Product placement debate still on

Media secretary Andy Burnham has assured MPs that the debate on product placement is not dead and that he will listen to arguments for allowing it on British TV.

The minster has come under fire for appearing to pre-empt the UK government's consultation on the European Union Audio Visual media service directive which would allow some product placement on commercial TV.

John Whittingdale, Tory chair of the Commons Media Select Committee told Burnham that his speech to the Convergence Think Tank had provoked "concern" and "appears to rule out the possibility of taking advantage of the directive."

Whittingdale said: "If he has made up his mind on the issue, what it is the point of having a consultation on it?"

Burnham, replying during media questions in the Commonns, said: "Although I have made my initial preference clear I am prepared to hear other sides of the debate.

"The government often conducts a consultation on the back of a preference – a clearly stated view – and that is what I did in the instance.

I take the view that British TV has benefitted from having standards and integrity, and that it has an international reputation for that. I further take the view that, especially when we contemplate the pressure that commercial TV may face in the future, we in this country should think about allowing the space between programmes to be sold, and not the space within them.

"I don believe the British viewers want to think that the hand of the ad sales director might have been at play in editorial decisions. That is my preference, but I said in my speech that I understood that others would say there are benefits to product placement.

"We will conduct the consultation, and although I have made my initial preference clear, I am prepared to hear other sides of the debate."

Burham told Whittingdale that if he "holds different views he is welcome to put them to me, and at the end of the process we will come to a considered decision".

Source: Broadcast Now