New regulations coming into force on 1 July are set to tackle the longstanding and persistent problem of surreptitious advertising on Maltese television, where presenters and guests on television shows are very often seen pitching their own products and services during commercial breaks.
The new rules are, however, expected to run against the grain of the industry’s long-standing practice, which is often used to grease the wheels of production houses’ advertising machines.
The new regulations will not only tackle commercial considerations that are currently and many times blatantly afforded to presenters and guests, but also to consumer products.
While presenters and guests will no longer be allowed to feature in adverts within the same programme’s schedule, products or services featured in an informative clip or feature will also no longer be permitted to be advertised in the first batch of commercials that follow immediately afterward.
“The Broadcasting Authority came up with these new regulations with the idea of creating a distinct separation between content and advertising,” BA chief executive officer Pierre Cassar explains in an interview being carried in tomorrow’s edition of The Malta Independent.
He adds, “We will be making sure that viewers are aware of what is pure information and content, and what is advertising. We have introduced a number of new measures, which were not necessarily well met by local production houses for the simple reason that most of them claim they already had certain (commercial) agreements in force and that the new regulations would play havoc with what they had negotiated.”
As a sort of compromise, the BA agreed to postpone the implementation of the new rules until 1 July, which the BA feels has left broadcasters with enough time to familiarise themselves with the new regulations and to wind down any existing commercial arrangements.
While examples are numerous, Mr Cassar provides the example of a beautician on a daytime programme. “We need to ensure the advertising break does not include that same person carrying an advertisement, and that what is information remains information and what constitutes advertising remains advertising. This line was blurred and is one of the main points we are stressing with broadcasters.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Cassar discusses a raft of other issues ranging from the BA’s concern over the misuse of the Maltese language on television and radio, to the prospects for the relatively new area of satellite television licences, and from nurturing a “drastic leap in quality” in Maltese broadcasting to next year’s analogue switchover and how, exactly, Maltese audiences are to retain their right to free-to-air channels.