Advanced Television Services Regulations 1996
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1996/3151 |
| Year | 1996 |
1996 No. 3151
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The Advanced Television Services Regulations 1996
Made 17th December 1996
Laid before Parliament 17th December 1996
Coming into force 7th January 1997
The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to measures relating to advanced television services including digital conditional access and subscription management services, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by that section and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:–
PART I
INTRODUCTORY
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Advanced Television Services Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 7th January 1997.
Revocation
2. The Advanced Television Services (Industrial Property Rights) Regulations 19963are hereby revoked.
Interpretation
3.—(1) In these Regulations, “the Directive” means Directive 95/47/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council on the use of standards for the transmission of television signals4, and words and expressions used in these Regulations shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the same meaning as in the Directive.
(2) In these Regulations–
“the 1984 Act” means the Telecommunications Act 19845;
“the 1990 Act” means the Broadcasting Act 19906;
“the 1996 Act” means the Broadcasting Act 19967;
“advanced television services” includes wide-screen television services, high definition television services and television services using fully digital transmission systems;
“the Article 4(e) procedures” has the meaning given by regulation 15(1);
“the BBC” means the British Broadcasting Corporation;
“broadcaster” includes a multiplex operator;
“the Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;
“the Community” means the European Community;
“domestic satellite licence” means a licence granted under section 44 of the 1990 Act;
“essential component” means the smart card or other technological component in electronic or tangible form, which is necessary for the reception of authorisation signals and thus to enable subscribers to view digital television services, in or upon which is mapped the subscriber’s viewing entitlements, for insertion or incorporation into or other interoperation with the decoder;
“the ITC” means the Independent Television Commission;
“local delivery service licence” means both a licence granted under Part II of the 1990 Act and a licence to provide a prescribed diffusion service continuing in force by virtue of section 134 and Part II of Schedule 12 of the 1990 Act;
“multiplex operator” means a person holding a licence granted under Part I of the 1996 Act to provide a multiplex service as defined by section 1(1) of that Act;
“non-domestic satellite licence” means a licence granted under section 45 of the 1990 Act;
“recognised European standardisation body” means the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI);
“rent out” in relation to any television set or other equipment means the first supplying of that set or equipment pursuant to the making of a rental agreement;
“sell” includes transfer by means of conditional sale or hire purchase, and “offer for sale”and “expose for sale” shall be construed accordingly; and
“wide-screen television service” means a television service consisting of programmes produced and edited to be displayed on a wide screen format; and for the purposes of this definition, the 16:9 format is the reference format for wide-format television services, and“wide-screen format”, “wide-screen 16:9 format” and “wide-format services” shall be construed accordingly.
(3) Any provision of these Regulations which is expressed as applying irrespective of the means of transmission of the television services concerned applies whether the services are transmitted by cable, satellite or terrestrial means.
(4) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, and subject to (1) above, words and expressions shall have the same meaning as in the 1984 Act.
(5) A reference in these Regulations to a licence of any description is, save in paragraph 3 of Schedule 1, a reference to a licence of that description whether granted before or after these Regulations come into force, provided however that nothing in these Regulations which has effect as a provision of such a licence shall be taken to have effect in respect of any period before these Regulations come into force.
PART II
ADVANCED TELEVISION SERVICES
Transmission of wide-screen services on digital networks
4.—(1) Any person operating a fully digital transmission network open to the public for the distribution of television services shall have the duty to ensure that that network is capable of distributing wide-format services.
(2) The requirement set out in paragraph (1) above shall have effect as if it was set out as a condition in every licence to run a telecommunication system granted under section 7 of the 1984 Act which authorises (however expressed) the provision of telecommunication services comprising transmission of digital services to viewers.
Standards for transmission systems used by the BBC
5.—(1) This regulation applies to all television services provided by the BBC which–
(a)
(a) are transmitted to viewers in the Community whether by cable, satellite or terrestrial means; and
(b)
(b) which are–
(i) in wide-screen format;
(ii) in high definition and not fully digital.
(2) Without prejudice to section 142 of the 1996 Act (which implements the provisions of Article 2 to the Directive concerning transmission systems in relation to every licensed service as defined in subsection (7) of that section), the BBC shall do all that it can to secure that all television services to which this regulation applies use a transmission system complying with the said Article 2.
Television sets to have open interface
6.—(1) No person shall in the United Kingdom sell or rent out, or offer or expose for sale or rent, a television set to which this regulation applies unless that television set is fitted with at least one open interface socket (as standardised by a recognised European standardisation body, where a standard has been adopted by such a body and is in force) permitting simple connection of peripherals, which includes, without prejudice to the generality thereof, additional decoders and digital receivers.
(2) This regulation applies to any television set with an integral viewing screen of visible diagonal greater than 42 cm except a television set which was put on the market for sale or rent in the Community before 23rd August 1996.
Redistribution by cable of wide-screen services
7.—(1) Wide-screen television services which are received by, and re-distributed on, cable television systems shall be re-distributed on such systems at least in the wide-screen 16:9 format.
(2) The requirement set out in paragraph (1) above shall have effect as if it was set out in every local delivery service licence.
PART III
CONDITIONAL ACCESS
Application and interpretation
8.—(1) This Part applies in relation to conditional access to digital television services broadcast to viewers in the Community, irrespective of the means of transmission.
(2) Schedule 1 to these Regulations shall have effect for the purposes of modifying the application of the 1984 Act in relation to systems by means of which conditional access services are provided to broadcasters.
Requirements for descramblers
9.—(1) No person shall in the United Kingdom sell or rent out, or otherwise make available, or offer or expose for sale or rent or otherwise making available any consumer equipment to which this regulation applies unless that equipment possesses the capability–
(a)
(a) to allow the descrambling of digital television signals according to the common European scrambling algorithm as administered by a recognised European standardisation body; and
(b)
(b) to display signals that have been transmitted in clear provided that, in the event that such equipment is rented, the rentee is in compliance with the relevant rental agreement.
(2) This regulation applies to all consumer equipment capable of descrambling digital television signals which is sold, rented or otherwise made available or is offered for sale or rent or otherwise making available except equipment which was first on the market in the Community before 23rd August 1996.
Transcontrol
10.—(1) It shall be the duty of any person operating a conditional access system on the market to ensure that such system has the necessary technical capability for cost-effective transcontrol at cable head-ends allowing the possibility for full control by cable television operators at local or regional level of the services using such conditional access system.
(2) For the purposes of the following provisions of this regulation–
(a)
(a) the duty referred to in paragraph (1) above is referred to as the primary duty;
(b)
(b) the duty to co-operate, provided for in paragraph (3) below is referred to as the supplemental duty;
(c)
(c) the person upon whom the primary duty is imposed by paragraph (1) above or would be so imposed in the circumstances referred to in paragraph (4) below is referred to as the offeror; and
(d)
(d) the person to whom the primary duty is owed as referred to in paragraph (7) below or would be so owed is...
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