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Explicit text messages were mistakenly screened on ALT TV after a moderator hired to check the messages got drunk and let them go to air.
In an unprecedented ruling, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has banned ALT TV from broadcasting for five hours next Monday for serious breaches of broadcasting standards. The station has also been ordered to pay court costs of $5000.
The BSA ruled that Groove in the Park - a music event held at Western Springs Stadium which screened live on the channel on Waitangi Day - breached the standards of good taste and decency and children's interests, and encouraged denigration and discrimination on the basis of race.
An interactive text messaging system was set up for the event, enabling viewers to send text messages to the station, which then appeared across the bottom of the screen.
A viewer complained that during the G-rated broadcast, text messages of a racist and sexual nature, including explicit language, were run across the screen between 12pm and 5pm.
The complainant said several other messages were far worse, but she did not wish to write them down.
In its response to the BSA, ALT TV said it had employed the services of a moderator/censor to look at the text messages before they were broadcast.
It said that person had unfortunately become intoxicated on the day and had failed in that role.
It said the broadcast had seriously damaged its brand and its relationship with Sky Television, which broadcasts ALT TV on channel 65.
At the time of the Groove in the Park broadcast, it was also available on free-to-air television in Auckland.
In a statement released yesterday, ALT TV said it unreservedly apologised for the error and any offence that it might have caused to its viewers.
"Unfortunately, the moderating service failed in the early part of the afternoon and some viewers' text messages considered to be offensive made it to air. Immediately after the mistake had been discovered by ALT management the text message element of the broadcast was pulled."
ALT TV president David Kennedy said yesterday that the station had since put stricter measures in place surrounding its interactive text messaging system.
He said he didn't know any details relating to the moderator's behaviour that day such as what he'd been drinking or how he came to be intoxicated.
The BSA has ordered ALT TV to refrain from broadcasting between midday and 5pm next Monday (Labour Day) and to instead display a statement that summarises the authority's decision and apologises to viewers.
It also said it would follow up ALT TV's failure to respond to the viewer's formal complaint and its failure to retain a copy of the broadcast complained about.
ALT TV was unable to provide the authority with a recording of the broadcast, but agreed with the complainant's description of the text messages.
It is the first time the BSA has ordered a station to stop broadcasting.
However, on two previous occasions it has ordered broadcasters to refrain from showing advertisements for a time.
