Alcohol Ban Threatens Televised Sport

Charity Alcohol Concern has arranged a Parliamentary session with the government
to discuss a pre-9pm ban on alcohol TV advertising – a move that would cripple
broadcasters looking to pull in revenue from their live sports coverage.

Buoyed by the success of anti-junk food lobbyists, Alcohol Concern has lined
up a discussion in Parliament on 12 December to look at a pre-watershed ban on
alcohol advertising. The move is in a similar vein to the ruling earlier this
month from regulator Ofcom which significantly limited the advertising of junk
food brands to under 16 year-olds.

Should such a ban be enforced it would mean that alcohol brands would be
unable to advertise around any sports event taking place in the afternoon, as
well as the first half of evening games. Barclays Premiership and international
football, domestic and international rugby, and Formula One would all be
significantly affected by the ban.

With a precedent now set following Ofcom’s junk food advertising ruling,
Alcohol Concern’s ability to push through the ban has increased significantly.

Any ban would have a stifling effect on broadcasters such as ITV and Sky who
rely heavily on alcohol brands for advertising revenue around sports coverage.
Brands such as Guinness, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Carling and Heineken – all major
sport sponsors – would be affected by a pre-watershed ban.

Frank Soodeen, campaigns officer at Alcohol Concern, said: ‘For some time now
we’ve been calling for a pre-watershed ban on alcohol advertising but it’s only
now, with Ofcom taking a more robust approach to their child protection
obligations, that there might be the space to get this through.

‘Members of the all-party group on alcohol misuse will be gathering on the
12th to thrash out the some of the political arguments on either side and we
should be in a better position afterwards to judge the climate. But we’re
certainly very optimistic.’