Ofcom has criticised the pan-network, chart countdown Big Top 40 Show produced by Global Radio and featured on over 140 stations nationwide.
The three hour show’s USP is that the listener might influence the countdown via the show’s website purchasing downloads from the iTunes store.
A complaint via Galaxy Manchester 102 – one of the stations that airs the programme – referred to the constant reference to iTunes in the broadcast. Though Global argued, quite successfully, that the show maintained its editorial independence it had less luck when it came to defending its stance on promoting products and services in its programmes.
As well as falling down on 10.3 of the Code, the media regulator found Global to also be in breach of rule 10.4 for gratuitous prominence for a product in a show, in this case the ubiquitous iTunes.
