§ 21. Mr. Ness Edwardsasked the Postmaster-General if he is aware that the Sunday paper item transmitted from the 1208 London commercial television station in which the advertiser determines the contents of the programme offends Section 4 (6) and the Second Schedule of the Television Act, 1954, and the Postmaster-General's Rules on Advertising; and what action he proposes to take thereon.
§ Mr. MarplesNo, Sir. The item referred to is an advertisement. It is not a programme but an advertising feature, and clearly recognisable as such. It does not contravene the Television Act. Therefore the second part of the Question does not arise.
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsIs not the right hon. Gentleman aware that it is a 15-minute programme; that it is put forward as a programme item, and that it contravenes his own rules as to the time taken up by advertising matter? In those circumstances, as this is a clear indication of a sponsored programme, will the right hon. Gentleman exercise his authority in the matter?
§ Mr. MarplesMany of the statements made by the right hon. Gentleman are wrong. The Postmaster-General has not laid down the amount of advertising necessary, and this particular item is quite clearly an advertising item. Where the right hon. Gentleman has gone wrong is in this: the Act distinguishes between programmes and advertisements. Section 4 (6) deals with programmes, and the Second Schedule deals with advertisements. The Second Schedule says:
The advertisements must be clearly distinguishable as such and recognisably separate from the rest of the programme.The item referred to in the Question comes within that definition. It is shown as advertising in the T.V. Times. It has an advertisement at the beginning; in the introduction it says that it is an advertisement; at the end it says that it is an advertisement, and about every two or three minutes during the actual item itself it repeats that it is an advertisement.
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsIs not the right hon. Gentleman aware that his predecessor placed in the Library rules as to advertisements and the times between them? If he is not aware of that, he is not fit to hold his job.
§ Mr. MarplesThe right hon. Gentleman is wrong. Of course I am aware 1209 of that, but in his original supplementary the right hon. Gentleman said that these rules were made by the Postmaster-General. They were not; they were laid down by the I.T.A. The only thing this House has said about the length of time of advertising is in paragraph 2 of the Second Schedule, where it says:
The amount of time given to advertising in the programmes shall not be so great as to detract from the value of the programmes as a medium of entertainment, instruction and information.That is all this House has laid down, and the I.T.A. has interpreted it in a reasonable manner.
§ Mr. SpeakerWe cannot debate a matter of this intricacy at Question Time.