ITC criticises ITV2 World Cup screening

The ITC has said ITV breached the 1996 Broadcasting Act by screening a World Cup match on ITV2 without prior permission.

The infringement happened on Sunday, June 2 when the second half of the South Africa vs. Paraguay was switched from ITV1 to ITV2 to make way for the England vs. Sweden game to be shown on the ITV1 network. ITV2 is only available on the digital platforms, and viewers watching analogue TV complained when the match was moved to the digital channel.

The 1996 Broadcasting Act requires broadcasters to request advance permission from the ITC to make changes which affect the national broadcasting of major sporting events. In this case, advance permission was not sought. However, the ITC stated: "The ITC accepts that there was probably greater media and public interest in the England game throughout the UK as a whole and that therefore ITV's assessment of their operational needs was understandable. That being said, the Act requires that broadcasters apply to the Commission to make such changes in advance. The decision to move coverage of the match without application to the Commission put the network in breach. However, this is the first instance of the broadcaster failing to fully address its responsibilities in this area. Since the breach related only to a small part of the listed event (i.e. the World Cup as a whole), it was felt that a sanction would not be appropriate on this occasion."