London, Nov 17 - Ads for food and drinks high in salt, sugar or fat will be banned from British television programmes that are designed for children as the government tackles increasing childhood obesity.
Ofcom announced the new rules on Friday after it launched a consultation in March this year. The media regulator said it had a responsibility to reduce the exposure of children under 16 to such advertising.
The rules will apply to programming at any time of day or night on any channel.
Consumer and health groups had been lobbying for a full ban on junk-food TV ads before 9 p.m.
According to the Health Survey for England, 16 percent of boys and 10 percent of girls between the ages of 2 and 10 are obese.
Ofcom estimated that the impact on total broadcast revenues would be as much as 39 million pounds ($73.6 million) per year, falling to around 23 million as broadcasters mitigate revenue loss over time.
It said commercial broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 and Five could lose up to 0.7 percent of their total revenues.
Dedicated children's channels could lose up to 15 percent of total revenues, the regulator said.
The restrictions will apply to all broadcasters licensed by Ofcom and based in the UK and will take effect before the end of January 2007, but ad campaigns already underway will be allowed to be broadcast until the end of June of that year.
Ofcom's previous consultation had proposed regulation to protect children under 9 years old, and the regulator decided to extend the rules to children under 16.