Adverts during film on Sky Showcase

[Marlu-Nyu]

---

@xenon81 wrote:

---

@Marlu-Nyu wrote:

---

@AJSt wrote:

Has anyone experienced adverts during a film showing on Sky Showcase.

We were watching 'A Boy Called Christmas' when about 20 minutes in, there was a set of four or five adverts. The same again about half way through. Is this something that Sky has started to do?

---

in the UK, adverts are allowed to be 12 minutes per day or 15 minutes if spread out during the day.

---

No, that's incorrect. There is a fixed limit of 12 minutes per hour set by Ofcom. Channels can not go over this.

Time devoted to television advertising and teleshopping spots on any channel in any clock hour must not exceed 12 minutes

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/other... 

---

"in the UK, adverts are allowed to be 12 minutes per day or 15 minutes if spread out during the day."

This is obviously a typo. I meant "12 minutes per hour or 15 minutes [per hour] if spread out during the day.

[xenon81]

That's still incorrect. The maximum limit set by Ofcom is 12 minutes per hour as shown in the Ofcom code on advertising scheduling liked to earlier. No channel can show any more than 12 minutes in any hour.

[Maniatore2006]

That should be Zero Minutes when it breaks a Movie or a series with ads, but i guess the Brits knows it not better, because it is so since the early 90s with SKY.. 😄

On the Other hand, my Old FreeView Card is Since 20.12 2025 Parcial Activatet again ^^ SKY Cinema and Spots... ^^ 8 of 11 Cinema Channels and All SKY Sports Channels..

Promotion, Demo, who knows? i enjoy free Movies. 😂

[Marlu-Nyu]

---

@xenon81 wrote:

That's still incorrect. The maximum limit set by Ofcom is 12 minutes per hour as shown in the Ofcom code on advertising scheduling liked to earlier. No channel can show any more than 12 minutes in any hour.

---

You're right, old Ofcom rules allowed up to 15 minutes. I got confused with broadcasters' generally allow up to 8 minutes of adverts at one time during peak times. 

[Marlu-Nyu]

---

@Maniatore2006 wrote:

That should be Zero Minutes when it breaks a Movie or a series with ads, but i guess the Brits knows it not better, because it is so since the early 90s with SKY.. 😄

On the Other hand, my Old FreeView Card is Since 20.12 2025 Parcial Activatet again ^^ SKY Cinema and Spots... ^^ 8 of 11 Cinema Channels and All SKY Sports Channels..

Promotion, Demo, who knows? i enjoy free Movies. 😂

---

Well done for telling everyone, including Sky. I assume that all Freeview/sat for Sky cards will be deactivated in January when the majority of Sky staff are back. 

Also, Ofcom does not state how long one advert section can be, so on Sky Cinema, they use up the full 12 minutes per hour between movies. If a movie ends at around 48 minutes after the hour (e.g. 12:48), they will show the full 12 minutes that they're allowed for that hour (12:00-12:59), then they'll show The Cinema List then show another bunch of ads for the next hour (13:00-13:59), until the next movie starts at around 10 or 15 minutes past the hour (e.g. 12:10). So a full 24 minutes of adverts, which they are legally allowed to do as each 12 minute block is in different hours.

They did it today on Sky Cinema Sci-Fi & Horror.

[xenon81]

---

@Marlu-Nyu wrote:

---

@xenon81 wrote:

That's still incorrect. The maximum limit set by Ofcom is 12 minutes per hour as shown in the Ofcom code on advertising scheduling liked to earlier. No channel can show any more than 12 minutes in any hour.

---

You're right, old Ofcom rules allowed up to 15 minutes. I got confused with broadcasters' generally allow up to 8 minutes of adverts at one time during peak times. 

---

15 minutes was never allowed; 12 minutes was set as the maximum by the EU when Britain was a member, and has carried over into Ofcom rules since. 

[Marlu-Nyu]

---

@xenon81 wrote:

---

@Marlu-Nyu wrote:

---

@xenon81 wrote:

That's still incorrect. The maximum limit set by Ofcom is 12 minutes per hour as shown in the Ofcom code on advertising scheduling liked to earlier. No channel can show any more than 12 minutes in any hour.

---

You're right, old Ofcom rules allowed up to 15 minutes. I got confused with broadcasters' generally allow up to 8 minutes of adverts at one time during peak times. 

---

15 minutes was never allowed; 12 minutes was set as the maximum by the EU when Britain was a member, and has carried over into Ofcom rules since. 

---

If a channel is registered in the EU, they are allowed to broadcast anywhere in the EU, but must follow the rules of the country they are registered in. So maybe Ofcom didn't allow 15 minutes, but if they previously registered in Luxembourg when the UK was in the EU, they could broadcast up to 15 minutes per hour of adverts.

Channels from Sky, Channel 4 and ITV (for ITV3 and ITV4 on other providers (I think Virgin Media?)), and a few others that are broadcasting in Ireland have licences from Luxembourg. So these channels must follow rules and laws from Luxembourg (which are more lenient than Ireland) and Luxembourg allows 15 minutes of adverts per hour.

I don't know if it's done, but channels registered in Luxembourg might have longer ads for the UK and Ireland, where broadcasting to the UK, they might put extra channel promos in instead, though I haven't noticed it. Channels promos aren't classed as "ads". 

However, Irish channels such as from RTÉ and Virgin Media Television are licenced in Ireland and must follow Ireland rules of 12 minutes of adverts per hour. But legally, if they wanted, RTÉ and Virgin Media Television could broadcast anywhere in the EU with an additional licence, but must follow Ireland rules.

[Veii]

This is the UK. Here we pay to watch channels with and without ads (BBC, ITV etc) via a TV Licence (tax) and we also pay extra to satellite or cable companies to watch adverts on their channels. 

Apart from youngsters, my grown kids who are all in their 20s now just use a few apps and barely know what an advert is.... 🙂

[Marlu-Nyu]

---

@Veii wrote:

This is the UK. Here we pay to watch channels with and without ads (BBC, ITV etc) via a TV Licence (tax) and we also pay extra to satellite or cable companies to watch adverts on their channels. 

Apart from youngsters, my grown kids who are all in their 20s now just use a few apps and barely know what an advert is.... 🙂

---

Side note: This is the UK and Ireland as Sky operates in both. 

[xenon81]

---

@Marlu-Nyu wrote:

---

@xenon81 wrote:

---

@Marlu-Nyu wrote:

---

@xenon81 wrote:

That's still incorrect. The maximum limit set by Ofcom is 12 minutes per hour as shown in the Ofcom code on advertising scheduling liked to earlier. No channel can show any more than 12 minutes in any hour.

---

You're right, old Ofcom rules allowed up to 15 minutes. I got confused with broadcasters' generally allow up to 8 minutes of adverts at one time during peak times. 

---

15 minutes was never allowed; 12 minutes was set as the maximum by the EU when Britain was a member, and has carried over into Ofcom rules since. 

---

If a channel is registered in the EU, they are allowed to broadcast anywhere in the EU, but must follow the rules of the country they are registered in. So maybe Ofcom didn't allow 15 minutes, but if they previously registered in Luxembourg when the UK was in the EU, they could broadcast up to 15 minutes per hour of adverts.

---

No they couldn't, as the limit set by the EU was 12 minutes. 15 minutes of advertising has never been allowed in the EU. The current broadcasting regulations in Luxembourg allow advertising to take up 20% of an hour; and 20% of an hour = 12 minutes.