A party political broadcast (also known, in pre-election campaigning periods, as a party election broadcast) is a television or radio

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

made by a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

. In the United Kingdom the

Communications Act 2003 The Communications Act 2003 (c. 21) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act, which came into force on 25 July 2003, superseded the Telecommunications Act 1984. The new act was the responsibility of Culture Secretary Tessa ...

prohibits (and previously the

Broadcasting Act 1990 The Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which aimed to liberalise and deregulate the British broadcasting industry by promoting competition; an example being ITV (TV network), ...

and earlier broadcasting practice prohibited) political advertising on television or radio; parties are instead allocated broadcast slots (usually around five minutes long) free of charge on broadcast channels using a formula set by Parliament. From 1953 to 2012, government and opposition commentaries were broadcast on the evening of the annual budget statement. Ministerial Broadcasts are occasionally made on urgent matters of a non-partisan nature. A similar format exists in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

, though for smaller parties, because a greater number of them are represented in the Dáil, their allocated time may be as little as one or two minutes each. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the Canada Elections Act includes provisions for free-time election broadcasts (in addition to paid advertising) during Canadian federal elections, on all licensed terrestrial television and radio networks; notably, however, none of Canada's main English-language private television networks ( CTV,

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

and

Citytv Citytv (sometimes shortened to City, which was the network's official branding from 2012 to 2018) is a Television in Canada, Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consis ...

) actually operates under a network license anymore, meaning that in actual practice in the 2020s this provision applies only to the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

's main radio and TV networks, and the private French-language networks TVA and

Noovo Noovo is a Television in Canada, Canadian French language, French-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The network has five Owned-and-operated station, owned-and-operated a ...

."Allocation of Free Broadcasting Time"

Elections Canada Elections Canada () is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering elections in Canada, Canadian federal elections and Referendums in Canada, referendums. History Elections Canada is an agency of the Parliament of Canada, and reports ...

. CBC Television formerly broadcast the regular weekly series '' The Nation's Business'', in which Members of Parliament from all parties could give a short speech on a political issue, but this series no longer airs. In Asia, party political broadcasts have existed in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

since 1980, where they are known as ''political party broadcasts''. In Japan, party political broadcasts are known as . In

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, party political broadcasts are known as ''horário político''. In

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, party political broadcasts are known as ''franja electoral''.

References

Cross, S. and Wring, D. (2017) The Longest Running Series on Television: Party Political Broadcasting in Britain, in Holtz-Bacha, C. and Just, M.(ed) Routledge Handbook of Political Advertising
Routledge Handbook of Political Advertising

External links

History of party political broadcasts in the UK

Commons Library Standard Note
Political broadcast Television programming Political funding {{poli-stub

See also

References

External links