Commentary on Sections Part 3: Television and Radio Services Chapter 4: Regulatory Provisions Section 334: Retention and production of recordings
697.OFCOM are to include in the licence for every programme service licensed under the Broadcasting Acts conditions requiring the licensee to record every programme that they broadcast, and to keep each recording for a specified period (which for radio programmes shall be no longer than 42 days and for television programmes shall be no longer than 90 days) and, at OFCOM’s request, to provide them with any such recording as well as any script or transcript of the relevant programme that the licensee is able to produce. Under subsection (3), OFCOM may themselves make and use recordings of programmes for the purposes of supervision. However, subsection (4) makes it clear that they are not required to vet programmes in advance of their being broadcast.