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ATN Bangla rapped for sponsorship breach

ATN Bangla
ATN Bangla

Ofcom has rapped ATN Bangla for a sponsorship breach in June 2015.

In its monitoring, Ofcom noted sponsorship credits for Salma Designer Abaya House, Square Glazing, Marble Furnishing, Hillside Travels and Hamlet Solicitors around the programme My Iftar My Health. The credits for each company included the full postal address and telephone number.

ATN Bangla said that the sponsorship ��cards�۪ were created to ensure compliance with Rule 9.22(a) by reducing the cards to ��centre pockets�۪ (i.e. occupying a central section rather than the entire screen) to make advertising messages indistinguishable. In addition, it said that the text ���Sponsor By�۝ was displayed by the cards to ensure they were distinct from advertising. It added that following the contact from Ofcom it had reviewed the sponsorship credits and realised the information identified above was ���visible from close proximity if watched on a laptop or desktop�۝, but it believed these credits ���were not legible for television viewers as the size of the text were reduced profoundly�۝.

Ofcom noted the Licensee�۪s view that the text of these credits would not be legible to television viewers. Ofcom considered that the text was sufficiently discernible to be identifiable to viewers, and given the above, all five of the sponsorship credits in this case were in breach of Rule 9.22(a). Ofcom is already investigating the sufficiency of the ATN Bangla’s compliance arrangements (Licence Condition 17(2)) and will take account of this case in reaching a decision in that investigation.