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SBS Belgium is fined 20,000 euros for broadcasting ‘Top brokers’

The Flemish Regulator for the Media (VRM) has imposed a fine of 20,000 euros on SBS Belgium for broadcasting the program Top brokers on the channel Play4. According to the regulator, an agreement with sponsor ERA influenced the editorial content.

Top brokers is a sponsored program with ERA, a partnership of real estate brokers, as a structural sponsor. Viewers are made aware of this because the visual statement “Thanks to ERA” appears at the end of each episode.

In terms of content, there is a problem for the VRM because the ten brokers who are in Top brokers are all followed, all come from the ERA network and the program is therefore exclusively devoted to ERA.

Because the brokers are featured in a positive way in the six episodes, the editorial content of the program has been influenced in that way, it still sounds. This violates the provisions of Article 91, 1° of the Media Decree.

The VRM points out that a condition that sponsored programs must meet is that the content must never be influenced by the sponsor. SBS Belgium would have no ‘reasonable and objective justification’ to only work with ERA brokers for the program.

The VRM considers it a serious infringement because it concerns six episodes, which were broadcast in prime time, reaching a large number of viewers. In addition, the regulator takes into account the fact that the last similar infringement by SBS Belgium dates from 2019. It therefore decided to impose an administrative fine of 20,000 euros.

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