• Daily Mail, Wednesday, October 25, 2006 12:15 PM

Advertisers can now sponsor entire British television and radio channels as 50 years of tight regulations have been swept away. Under the new rules, channels such as ITV1, Bravo or Capital Radio could, in theory, be sponsored by brands such as Coca-Cola or Sony. The broadcasting regulator Ofcom says the move is designed to open more revenue possibilities in a world where "on demand" TV and radio means the value of traditional advertising breaks is being undermined.

However, the new rules do have some provisos, including one that a channel cannot rename itself after a commercial product. So while ITV1 could not rebrand itself as Coca Cola TV, it could become "ITV1 brought to you by Coca Cola". The ban on sponsorship of commercial TV and radio has been in place since ITV first launched as a rival to the BBC in 1955. Ofcom said there would be strict controls on news channels, and children's channels could not be sponsored by alcohol or gambling firms.

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