TV ADVERTISING:NEW RULES which will clearly state what support RTÉ gets from travel agencies and airlines for its No Frontiersprogramme are to be introduced for the new series from July 18th.
The programme was criticised by the broadcasting watchdog Broadcasting Authority of Ireland following a complaint from Ryanair.
Ryanair said there was a blatant bias in a report broadcast in March about a trip to La Rochelle when the programme highlighted Aer Lingus flights to Bordeaux, which is 200km away, while failing to mention that Ryanair flies direct to La Rochelle.
The authority's compliance committee found the programme amounted to advertising and product placement for Aer Lingus and held No Frontiersto be in breach of its code.
Changes will be made when the summer edition of the programme No Frontiers: 3 Good Reasonsis broadcast from July 18th.
RTÉ said in light of the ruling, it would review what constitutes “undue prominence” given to one product over another and the broadcaster will review the amount of consumer information that is justifiable.
For any sum over €5,000 in terms of benefit-in-kind, such as flights and accommodation, a full frame “Product Place” slide will appear just before any programme is broadcast.
A product placement bug – similar to the station identification which appears in the corner on most TV programmes – will appear on screen after each advertising break and at the end of the credits.
A RTÉ television spokeswoman said the changes were being brought in, not in response to the authority ruling, but as part of new guidelines it is introducing to comply with its General Commercial Communications Code which is designed to control the amount of advertising that appears, deliberately or inadvertently, in programmes.
She also refuted any suggestion of a bias against Ryanair, saying that on the programme broadcast in March, the presenters flew twice with Aer Lingus and twice with Ryanair.
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