Communications Act 2003

279 News and current affairs programmes

(1) The regulatory regime for every licensed public service channel includes the conditions that OFCOM consider appropriate for securing—

(a) that the programmes included in the channel include news programmes and current affairs programmes;

(b) that the news programmes and current affairs programmes included in the service are of high quality and deal with both national and international matters; and

(c) that the news programmes so included are broadcast for viewing at intervals throughout the period for which the channel is provided.

(2) That regime also includes the conditions that OFCOM consider appropriate for securing that, in each year—

(a) the time allocated to the broadcasting of news programmes included in the service, and

(b) the time allocated to the broadcasting of current affairs programmes so included,

each constitutes no less than what appears to OFCOM to be an appropriate proportion of the time allocated to the broadcasting of all the programmes included in the channel.

(3) It further includes the conditions that OFCOM consider appropriate for securing that the time allocated—

(a) to the broadcasting of news programmes included in the service, and

(b) to the broadcasting of current affairs programmes so included,

is, in each case, split in what appears to OFCOM to be an appropriate manner between peak viewing times and other times.

(4) The proportion determined by OFCOM for the purposes of subsection (2) may, for the purposes of subsection (3), be expressed as the cumulative effect of two different minimum proportions, one applying to peak viewing times and the other to other times.

(5) In this section “peak viewing time”, in relation to a licensed public service channel, means a time determined by OFCOM to be, or to be likely to be, a peak viewing time for that channel.

(6) Before determining for the purposes of this section—

(a) the proportion of time to be allocated to the broadcasting of news programmes or current affairs programmes; or

(b) what constitutes a peak viewing time for a channel,

OFCOM must consult the provider of the channel or (as the case may be) the person who is proposing to provide it.

(7) The requirement to consult is satisfied, in the case of the imposition of a condition by way of a variation of a licence, by compliance with section 3(4)(b) of the 1990 Act (obligation to give opportunity to make representations about variation).