TV stations fined, warned

Two television stations were fined and another two warned by the Broadcasting Authority after having been found in breach of regulations.

The broadcasting watchdog said both Smash TV and iTV were fined Lm500, which have to be paid within a month.

Smash Television was fined after the authority determined that there was an imbalance in a number of programmes by the name of B'Kull Dritt. The station was found in breach of a communication by the authority not to allow the programme to become the voice of the new political party, Azzjoni Nazzjonali.

Shopping station iTV was fined after being found in breach of regulations dealing with the duration of a DVD shown and the cooling off period.

Meanwhile, One TV and Net TV were given warnings.

One TV was warned about an item that appeared on a news bulletin and which was not accurate and on the programme Bikini which had excessive credits.

Net TV was given a warning for its programme Mister Fisherman which on two occasions identified a wine and the name of the restaurant where the programme was being filmed.