, for example alongside a text based story, then the service falls outside our remit: it is indeed excluded by law.
Many services provided by newspapers and magazines fall exactly into this category and can expect to hear nothing from ATVOD..
But that is not what happens in these particular services. In each case, a catalogue of ‘TV like’ programmes is offered as a discrete service, comparable with many others. There are clear differences between these services and on-line versions of newspapers.
It would make no sense to exclude viewers from regulatory protection simply because an on demand programme service shares a website with an online newspaper or magazine.”
ATVOD Chief Executive Pete Johnson added:
“When print newspapers started giving away DVDs some years ago, they brought themselves within the remit of the Video Recordings Act 1984 and had to comply with the statutory rules that apply to all distributors of DVDs in the UK. Similarly, online newspapers and magazines that operate video on demand services must expect to comply with the new rules for video on demand services if they meet the relevant statutory criteria.”
Ofcom – who are responsible for hearing appeals under the new regulations - have confirmed that an appeal has been lodged with regard to Elle TV and that appeals are expected shortly with regard to Sun Video, News of the World Video and Sunday Times Video Library.