The network is operated by Network Control, which consists of the Network Controller and the Director of Television. Network Control has the authority to make any decisions regarding the network. Any decisions made by Network Control are final, and no further correspondence will be entered into. Should any decisions made by the Director of Television be deemed unfair, the Network Controller has the authority to override the Director of Television's decision at his discretion. The Director of Television is primarily responsible for overseeing the operations of the network franchises and creating network schedules. In addition to Network Control one member of the network will be appointed as Director of Digital, who will be responsible for licensing and overseeing digital channels. The Director of Digital reports to the Director of Television, and therefore the Director of Television has the authority to override the Director of Digital's decisions at his discretion. The position of Director of Digital will be placed for election every 6 months.
Network Six is split up into 18 regional franchises. At the beginning of every year, Network Control puts up the regional franchises for bidding, split up over a 3 month period, with franchises of similar size being grouped together. Following the bidding process, these bidders are put to a public vote, in which the members of the network vote for the bid they wish to run the franchise. The winner of the vote is then given the regional franchise for a period of one year. Franchise owners are permitted to own a maximum of 3 franchises at any one time.
Network Control provides two Network Six branded digital channels as franchises, Six Sports Network and Six HD. Network Six puts these franchises up for bidding at the beginning of every year, with one franchise a month being placed for bidding. Six Sports Network is split up into 6 regional transmission areas, intended for the carriage of local sporting events. While the franchise operators are responsible for the branding of these channels, as Network branded channels, Network Control reserves the right to change elements of the channel branding and impose restrictions at its discretion.
The hand-over to the breakfast franchise will take place at 6:30AM each morning, with the regional franchise recommencing at 9:25AM each morning. The hand-over from weekday to weekend franchises will take place at 5:00PM each Friday. Weekend franchises will broadcast through Friday, Saturday and Sunday, until 6:30AM Monday morning, with weekday franchises recommencing at 9:25AM. The hand-over between franchises will be automatically carried out by Network Six Engineering.
The regions are required to follow the Network Schedule, as issued at the beginning of every television season by the Director of Television. Live programming on the schedule must be broadcast at the time stated on the schedule. Pre-recorded programming may be time shifted for broadcast at a later time within a 48 hour period. Any opt-outs from the Network Schedule must be pre-approved by the Director of Television. Opt-outs will not be approved for national news programming.
Regions must provide regional news programming. A minimum of 30 minutes regional news output per day is permitted by the network. The regions must also provide regional news programming at the times requested by the breakfast franchise.
From midnight until 6:30AM (when the breakfast franchise recommences broadcasting), regions may stop broadcasting programmes locally and broadcast a syndicated service with other regions that are part of the same company, or the generic “Network Six” service provided by Network Control. Franchises are not allowed to stop broadcasting overnight. Regions may also simulcast rolling news channels and broadcast information services, such as pages from the regions teletext service or a slideshow of upcoming programming and other information.
The regional digital terrestrial multiplexes are operated by Network Six Engineering, with 14Mbps out of the total 24Mbps being provided to the franchise owner for use in whatever way they wish, including but not limited to the carriage of TV channels, radio stations and interactive text services. The capacity reserved by Network Six Engineering is used for transmission of the regional franchise and the Six Sports Network Digital Franchise.
Network Control owns 6 satellite transponders which will carry the 18 Network Six franchises that make up the regional map, along with the digital franchises. All of these will be broadcast unencrypted. Uplink for these franchises is the responsibility of Network Control, not the franchise owner.
Regions are required to provide an analogue teletext service, reserving page 284 for the Digital UK Switchover Test, page 888 for subtitles and page 889 for alternative language subtitles if the region wishes to use them. Regions are also required to provide a news magazine on the service. Whether or not the analogue teletext service is broadcast on digital platforms is at the regions discretion. It is not a requirement for the regions to provide a digital teletext/interactive service.
If a member of the network feels that a company on the network is gaining a monopoly, they may complain about it in private to Network Control. It is then up to Network Control to assess whether the company in question is gaining a monopoly, and may ask other members of the network for their opinion. Should Network Control decide that the company is gaining a monopoly, Network Control will then issue sanctions on the company.
If a member of the network is absent from the network for what Network Control considers a substantial amount of time, it will be assumed that the owner has surrendered their regional franchises. In the event of franchise surrender, Network Control will put the franchise up for bidding again. Should the franchise be issued to a new owner close to the next franchise round, that region will be exempt from that round.
From time to time, Network Control will hold Station Challenges. During a Station Challenge, Network Control will provide a task for those who wish to participate to complete. For example, this could be an event that has happened which the region has to deal with. The participating regions must then provide details of what they have done for the task, including images or videos where appropriate. Following the completion of the challenge, a public vote will take place to decide first, second and third place for the efforts that region makes in the challenge.
Companies are allowed to broadcast digital only channels, but only with approval from the Director of Digital. To propose such a channel, franchise holders must provide a complete portfolio to the Director of Digital via the submissions forum. Only one channel is permitted per format, for example if a rolling news channel already exists, any further submissions for rolling news channels will be rejected. Non-complete portfolios will be automatically rejected.
All 16:9 material must be produced with all vital information within the 14:9 safe area. A template of the safe area can be found from the ‘About’ section of the Network Six website. The only exception to this rule is any material produced for High Definition broadcast only.
All newly produced material must be in 16:9 widescreen. For this reason images should be proportional to the 16:9 TV resolution, 1024x576 (426x240 minimum, 640x360 recommended). 4:3 images should be proportional to the 4:3 TV resolution, 768x576 (320x240 minimum, 480x360 recommended). All older 4:3 material must be broadcast in 4:3 and not pillarboxed or resized onto a 16:9 broadcast. If you are featuring 4:3 material within a 16:9 programme, we then recommend that the material be pillarboxed, with a textured background filling the unused parts of the image either side of the 4:3 image.
Regions may choose to use dual branding with the franchise logo and Network Six logo on idents and promotions for networked programming. The Network Six logo must not take prominence on screen. The Network Six logo usage guidelines must be followed when using the Network Six logo on graphics.
Regions may use Digital On-Screen Graphics during programming. DOG’s must be greyscale, not colour, and may only occupy the lower third of the screen. DOG’s are permitted to animate for only the first 5 seconds they are on screen, for example an entrance animation. In-Programme Promotions may also be used in programming. These rules do not apply to News programming.
Credits used at the end of programming must follow the Network Six credit guidelines. End Credit Promotions (ECP’s) must also follow these guidelines, to ensure that the credits and the ECP do not overlap each other. The ECP used over the credits must match the credit style used by the programme.
Last updated January 2009