UK election could spell advertising rule changes

British commercial broadcasters could be boosted by a change in advertising laws if the Conservative Party wins the country’s next general election.

Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said that it would consider allowing broadcasters ITV , Channel 4 and Five to sell more ads in peaktime, which could bring in an additional £40m (€44.6m) per year.

Hunt added that it would also consider revising the rules governing the Contract Rights Renewal system, which governs how much ITV can charge for their ads, and that it would work with regulator Ofcom on any changes.

A Conservative government would have widespread ramifications for the UK media sector. Current secretary of state for Culture Media and Sport Ben Bradshaw said that the Conservative Party would undermine the role of public broadcaster the BBC. Writing in the newsletter of indie producers association PACT, Bradshaw noted: “The Conservatives’ proposal to tear up the licence fee and slash the size of the BBC would be disastrous for public service broadcasting and damaging for independent producers who work with the BBC.”