Finales

I remember as a young child being allowed to stay up to watch the first ever finale of Australian Idol. It was a school night and it went way past my bedtime, but I felt very grown up because I was allowed to watch.

I imagine this is not a foreign concept for many households around Australia, particularly this week as X Factor Australia ended for 2014, with the finale aired live over two nights; Sunday 19th October 8.00pm-10.20pm and Monday 20th October at 7.30pm-10pm.

We have discussed X Factor on this blog before (see blog post from 8thOctober) and noted that it markets itself at families, tweens and teens and is listed as a PG show.

These finale episodes ran quite late and thus into time slots when M rated programs and advertisements are able to be shown in many circumstances.

However, the 2010 Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice section 3.11 states that where a G or PG program continues past 8.30pm (or starts at 8.30pm) the advertisements must still be PG or G rated themselves until the program finishes or 10.30pm, which ever is earliest.

Therefore, here at Right At Night we commend Channel 7 for ending Sunday’s programming by 10.20pm to ensure no overlap with potential M-rated advertisements or material.

Do you think the Code of Practice is fair? 

If a PG program continues beyond 10.30pm, would you want the advertisements to still have to comply with the PG guidelines? 

And did you see any ads during the X Factor Finale coverage that you considered inappropriate?