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Alongside the legal framework which regulates the media’s activities, a system of regulation operates to uphold standards of journalism and programme-making and to provide at least a partial remedy for those whose privacy has been invaded by the media. Different bodies currently regulate different branches of the media. Ofcom (the Office of Communications) regulates the content of all television and radio programmes in the United Kingdom except that the BBC retains sole jurisdiction in relation to certain matters broadcast on BBC channels funded by the licence fee. The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) has recently taken over as principal regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry (although a new body, the Independent Monitor for the Press (Impress), has also recently been formed). IPSO replaced the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in September 2014, with which has now ceased to exist, having regulated the print media industry since 1991. These bodies adjudicate upon complaints with reference to codes of practice which media falling within their regulatory remit are required to comply. The Ofcom Broadcasting Code, drawn up and regularly reviewed and revised by Ofcom, is the primary broadcasting code relating to the broadcast of television and radio programme content in the United Kingdom.

The purpose of this chapter is to explain, in the context of telecommunications law and regulation, the regulation by EU and UK law of audiovisual and radio media services. Overarching principles are found in the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which takes an approach described as technologically neutral, but established two top-level categories of regulation, for television (or linear) services and on-demand (or non-linear) services. In the case of television services, a wide range of standalone works and comprehensive Sections or chapters on the regulation of broadcasting are available. As such, the focus here (with a view to the interests of readers) is on licensing of content and multiplex services by Ofcom and the handling of complaints about those services, with a bias towards the standard licences for services on cable, satellite, internet, and digital terrestrial platforms, and the regulation of DTT multiplexes and of on-demand services, as opposed to detailed description of the BBC and the commercial public service broadcasters. Indeed, the European Court of Human Rights has regularly found that the regulation of communications infrastructure can have a real impact on the receiving and imparting of information.