Wedding TV rapped by Ofcom for exceeding advertising minutage on over ten occasions
Wedding TV has been told off by Ofcom after it repeatedly broke the Code on the Scheduling of Television Advertising (COSTA) by showing more than 12 minutes worth of adverts in an hour.
Between 6 and 8 December 2011, the channel broke the code of 12 occasions, from being a second over to being a minute and a half over.
At the time, the channel was in administration, and administrators Leonard Curtis Ltd said that overall advertising time for each day was not exceeded as there were fewer commercials in the other clock hours, and the errors occurred because it was a difficult time for staff.
While Ofcom acknowledged the administrators’ statement that the overall advertising for each day was not exceeded, the rules do not permit a broadcaster to average its advertising minutage across a number of clock hours.
The channel was therefore found in breach.