26-07-2022, 08:29 AM
(24-07-2022, 10:37 PM)telebox2001 Wrote: All seems very complex. I'm guessing that's why X Factor was ad-break central but programmes around it would have a very light inventory.
Interesting point on overseas live programmes; if ITV had Eurovision, by my interpretation of the rules Ofcom would be happy to let them take the 7 or 8 minute advertising break before the results are unveiled? Same situation for British simulcasts of WWE Wrestling etc?
WWE very dependably take five breaks per hour, so it's quite easy to plan for compared to a lot of other American productions but as those breaks are all usually over three minutes long, they all need some promos in to keep the commercial content below the 12 minutes.
With a lot of American sports you end up sometimes having to drop commercials to keep below the 12 minute clock hour. The rules about overseas live programmes are more about having to follow their break patterns, for example it's not uncommon for the US to take a long break in the build-up to a sporting event, come back live for about 10 seconds just to suddenly go for another long break. And as Brekkie said, the other rules about live events are to allow for things like 30 second breaks between overs in cricket or at the change of ends in tennis, where there wouldn't be time for a full-length break for hours, they're not about taking really long breaks - if an event was taking an eight-minute break, the UK break would be heavily padded out with promos or perhaps even a short filler (though in the context of Eurovision, they're still providing live content so you'd either rejoin at an appropriate point or not take the break at all).