AMERICAS: URUGUAY
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“WE’LL BE RIGHT BACK, AFTER THESE MESSAGES…”
Author: Stephania Bresque, Ferrere Abogados
The Regulatory Agency on Communication Services, the Uruguayan competent regulator to control the compliance with media and telecommunications regulation, recently revealed the results of a study carried out by an auditing company. Such study proved that most TV channels are exceeding the amounts of minutes permitted for advertising during commercial breaks, and, consequently, not complying with the applicable regulation.
The study performed demonstrated that the time spent on the ads broadcasted on TV exceeded by 15 minutes per hour the time established by the decree in force on the matter. This breach could result in sanctions to the TV channels, which may go from a warning to a series of fines, and ultimately, if the company persists with the non-compliance, the companies run the risk of being removed from the TV waves.
In the future, this could lead to stricter differentiation between TV Programming and regular advertising (not related to TV programming).