GUIDELINES FOR THE ACCEPTANCE ON RTÉ BROADCASTING SERVICES OF ADVERTISING FOR COMPETING RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICES

General

RTÉ is committed to observing the principle of fair competition within the broadcast and online market in Ireland. RTÉ will accept advertising for competing radio, television and online services on its radio, television, and online properties in accordance with the guidelines set out below. These represent the present advertising guidelines and may be subject to change. Final decision of acceptability of advertising copy as in all cases rests with RTÉ.

Television Advertising

Advertisements for competing television advertising services on RTÉ Television must

1. Be generic in nature referring in general to the television service.
2. They should not refer to specific programmes or events, dates, days, times of transmission of any programme or to any specific presenters or station . The inclusion of a visual on-screen super with the programme/movie title shall not breach this guideline provided the programme also not being or planned to be transmitted by RTÉ. However, no audio mentions of programmes/movie titles are permitted.
3. Advertisements should not implicitly or explicitly either denigrate or claim superiority over any other broadcasting service nor should they exhort viewers to switch television channels.
4. Advertisements taking to form of full or partial programme schedules for any particular day or period of days will not be permitted

Advertisements for competing radio advertising services, on RTÉ Television, must:

1. Not be perceived as providing full or partial programme schedules but may mention specific programmes.
2. Any mention of dates or times is not permitted.
3. Advertisements should not implicitly or explicitly either denigrate or claim superiority over any other broadcasting service nor should they exhort viewers to switch radio channels

For the avoidance of doubt, competing radio advertising services includes podcasting services, radio or musical content listened to live or catch up on a device over an IP connection.

Advertisements for competing online video advertising services, on RTÉ Television, must:

1. Not be perceived as providing full or partial programme schedules (live or on-demand) but may mention a specific programme.
2. Any mention of specific dates and times is not permitted (e.g. xth Month, This Tuesday).
3. Not Advertise superiority over any other competing online service nor should they exhort viewers to switch service.

Radio Advertising

For the avoidance of doubt, competing radio advertising services includes podcasting services, radio or musical content listened to live or catch up on device over an IP connection.

Advertisements for competing radio advertising services, on RTÉ Radio, must:

1. Be generic in nature referring in general terms to the radio service
2. They should not refer to specific programmes or events, days, dates, times of transmission of any programme or to specific presenters or station personalities
3. Advertisements should not implicitly or explicitly ether denigrate or claim superiority over any other broadcasting service nor should they exhort radio listeners to switch radio channels
4. Advertisements taking the form of full or partial programme schedules for any particular day or period of days are not permitted.

Advertisements for competing television advertising services, on RTÉ Radio, must:

1. Not be perceived as providing full or partial programme schedules but may mention a specific programme
2. Any mention of dates or time is prohibited but days are permitted (e.g. Tuesday)
3. Advertisements should not implicitly or explicitly either denigrate or claim superiority over any other broadcasting service nor should they exhort listeners to switch television channels.

Advertisements for competing online video advertising services on RTÉ Radio must

1. Not be perceived as providing full or partial programme schedules (live or on-demand) but may mention a specific programme
2. Any mention of specific dates and times is prohibited
3. Advertisements should not implicitly or explicitly either denigrate or claim superiority over any other broadcasting service nor should they exhort viewers to switch online services

ONLINE ADVERTISING

Advertisements for competing online services on RTÉ online platforms (RTÉ Player, RTÉ.ie etc) must

1. Be generic in nature referring in general terms to the online service but may mention specific programmes.
2. They should not refer to specific events, days, dates, times of transmission of any programme or to specific presenters or station personalities.
3. Advertisements should not implicitly or explicitly either denigrate or claim superiority over any other online service nor should they exhort online viewers to switch platforms
4. Advertisements taking the form of full or partial programme schedules (live or on-demand) for any particular day or period of days will not be permitted.

Advertisements for competing radio advertising services on RTÉ Online properties must

1. Not be perceived as providing full or partial programme schedules but may mention specific programmes
2. Any mention of dates times is not permitted
3. Advertisements should not implicitly or explicitly either denigrate or claim superiority over any other broadcasting service nor should they exhort viewers to switch radio channels

For the avoidance of doubt, competing radio advertising services includes podcasting services, radio or musical content listened to live or catch up on device over an IP connection.

Advertisements for competing television advertising services on RTÉ Online services must

1. Not be perceived as providing full or partial programme schedules but may mention a specific programme
2. Any mention of dates or time is prohibited but days are permissible (e.g. Tuesday)
3. Advertisements should not implicitly or explicitly either denigrate or claim superiority over any other broadcasting service nor should they exhort listeners to switch channels

December 2020