Channel 5 rapped over 'noisy' PS3 credits

Richard Desmond's Channel 5 has been censured by Ofcom for airing "excessively noisy" sponsorship credits for Sony's PlayStation 3 console around Five Movies.

Sony Computer Entertainment agreed a 12-month deal in January with Channel 5 for the PS3 brand to appear alongside primetime movies on Channel 5, 5* and Five USA.

Media regulator Ofcom received 17 complaints about the loudness of the sponsorship credits broadcast around Five Movies between February 3 and March 15.

After conducting technical assessment of the credits, Ofcom found them to be "excessively noisy" and in breach of guidelines that credits should not be louder than any programming on the channel.

Channel 5 said that the technical assessment of all its sponsorship credits, channel promotions and commercials is outsourced to a third-party company, which failed to carry out the appropriate subjective loudness test due to "human error".

After being contacted about the noisy credits by Ofcom on March 15, Channel 5 said that it had removed them from transmission. However, Ofcom received four further complaints about the volume of sponsorship credits around Five Movies between March 20 and March 25, 2011. The regulator conducted more tests and found the credits again to be "excessively noisy".

Channel 5 admitted that the credits were repeated due to "human error" and said it "sincerely regretted" the situation. The broadcaster also stated that it is in the process of upgrading its transmission facilities to reduce the risk of any similar problems in the future.

In its ruling, Ofcom noted that the PS3 sponsorship credits were "too loud in relation to the volume of other elements on the channel", and therefore breached broadcasting guidelines. It accepted that Channel 5 had made steps to rectify the situation, but expressed concern that the error had happened twice.

"Ofcom acknowledges that the broadcaster has a good compliance record in this area and that the original issue occurred due to human error," said the regulator.

"However, Ofcom is concerned that having brought the error to Channel 5's attention, a further human error occurred which meant that not all of the sponsorship credits were withdrawn from transmission and re-processed to make them compliant.

"Ofcom welcomes the fact that Channel 5 is in the process of upgrading its transmission facilities to reduce the risk of any similar issue arising in the future."

In February 2010, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that TV adverts shown during an episode of Sherlock Holmes on ITV3 were so loud that they breached broadcasting guidelines.