Advertisements (Hansard, 18 March 1959)

§ 2. Mr. Chapman
asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the habit has now grown up in Independent Television of selling advertising space in connection with particular programmes and that writers are then told that a break must be arranged in the programme to 374 allow them to be inserted; and whether he will issue regulations under Section 4 (4) of the Television Act to prevent this manufacture of breaks for advertising.

§ Mr. K. Thompson
The Independent Television Authority must ensure that rules 1 and 3 of the Second Schedule of the Television Act are complied with.

§ Mr. Chapman
Is not the hon. Gentleman aware of the assurances given to the House when the Television Act was being discussed that the deliberate manufacture of breaks for advertisements would be watched for and stopped? Is he aware that the manufacture of breaks is now almost universal, and that when it is considered a good idea to include advertising time in a particular programme, the writer or lecturer concerned is told that there must be a break? Is not that contrary to what we were led to expect?

§ Mr. Thompson
I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman is right to say that, but were it so, it illustrates perhaps better than anything else, the difficulty of defining a natural break to the satisfaction of everyone.

§ Mr. Wade
Will the hon. Gentleman ask his right hon. Friend to initiate an impartial inquiry into this whole subject of breaks for advertisements, since they seem to have grown to such an extent that they are contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the law, and would appear to be contrary to the general principles laid down by the Government when the Television Act was before Parliament?

§ Mr. Thompson
That is a matter of opinion. I know that opinion is held by some hon. Members, but my right hon. Friend does not share it.

§ Mr. Ness Edwards
Has the hon. Gentleman seen the letter in The Times yesterday which gave evidence about the reaction of viewers to these unnatural breaks?

§ Mr. Thompson
There are so many different channels of communicating reactions that my right hon. Friend would find himself more confounded than helped if he tried to follow them all.

§ 11. Mr. Chapman
asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the Independent Television Authority has now defined natural breaks for advertisements 375 during films as when there is a significant change of scene or lapse of time; and whether, in view of public criticism, he will initiate consultations with the Authority under Section 4 (4) of the Television Act, with a view to defining similarly in regulations the breaks which may and may not be used for advertising in other types of programme.

§ Mr. K. Thompson
I am informed that the Authority does not consider that the definition referred to by the hon. Member is intended to be all-embracing in regard to all films. It is often a matter of opinion what constitutes a lapse of time or a significant change of scene. The criterion must always be that breaks in programmes shall be natural ones.
The answer to the second part of the Question is "No, Sir."

§ Mr. Chapman
Cannot the hon. Gentleman go some way to meet us? Is not it bad for the public service that Members of Parliament must continue to put down Questions in the House of Commons alleging that these people are breaking the law and be told across the Chamber that they are breaking the law? Would not it be better to get agreement on what the law is and how the Act has to be interpreted? Then we should not have this distasteful necessity of having to put down these Questions.

§ Mr. Thompson
If it is the natural break which the hon. Member has in mind, I can only say that he presupposes that it is easy to define what break is satisfactory and acceptable. In fact, it is not. If it had been, it would have been done long ago. I can assure the House that when any charge of failure to observe the Act is brought to notice we take the greatest care to see that it is followed up.