Communications Act 2003

News and current affairs programmes

9 (1) It shall be the duty of the Welsh Authority, in relation to their designated public services, to secure—

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

(b) that the news programmes and current affairs programmes included in each service 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 service is provided.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Welsh Authority, in relation to each of their designated public services, to ensure that the news programmes and current affairs programmes included in each service are of high quality.

(3) It shall also be the duty of the Welsh Authority, in relation to each of their designated public services, to secure 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 the proportion fixed under sub-paragraph (5) of the time allocated to the broadcasting of all the programmes included in the service.

(4) It is the further duty of the Welsh Authority, in relation to each of their designated public services, to secure 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 the manner fixed under sub-paragraph (5), between peak viewing times and other times.

(5) The fixing for the purposes of sub-paragraph (3) or (4) of a proportion or manner of splitting allocated time is to be—

(a) by agreement between the Welsh Authority and OFCOM; or

(b) in default of agreement, by a direction given by OFCOM to the Authority fixing the proportion or manner according to whatever OFCOM consider appropriate.

(6) The agreement or direction may, for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4), fix a proportion for the purposes of sub-paragraph (3) in terms of the cumulative effect of two different minimum proportions, one applying to peak viewing times and the other to other times.

(7) The services that are designated public services for the purposes of this paragraph are—

(a) S4C;

(b) S4C Digital; and

(c) any of the Welsh Authority’s other public television services which is designated for the purposes of this paragraph by the order under section 205 approving its provision.

(8) In this paragraph “peak viewing time”, in relation to a service, means a time that is determined in accordance with sub-paragraph (9) to be a peak viewing time for that service.

(9) The determination for the purposes of this paragraph of a peak viewing time is to be—

(a) by agreement between the Welsh Authority and OFCOM; or

(b) in default of agreement, by a direction given by OFCOM to the Authority determining that time.