TELEVISION adverts that display the small print in too few lines of the
picture are “almost certainly illegal” in Britain, the Independent Television
Commission said earlier this month. British TVs use 625 horizontal lines, but
only 575 are used for the picture and each scan illuminates only half of them.
The ITC says advertisers have been using this to hide the small print in their
adverts.
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
The world's fastest spider tops 3.5 metres per second
2
Where, when and how to watch the 2026 solar eclipse
3
Babies are born with the neural foundations for maths
4
The race to understand how and when Thwaites glacier will collapse
5
We’ve uncovered a master gene that switches on human development
6
The most detailed survey of the universe ever conducted starts now
7
US government wants to have a useful quantum computer by 2028
8
Our verdict on The Selfish Gene: An unpopular piece of popular science
9
Humans sleep the least of all apes – is it the secret to our success?
10
The best sci-fi novel in 2026 so far – plus 6 other great reads



