Date   : Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:13:37 +0100
From   : robert@... (Rob)
Subject: Fw: Fwd: ITV Teletext to shut down in January

On 18/07/2009, Rick Murray <rick@...> wrote:
>
> You know, I'm surprised they have not tried picture-in-picture to
> overlay adverts of DFS sofas and hair care products in the upper right
> corner of the screen while you are supposed to be enjoying Gossip Girl?
> Hell, with this modern technology they could have static adverts appear
> every other minute with you pressing the BLUE key to remove them.
> Aaargh! Our FreeSat boxes would need a pop-up killer patch!

Ah, now that one I know about - they can't do it. EU broadcasting
rules, as enforced by OfCom. They are only allowed so many minutes of
advertising per hour, for a start, and there has to be a "clear
seperation" of adverts and programming.  (hence why you often get
channel idents between ads and programmes or trailers)  So, you can't
have anything on-screen that is not relevant to the programme.  (e.g.
Sky fell foul of this rule by simply having "Skytravel.co.uk" in the
DOG atop all programming on said channel! One enquiry to OfCom about
it, and it was immediately pulled for breaking the rules, as the
website was not directly relevant to the programmes it was shown
over.)

Rob.