±«Óătv

Trust publishes conclusions on sponsorship of ±«Óătv on-air events

Date: 15.09.2009     Last updated: 26.11.2014 at 13.05

The ±«Óătv Trust today confirmed that commercial sponsorship will not be allowed for on-air ±«Óătv events.

In July 2008, the ±«Óătv Executive announced that it would take no further commercial sponsorship. This is confirmed today within a revised Sponsorship Policy for ±«Óătv on-air events, published by the ±«Óătv after a public consultation by the Trust. The Trust asked for changes to be made to the ±«Óătv’s sponsorship guidance for ±«Óătv on-air events after the Trust upheld editorial and fair trading appeals about Sports Personality of the Year 2007.

The new policy forbids commercial sponsorship and the associated guidance provides greater clarity for programme makers when considering accepting sponsorship funding for ±«Óătv on-air events. The ±«Óătv’s position on accepting sponsorship can be summarised as follows:

  • All permitted sponsorship of events should further the ±«Óătv’s public purposes and should not give the impression that a ±«Óătv programme has been sponsored;
  • Commercial sponsorship of ±«Óătv on-air events will not continue, although non-commercial sponsorship of on-air events can continue, subject to the new policy and guidance;
  • Off-air ±«Óătv events can be commercially sponsored, but are nevertheless subject to the ±«Óătv’s Editorial Guidelines.

Richard Tait, ±«Óătv Trustee and chair of the Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee, said:

"Sponsorship has a place at the ±«Óătv – it can bring important events into licence fee payers' lives – but producers need to have a very clear understanding about when and how such sponsorship may be accepted in support of the ±«Óătv’s public purposes. That’s what we have set out today.

"In particular we have tried to strike a balance between furthering the public purposes, minimising the impact on the commercial sector and protecting established and well-loved events like Cardiff Singer of the World."

The Trust asked the ±«Óătv Executive to revise the guidance on sponsorship for on-air events following complaints about the broadcast of Sports Personality of the Year in December 2007. This found that the programme had breached editorial and fair trading guidelines. The revised policy was put out for consultation in February this year, and the changes will be reflected immediately in the current guidance.

Notes to editors

Non-±«Óătv events, like sporting fixtures which are sponsored by third parties, can be covered on air by the ±«Óătv in accordance with the ±«Óătv Editorial Guidelines.

The Trust's conclusions on the consultation on the revised sponsorship policy are available here:

The Trust asked RadioCentre if it was happy for its submission to the consultation to be published and RadioCentre agreed. This can be found at the end of the Trust conclusions on the revised sponsorship policy.

More information on the fair trading findings can be found at: Fair trading appeals findings.

Fair trading appeals findings