Statement published 24 September 2021
Following a consultation, we have approved a request from Channel 5 to change the conditions of its licence relating to its news provision. We have considered the range of views submitted by stakeholders and concluded that the changes will continue to meet the objectives for news and current affairs programming requirements set out in the Communications Act 2003.
Channel 5 requested this change in order to introduce a new one-hour-long news broadcast from 5pm. The change to the licence condition will not affect the total amount of news that Channel 5 is required to broadcast each year.
Alongside this statement, we have served notice of the licence change to Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd, the holder of the Channel 5 licence, and published an updated version of the Channel 5 licence on our website. The changes will take effect from 24 September 2021.
