Broadcasting Act 1990

130 Variation of programme contracts to take account of new transmission arrangements. U.K.

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (4), it shall be the duty of the IBA to make before the transfer date such variations of each contract between them and a programme contractor (“the programme contract”) as appear to them to be appropriate—

(a) for requiring the programme contractor to enter into a contract with the nominated company which makes provision for and in connection with the transmission by that company during the interim period of the programmes which the programme contractor has the right and the duty to provide under the programme contract, and in particular makes provision—

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

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

(iii) where the programme contractor is a TV programme contractor, for the consideration payable in respect of the transmission of those programmes to be payable in accordance with subsection (6); and

(b) for securing that the right and the duty of the programme contractor under the programme contract to provide those programmes is accordingly (so long as any such contract with the nominated company remains in force) a right and a duty to provide them for transmission by that company.

(2) Subsection (1) shall apply to a contract for the provision of television programmes for broadcasting in a DBS service (“a DBS programme contract”) as if—

(a) the reference to coverage in paragraph (a)(i) were omitted; and

(b) for paragraph (a)(iii) there were substituted—

“(iii) for the programme contractor to be entitled to terminate the contract if he is notified by the Commission that they are satisfied that the standards referred to in sub-paragraph (i) are not being attained as mentioned in that sub-paragraph;”.

(3) The IBA shall, in the case of any DBS programme contract, make before the transfer date such variations of the contract as appear to them to be appropriate—

(a) for requiring the DBS programme contractor, if he terminates his contract with the nominated company under any provision included in the contract in consequence of subsection (2)(b), to make such arrangements as the Commission may approve for and in connection with the transmission during the interim period of the programmes which he has the right and the duty to provide under the DBS programme contract, being arrangements under which—

(i) specified standards relating to technical quality and reliability are to be attained in connection with the transmission of those programmes under the arrangements, and

(ii) the transmission of those programmes is 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; and

(b) for securing that the right and the duty of the programme contractor under the DBS programme contract to provide those programmes is accordingly (so long as any such arrangements remain in force) a right and a duty to provide them for transmission under the arrangements.

(4) Subsection (1) shall apply to a contract for the provision of local sound broadcasts as if the reference to the interim period were a reference to the remainder of the period for which the contract continues in force by virtue of paragraph 2(1) in Part IV of Schedule 11; and that subsection accordingly does not apply to any such contract if—

(a) the programme contractor notifies the IBA, before such date as they shall determine, that he proposes to request the Radio Authority to determine the contract as from the transfer date in accordance with paragraph 1(1) in Part V of that Schedule; or

(b) the contract is one to which paragraph 2(1) in that Part of that Schedule would apply on the transfer date.

(5) The circumstances referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) of subsection (1) or (3) are circumstances where the relevant authority or (as the case may be) the Commission consider it necessary to require the transmission of the programmes in question to be suspended—

(a) in order for them to comply, or secure compliance, with the provisions of the M1 Broadcasting Act 1981 (as it has effect in accordance with Schedule 11 to this Act) or with any restriction or requirement imposed thereunder, or

(b) in view of any matter which they consider constitutes or would constitute a breach of the programme contractor’s contract.

(6) The IBA shall make before the transfer date such variations of each contract between them and a TV programme contractor as appear to them to be appropriate for requiring the programme contractor to enter into an agreement with all of the other TV programme contractors which—

(a) relates to the payment by those contractors to the nominated company of the consideration payable by them in respect of the transmission by that company of the programmes provided by them; and

(b) provides for the amounts payable by each of the contractors to be such proportion of the total consideration so payable as corresponds to the proportion of the relevant amount which he was liable to pay by virtue of section 32(1)(a) of the Broadcasting Act 1981 (rental payments) in respect of the period beginning with 1st April 1990 and ending with the transfer date;

and in paragraph (b) “the relevant amount” means the aggregate amount of all payments falling to be made by TV programme contractors by virtue of section 32(1)(a) of that Act in respect of that period (excluding any payments falling to be so made in consequence of section 13(2) of that Act (advertisements on Channel 4)).

(7) The IBA shall, in the case of each such contract as is mentioned in subsection (6), also make before the transfer date such variations of the contract as appear to them to be appropriate in consequence of section 129(3).

(8) In this section—

• “the interim period” means the period specified in section 129(1)(a);

• “the relevant authority”—

(a) in relation to any such contract as is mentioned in subsection (1)(a) which relates to the transmission of television programmes, means the Commission, and

(b) in relation to any such contract which relates to the transmission of local sound broadcasts, means the Radio Authority;

and section 129(8) and (9) apply for the purposes of this section.

(9) Any reference in subsection (1) or (3) to specified standards is a reference to such standards as the IBA shall specify for the purposes of that subsection before the transfer date; and different standards may be so specified for the purposes of subsection (1) in relation to programme contractors of different descriptions.

Marginal Citations

M1 1981 c. 68.