Ofcom: content providers responsible for Virgin Media VOD

UK media regulator Ofcom has upheld a ruling by video-on-demand regulatory body ATVOD that content producers, rather than the platform operator, are responsible for the VOD services featuring their content on the Virgin Media cable platform.

Ofcom has upheld ATVOD’s ruling that three Viacom companies – Nickelodeon UK Ltd, the Paramount Partnership and MTV Networks Europe – are responsible for the VOD content of Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV respectively on the Virgin Media platform.

The three broadcasters had notified ATVOD early last year that they considered Virgin Media to have “editorial responsibility” for the offerings, and that their services should therefore be withdrawn from ATVOD’s directory of notified services.

In rejecting the three companies’ appeal against the VOD regulator’s ruling, Ofcom took the view that ATVOD “made substantively the correct decision for the correct reasons”.

The decision means that the three Viacom companies rather than Virgin Media are responsible for ensuring that the services comprising their VOD programmes on Virgin Media comply with the statutory rules which apply to on-demand programme services.

“This is a complex area and the appeal system  is a vital part of  the process, giving service providers, in particular, greater clarity over where regulatory responsibility lies,” said ATVOD CEO Pete Johnson.