The rule is one sentence long and precise: one year. Article 25/1 of Law No. 6112 requires private media service providers to keep a recording of every broadcast they make for one year. “Every broadcast” is broad: live output, pre-recorded output, advertising breaks and programme trailers are all covered.
When the period is extended
Article 25/3 is the only provision that suspends the one-year period: “Where a broadcast is in any way made the subject of an investigation or prosecution, it shall be mandatory to retain the recording of the broadcast concerned until the competent authorities notify the media service provider in writing that those proceedings have been concluded.”
Three details matter. First, the period is open-ended — if the case runs five years, the recording is kept five years. Second, what ends the duty is not the case finishing but written notice that it has. Third, the extension applies only to the recording of the broadcast that is the subject of proceedings; other broadcasts on the same day remain on the ordinary one-year period.
| Situation | Retention | When it ends |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary broadcast | 1 year | One year from the date of broadcast |
| Broadcast subject to investigation or prosecution | Open-ended | Written notice from the competent authorities that proceedings have concluded |
| Recording requested by RTUK | 1 year (the request does not extend it) | A copy must be supplied within ten days |
Third parties can obtain a copy
The second sentence of Article 25/1 grants a right most undertakings do not know about: “Natural and legal persons may obtain a copy of a broadcast recording within this period for use in transactions they will carry out, by applying to the Supreme Council in writing and paying the fee to be determined by the Supreme Council.”
- The application goes to RTUK, not to the broadcaster.
- It must be in writing.
- A fee set by RTUK is paid.
- It must be made within the one-year period; afterwards the recording may not exist.
This is the lawful route to evidence for a person who has been the subject of a broadcast. It is usually the first step for someone about to exercise a right of reply (Article 18, sixty days) or to bring a claim for damages.
The recording must be “faithful to the original”
Article 33/4 shows the real measure of the duty: where recordings supplied “are not the broadcast requested in terms of content, or where alteration, excision or deletion has been carried out on them”, the responsible editor of the private media service provider is punished with a judicial fine of five thousand to ten thousand days.
That is heavier than not keeping the recording at all. Sending an edited, cut or sanitised recording is worse than saying there is none.
How the archive should be kept
The Law imposes no technical format; the test is fidelity to the original. The minimum workable arrangement is:
- Continuous recording — the whole output stream, not band by band
- Date and time stamping, so the moment a recording belongs to is beyond argument
- An integrity record demonstrating it has not been altered (for example a hash)
- Backup — a single copy on a single disk does not discharge the duty
- A separate, undeletable folder for broadcasts under investigation
The duty sits with the responsible editor
The judicial fines in Articles 33/3 and 33/4 are addressed to the responsible editor, not the undertaking. Under Article 46/1 liability arising from a broadcast belongs to the person directing the broadcast or making the programme together with the responsible editor, and this does not remove the undertaking’s own responsibilities. Checking that the archive works is therefore the responsible editor’s personal exposure.
The response deadline is covered in the ten-day guide and the allocation of liability in the liability guide.