Broadcasting Act 1996

30 The qualifying teletext service

(1) If the public teletext provider has notified the Commission under section 2(5) of his intention to provide a teletext service for broadcasting in digital form as a qualifying service, he shall submit to the Commission his proposals for providing that service in compliance with the requirements specified in subsection (3).

(2) The Commission shall give their consent to the provision of the service unless it appears to them that the proposed service would not comply with the requirements specified in subsection (3).

(3) The requirements referred to in subsections (1) and (2) are—

(a) that the service includes a sufficient amount of news items which are of high quality and deal with both national and international matters,

(b) that the service includes a sufficient amount of information which is of particular interest to persons living within different areas for which the service is provided, and

(c) that (taken as whole) the service includes a sufficient amount of information (other than news) which is calculated to appeal to a wide variety of tastes and interests.

(4) Where the Commission have given their consent under subsection (2), they shall vary the relevant licence held by the public teletext provider so as to include such conditions as appear to them to be appropriate—

(a) for imposing on the public teletext provider, in specified circumstances, an obligation to provide the qualifying teletext service, and

(b) for securing that the qualifying teletext service, if provided, accords with the proposals submitted under subsection (1);

and they may include those conditions in any other licence under which the analogue service is subsequently provided.

(5) Sections 6 to 12 of the 1990 Act (general provisions relating to services licensed under Part I of that Act) shall apply in relation to the qualifying teletext service as they apply in relation to the analogue service, but as if the reference in section 12(1)(b) of the 1990 Act to the Commission’s functions under Chapter II of Part I of that Act included a reference to their functions under this Part.

(6) In this section—

• “the analogue service” means the service referred to in section 49(2) of the 1990 Act;

• “the relevant licence” means the additional services licence (within the meaning of Part I of the 1990 Act) under which the analogue service is provided.