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Imagine Dil Se ‘Jhatka’ over sponsorship

Imagine Dil Se has been rapped by Ofcom for sponsorship credits during the series run of ‘Zor Ka Jhatka – Total Wipeout’.

On the day, ‘Zor Ka Jhatka’ launched – Tuesday 1st February, the channel ran an all-day countdown ticker with show name plus sponsors logos on the top its main output.

It was apparent to Ofcom that the trail and these graphics were shown across all of the output on Imagine ��� including advertising breaks ��� up until the time that ‘Zor ka Jhatka’ was shown at 18:00 that day.

The broadcaster acknowledged the appearance of the branding for the two sponsors during “programme time” was against Ofcom�۪s rules. It said the material was assessed by a member of its compliance team ���who interpreted Ofcom�۪s regulations incorrectly.”

Imagine said “the normal procedure would have been to refer the matter to a senior member of our team and compliance manager.” Imagine said the inclusion of branding “was not discussed or agreed between (the broadcaster), its agents and the sponsors…(and) should not have been embedded in the content.”

The broadcaster also said “there was no arrangement or financial gain agreed or received for featuring the countdown�۝ but it had been intended to reflect that Zor ka Jhatka was a “major acquisition for the channel.”

Ofcom ruled that Imagine had breached Rule 9.14 of the Code as the sponsorship credits for ‘Zor ka Jhatka’ on-screen continuously across all output on the channel was a major breach. Ofcom said this was a significant mistake as the sponsorship credits were shown across many hours of programme time. It said, “We would expect a mistake of this nature to have been identified by compliance staff at the channel at the time the material was broadcast, rather than as a result of an Ofcom investigation.”

Ofcom said it was concerned with the broadcaster’s compliance procedures as this was the fourth breach against the channel. Ofcom has put Imagine on notice that it expects the broadcaster to improve its compliance in this area.