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TV3 has been warned that it will be prosecuted if it screens advertisements during Sunday morning Rugby World Cup games.
The channel insists it still plans to run ads during some quarter-final games, semifinal games and the final.
But the Ministry for Culture and Heritage says it will take action against TV3 if it goes ahead.
Under the Broadcasting Act, advertisements are banned from being screened between 6am and midday on Sundays.
TV3 has said it is confident its arrangements to screen the advertisements complied with the act.
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage, which oversees the Broadcasting Act, said yesterday it would not take any action until the law was broken.
"Until TV3 run any advertisements on a Sunday morning between 6am and midday they haven't broken the law, so our position is that if at any point during the World Cup coverage or at any other point they advertise on a Sunday morning, we will try to get some explanation from them as to why they think that's okay and I will take some legal advice about enforcing the law. At the moment there's no evidence they've broken the law," said the ministry's chief executive, Martin Matthews.
He said the Broadcasting Act provided for fines of up to $100,000 for every infringement, but it wasn't clear if that meant a fine of $100,000 for each advertisement shown.
"As to how that's interpreted will be a matter for the Crown prosecutor to determine ."
He said TV3 inadvertently advertised on C4 a couple of years ago during the Sunday morning ban.
"It was drawn to their attention and they apologised for the infringement and the matter was not taken any further."
