Broadcasting Act 1990

129 Transitional arrangements relating to IBA’s broadcasting services. U.K.

(1) Schedule 11 to this Act shall have effect—

(a) with respect to the provision by the Commission and the Welsh Authority, during the period beginning with the transfer date and ending with 31st December 1992, of television broadcasting services which have been provided by the IBA under the M1 Broadcasting Act 1981 down to the transfer date;

(b) for the purpose of the regulation by the Commission after the end of that period of services provided in succession to the DBS services provided by them during that period; and

(c) in the case of local sound broadcasting services which have been provided by the IBA down to the transfer date—

(i) with respect to the provision of such services on and after that date by the Radio Authority, and

(ii) for the purpose of the regulation by that Authority on and after that date of services provided in succession to such services.

(2) The programmes provided by a programme contractor under his contract for inclusion in any broadcasting service provided by the Commission or the Radio Authority in accordance with Part II or IV of Schedule 11 shall not be transmitted by, or under arrangements made by, the Commission or the Radio Authority (as the case may be) but shall be transmitted—

(a) by the nominated company in pursuance of a contract made between that company and the programme contractor in accordance with section 130, or

(b) under arrangements made in accordance with subsection (3)(a) of that section in a case where any such contract made between a DBS programme contractor and that company is terminated by the contractor as mentioned in that provision.

(3) The programmes broadcast on Channel 4 and S4C respectively during the interim period in accordance with Part II of Schedule 11 shall not be transmitted by, or under arrangements made by, the Commission but shall be transmitted by the nominated company—

(a) in the case of the programmes broadcast on Channel 4, in pursuance of such a contract made between that company and the Channel 4 company as is mentioned in subsection (4), and

(b) in the case of the programmes broadcast on S4C, in pursuance of such a contract made between the nominated company and the Welsh Authority as is mentioned in subsection (6).

(4) The contract referred to in subsection (3)(a) is a contract which makes provision for and in connection with the transmission by the nominated company during the interim period of the programmes to be broadcast on Channel 4 during that period, and in particular makes provision—

(a) for specified standards relating to technical quality, coverage and reliability to be attained in connection with the transmission of those programmes by that company; and

(b) for the transmission of those programmes to be suspended, if the Commission so direct in circumstances falling within subsection (5), for such period, or in the case of such programme or programmes, as they may specify.

(5) The circumstances referred to in subsection (4)(b) are circumstances where the Commission consider it necessary to require the transmission of the programmes in question to be suspended in order for them to comply, or secure compliance, with the provisions of the M2 Broadcasting Act 1981 (as it has effect in accordance with Part II of Schedule 11 to this Act) or with any restriction or requirement imposed thereunder.

(6) The contract referred to in subsection (3)(b) is a contract which makes provision for and in connection with the transmission by the nominated company during the interim period of the programmes to be broadcast on S4C during that period, and in particular makes provision for specified standards relating to technical quality, coverage and reliability to be attained in connection with the transmission of those programmes by that company.

(7) In the following provisions, namely—

(a) Parts II and IV of Schedule 11 to this Act, and

(b) any provision of the M3 Broadcasting Act 1981 which is to be construed as referring to the Commission or to the Radio Authority by virtue of either of those Parts of that Schedule,

any reference (however expressed) to the broadcasting of programmes, or to programmes broadcast, by the Commission or the Radio Authority shall, in consequence of subsections (2) and (3) above, be read as a reference to the broadcasting of programmes, or to programmes broadcast, by that body whether the transmission of the programmes is undertaken (according to the circumstances of the case)—

(i) by, or under arrangements made by, that body, or

(ii) by the nominated company in pursuance of any such contract as is referred to in either of those subsections, or

(iii) under any such arrangements as are referred to in subsection (2)(b);

and those Parts of that Schedule contain other modifications of provisions of that Act which are consequential on those subsections.

(8) This section and section 130 shall have effect in relation to any teletext service provided by the Commission in accordance with Part II of Schedule 11 as if—

(a) any reference to a programme or television programme were a reference to a teletext transmission; and

(b) any reference to a programme contractor were a reference to a teletext contractor.

(9) This section and section 130 shall, in so far as they apply to the transmission of the programmes provided by a DBS programme contractor under his contract for inclusion in any DBS service provided by the Commission in accordance with Part II of Schedule 11, be construed as applying only to the carrying on of such activities in connection with the transmission of those programmes as were being so carried on by the IBA immediately before the transfer date.

(10) In this section—

• “the Channel 4 company” means the body corporate referred to in section 12(2) of the Broadcasting Act 1981, and “on Channel 4” means in the additional broadcasting service referred to in section 10(1) of that Act, but excluding so much of that service as consisted, immediately before the transfer date, in the broadcasting of programmes for reception wholly or mainly in Wales;

• “the interim period” means the period specified in subsection (1)(a) above;

• “on S4C” has the same meaning as in Part I of this Act.

(11) The reference in subsection (4) or (6) to specified standards is a reference to such standards as the IBA shall specify for the purposes of that subsection before the transfer date.

Marginal Citations

M1 1981 c. 68.

M2 1981 c. 68.

M3 1981 c. 68.