Programming changes as the World Cup lands ITV and Sky News in hot water

During the recently concluded World Cup in Germany, ITV did something that it should not have. It switched live coverage to digital from the terrestrial channel whilst a football match was in progress. The incident occurred during a game between Paraguay and South Africa, and it lead to a mid-way switch of the match’s screening from ITV1 to ITV2.

Sky News followed a similar pattern when they broadcast a live news bulletin, pertaining to the World Cup, in which there were audible inputs from fans of English football which included a fair number of swear words.

The trouble with switching from a terrestrial channel to digital is that many viewers do not have access to digital channels and therefore missed the match. Most World Cup football coverage is protected by laws because these events are deemed to be ‘listed events’, according to the Broadcasting Act of 1996.

However, ITV was not made to pay financial penalties since the regulators decided that the portion of the match that was shown in digital was not too much, when taken in context of the entire match.

Nonetheless, the switch during the middle of the match without first applying to the Independent Television Commission amounted to a breach, and so ITV had to face sanctions – albeit not financial ones. The moral of the story is that it never pays to get on the wrong side of the paying public – ever. Not even if you are Sky News or ITV.