Broadcast Guidelines

Broadcast Guidelines Go Global 

The UK was the first country to protect its television viewers and continues to lead in the detection and correction of harmful imagery, and the superior performance of the HardingFPA has made it the product of choice of major organisations like Clearcast, The BBC, Channel 4, Virgin Media, and, of course, the UK's top Post Houses and advertising agencies.

Now PSE compliance is going global, and the HardingFPA is ready to test to all the latest standards as they come into force in the USA, Japan, Europe and worldwide.

Links to some of the Broadcast Guidelines and Regulators 

In December 2003, Ofcom inherited the duties of the Independent Television Commission (ITC) in the UK. They have published a Guidance Note for Licensees on Flashing Images and Regular Patterns in Television and performed a consultation during 2005 in order to publish a new Broadcasting Code. Both Cambridge Research Systems and Professor Harding participated in the consultation.

In the UK, most broadcasters contribute to running Clearcast, a specialist body responsible for the pre-transmission examination and clearance of television advertisements. Clearcast use the Harding FPA as part of their testing procedure.

The UK OfCom Television Guidelines -- In Brief

A potential harmful luminance flash is where: The opposing changes in luminance have at least 20 cd/m2 contrast, AND the darker image is below 160 cd/m2, AND there are more than 3 flashes per second, AND those flashes occupy more than 25% of the video screen.

A potential harmful red flash is where: There are opposing changes to or from saturated red colour, AND there are more than 3 flashes per second, AND those flashes occupy more than 25% of screen.

A potential harmful spatial pattern is where: Light-dark stripes occur with a change in luminance of at least 20 cd/m2, AND the dark stripes are darker than 160 cd/m2, AND more than 5 light/dark pairs of stripes occur in any orientation, AND the stripes are stationary for more than 0.5 seconds, AND the stripes occupy more than 40% of the video screen.

OR where: Those stripes oscillate or reverse their phase rapidly, AND the stripes occupy more than 25% of the video screen.

Slowly drifting patterns are exempt.

An extended flash failure is where: There is significant flashing that may include either red or luminance flashing, where although the flashing may be within guidelines it persisits for more than 5 seconds.

It should be noted that although a ‘cut off’ of 25% of the video screen area is set, while high contrast and high frequency flashing occupying 24% of the video screen may technically pass the guidelines the potential for provoking seizures is not much reduced. It is advised to avoid high risk sequences even if a pass occurs.

An International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recommendation was ratified in February 2005.This recommendation was based on the UK Ofcom Guidelines and unequivocally adopted Section 3 of Annex 1 on potentially harmful flashes and also Section 4 on rapidly changing image sequences. Section 5 on potentially harmful regular patterns however was not adopted. The ITU recommendations provide a best practice framework for nations that do not yet have nationally enforced regulations and are advice for both broadcasters and viewers in those countries. Broadcasters not following the ITU recommendations should realise that should their broadcasts result in seizures a claim of ignorance about photosensitive epilepsy is no longer a defense.

 

Following the Pokemon incident in 1997 (where an episode of a children's cartoon produced 685 admissions to hospital with 560 cases shown to have had proven seizures triggered by a four second sequence of alternating saturated red and blue light used in the programme), Japan adopted formal guidelines on flashing and regular patterns based on the UK's then ITC guidelines. In 2006 following extensive consultations in the Japanese broadcast industry the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan (NAB) issued amended guidelines to their members as an alternative to the previous ITU based Guidelines. These new guidelines seek to recognise the potential harm to children in pre-watershed broadcasts whilst allowing a degree of lattitude for adult programming. CRS was an advisor to the NAB in developing these guidelines and has implemented them as an option in our HardingFPA systems.

 

The International Standards Organisation is drafting an International Workshop Agreement on Image Safety (IWA 3:2005)).

Cambridge Research Systems' Managing Director, Tom Robson, was one of the speakers at the workshop in Tokyo, 7th-9th December 2004 that started the drafting process. The Workshop Agreement resulting from this meeting recognizes that visually induced motion sickness, visual fatigue, and photosensitive seizures are the major biomedical concerns regarding image safety. In October 2006, during a CIE meeting in Paris on image safety (Commission Internationale de L'eclairage or the International Commission on Illumination; Technical Committee TC1-67), it was suggested that a regular symposium on visual image safety should be held. The 1st symposium (VIMS2007) was accordingly organized 10-11 December 2007 in Hong Kong. Building on the success of that symposium, a 2nd two-day symposium (VIMS2009) was organized in the Netherlands, 11-12 June 2009. CRS also participated in this conference with a joint paper by Professor Graham Harding and CRS's Dr. Mark Hodgetts.

Television is not the only threat

While studies in the UK and Japan have shown that the use of Broadcast Guidelines on flashing and regular patterns has lead to a significant reduction in the number of television related seizures, overall the number of reported seizures continues to rise. While broadcast television was once the main source of video imagery in everyday life this is no longer true. The explosion of new technology means we are encountering potentially harmful video imagery in many new forms. DVDs, Video Games, Digital Signage, the Internet and Mobile Communications Content all have the potential to trigger seizures in those who are susceptible. And new technology is even making the previously considered safe cinema risky with seizures reported in several instances in new technology equipped Digital Theatres. CRS and the HardingFPA are ready to help these new industries control the potential harm they can cause to their customers.

Video Game Guidelines

The Video Game industry has become a world wide phenomenon with millions of games played every day by millions of players. Responsible manufacturers recognised the potential for their games with their rapid action and highly animated effects to trigger seizures in those at risk and have devised proprietary guidelines for game developers and publishers. CRS with the HardingFPA has worked with the Video Game Industry to provide a way to check games prior to release and have a specific games system to assist developers and publishers in making safe products.