Burnham: No relaxation on product placement rules

Andy Burnham

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Media secretary Andy Burnham has told broadcasters that he will not relax the rules to allow them to boost their declining revenues by introducing product placement.

Speaking ahead of formal consultation on the Europe-wide directive on the issue, Burnham said product placement would erode British TV's integrity and accelerate viewers' declining trust in the medium.

In a speech to the DCMS' cross-industry Convergence Think Tank this morning, Burnham acknowledged that there was growing pressure from the industry to relax product placement rules.

But he said: "Here and now I do want to signal that I think that there are some lines that we should not cross, one of which is that you can buy the space between the programmes on commercial channels, but not the space within them.

"British programming has an integrity that is revered around the world and I do not think we should put that hard-won reputation up for sale."

The minister acknowledged changes lay ahead but said that standards had to be maintained.

The government is obliged to sound out broadcasters' views on product placement as part of its consideration of a proposed European directive, The Audio Visual Media Services Directive.

EU member states will make individual decisions on the issue. The UK's consultation will get underway this summer and the government is due to give its response next year.

If the UK decides to rule out product placement, it will have to introduce new legislation to sit alongside Ofcom's broadcasting code by the end of 2009.

In effect, Burnham was making clear that while he will listen to views aired during the consultation, he has already decided not to accept the Directive.

He told the seminar: "I can see the arguments and benefits of product placement and understand why people feel it is an inevitability given the pressures they are under. But I can also see the costs, There is a risk that product placement exacerbates declining trust. There is a risk that, at the very moment when television needs to do all it can to show its bona fides, that we elide the distinction between programmes and adverts.

"As a viewer, I do not want to feel the script has written by the commercial marketing director.

"If [The Royle Family's] Jim Royle gets out of his chair for a KitKat, I want to think 'he fancies a KitKat' -  not 'KitKat my arse'. If I thought it was because someone has paid for him to eat one, it would change the way I felt about the programme."

Burnham also made clear he took the same uncompromising attitude about maintaining impartiality and accuracy in TV news.

He said he was surprised recently when the Conservative party proposed the removal of impartiality requirements for non-PSB TV news.

"Standards are what have kept British broadcasting valued, celebrated and trusted in the UK and around the world. I think they are becoming more, not less, important to traditional print and broadcast media as we look to the future.

"Being trusted has never been more important. People are still heavily relying on TV news, despite the explosion in information sources, and trust is what people value most, particularly in news, as phase one of Ofcom's PSB review recently found.

"People both at home and abroad look to British programming because they understand that it is produced to high standards, meaning they know they can trust what they are seeing and hearing.

"Standards are part of Britain's brand when it comes to world markets. If we chip away at these standards in response to short-term pressures, we risk changing forever how people at home and abroad think and feel about original British programming."

The convergence think tank is to report to ministers early in 2009 and is free to recommend new legislation if it feels it is necessary.

Burnham told Broadcast he had an "open mind" on whether any proposed legislation should be introduced before or after the next general election.