Code of practice planned to keep TV advertising within NBTC limits
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THE BROADCASTING regulator is drafting a code of practice on advertising, sponsorship, product placement and tie-ins on TV programmes, as a part of consumer-protection measures and to set a common standard for the industry.
Supinya Klangnarong, a member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said yesterday that the code of practice would be a common guideline for broadcasters, TV production houses, advertising agencies, product owners and related parties in the Bt80-billion broadcasting industry.
After working with the Foundation for Media Literacy, Supinya found that some free-TV broadcasters violated the NBTC’s advertising limits by running more than 12 minutes of commercials per hour or through sponsors’ product placement and tie-ins.
Under NBTC advertising rules, free TV channels, on both the analog and terrestrial digital platforms, are allowed to broadcast commercials up to a total of 12 minutes per hour, while cable and satellite channels are allowed only six minutes per hour.
Supinya said her NBTC committee on consumer-rights protection had received a number of complaints from the public on this matter because the kind of back-door advertising practised by some broadcasters was disturbing them considerably.
“We admit that it is a big challenge to cope with this issue, but we want to set a single standard and guideline for the industry to ensure free and fair competition for all players as well as consumer protection,” she said.
Yesterday Supinya’s team held a workshop with leading media lecturers from Thammasat University, Chiangmai University, Rangsit University, and Hua Chiew Chalermprakiet University to brainstorm about the draft code.
In the workshop, the working team considered whether government agencies’ announcements should be categorised as TV commercials. In fact, TV stations get paid by the government agencies to run such announcements, but the broadcasters believe that they are for public service and should not be counted in the advertising limit.
The team was also working on how to set a proper guideline for product placements and tie-ins for sponsors.
Supinya said that in Britain, news and current-affairs programmes were not allowed to be sponsored by any brands or products, while product placements and tie-ins were not permitted on news and children’s programmes. The broadcasters in Singapore follow similar guidelines.
She added that broadcasters should avoid displaying any sponsor’s logo or brand in news, current-affairs, information and educational, or children’s programmes.
Supinya plans to meet with representatives from the industry such as TV and radio broadcasters, production houses and advertising associations to brainstorm about the code of practice between now and June.
She expects that the code of practice will be complete by the end of the year.
