Foxtel breaches political ad rule

A Marriage Equality ad that ran in commercial breaks during The Bolt Report has been ruled as political content by the media watchdog.

But Foxtel’s broadcast failed to indicate who had authorised the broadcast, leaving the Pay TV provider in breach of the Broadcasting Services Act.

The Equality Campaign’s ‘Marriage Equality: It’s only fair’ series comprised a 30-second advertisement broadcast last month on SKY News Live during a program break in The Bolt Report and a 13-second information ticker looped across the bottom of the screen alongside news headlines and sports results.

Foxtel did not protest the ruling, admitting the absence of the required particulars was inadvertent.

Foxtel has undertaken to work with producers of programming and sales agents on broadcasting political matter, and has implemented additional compliance controls to ensure channels not owned or operated by Foxtel also meet their obligations.

The finding follows TEN being slapped over an anti-abortion campaign which was also deemed to be political comment, by the media watchdog last month.