You TV fined by ITC

The Independent Television Commission has fined You TV £20,000 for "repeated breaches" of the Programme Code and Advertising Standards Code.

The Commission said that despite You TV's "clear" intention to maintain a programming service consistent with a lifestyle channel, it has been airing programming more consistent with that of teleshopping - and thus the ITC said it had "concerns" about commerical influence in its programme lineup.

In a statement today, the ITC explained: "The Commission said that it is unacceptable to try to pass off what were, essentially, advertisements for products as programmes. The Commission was also concerned that profits were made by its sister channel "Shop America" from some of the products featured on You TV's "programmes". The ITC had already warned You TV in the past about blurring the boundaries between programmes and advertising."

Taking specific examples, the Commission said some adverts on the channel were misleading - featuring products such as the ever-popular "Air-O-Space Bed", "Dalton's Straight-shooting Golf" and "Mega Memory". The ITC says two ads for those products had already aired on Shop America and had breached its Advertising Standards Code.

In conclusion, the ITC said: "Taking into account the number and seriousness of the breaches and their repeated nature, the Commission judged that a financial penalty of £20,000 was appropriate. They noted that a company within You TV's group had also profited as a result of one of the Programme Code breaches. You TV admitted their mistakes and apologised for them. They claimed to have put arrangements in place to prevent further compliance failures. The ITC will continue to monitor You TV's performance and will regard further Code breaches as extremely serious."